PrepTest 116 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 18

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Reader-response theory, a type of literary theory that arose in reaction to formalist literary criticism, has endeavored to shift the emphasis in the interpretation of literature from the text itself to the contributions of readers to the meaning of a text. ███

Reader-response theory · Emphasizes what readers bring to meaning of a literary work

Proponents of reader-response theory · Text alone doesn't have meaning

It gets meaning from what readers bring to the text (assumptions, ways of reading). This makes multiple interpretations of a text likely.

Formalists · Focus on the text alone

Reader-response theory leads to fragmented views of a text.

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Author's perspective · Formalists' view is too narrow

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Formalists' argument · Formalism is objective

Reader-response theory has no standards and leads to multiple meanings of a text. Authors in fact intend one meaning and critics should try to find it.

Author's critique · Literary works can have multiple meanings

Meanings are created by interaction between texts and readers.

Benefit of reader-response theory · Emphasizing readers can uncover new meanings of a work

We've always had multiple interpretations of important works.

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Concession / Benefit · Can lead to unfair interpretations, but also legitimate new interpretations

Passage Style

Critique or debate

18.

Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █████ █████████ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████

Question Type

Purpose in context (of word, phrase, or idea)

Structure

This is a Purpose in Context question. The author says that some critics’ interpretations have unfairly burdened past literature with contemporary ideologies to show a potential weakness of reader-response theory: looking at past works with a modern perspective. However, the author then contrasts this criticism with a positive aspect, showing that the reader-response theory allows new, legitimate understandings to develop.

to reinforce the ██████ ████ ████████████ ███████████████ ██ █████ ██████████ █████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ██████

Raising more questions than they can answer is something that the author says about complicated literary works, not about reader-based interpretations.

to confirm the █████████ ██ ███████████████ ███████ ██ ████████████ ███████████████ ██ █████

The discussion in this section of the text is about reader-based interpretations, not about interpretations similar to reader-based interpretations. Additionally, this is a weakness of these interpretations, not a confirmation of the longevity of these interpretations.

to point out █ ███████████ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ █████ ███████████████ ██████ █████████

While this is a flaw that the author identifies in the reader-response theory, the author follows this flaw with additional benefits of the reader-response theory. This shows that the author doesn’t think that this flaw makes the reader-response theory untenable.

to concede a █████ ████████ ██ ███████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████

This is the author’s purpose. The author thinks that it is unfair of these critics to apply contemporary ideologies to literature of the past, but the author goes on to show that the reader-response theory is still beneficial despite this weakness.

85%

to suggest that ███████████████ ██████ ███ ████████████ █████████ ██████████ █████ ██ █ ████

The idea that the reader-response theory can encourage fragmented views of a work is a criticism from the formalists in P1, and is not related to the focus of this question.

PrepTest 116 - Section 1 - Passage 3 - Question 18

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