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passage 1
P1
The work of South African writer Ezekiel Mphahlele has confounded literary critics, especially those who feel compelled to draw a sharp distinction between autobiography and fiction. ███
Intro topic ·
Writer Ezekiel Mphahlele and how to classify his work
If critics who want a sharp distinction between autobiography and fiction are "confounded" by Mphahlele, then Mphahlele's work probably doesn't fit those categories
Critics' perspective ·
Difficult to categorize Mphahlele's work
Two examples: an autobiography and a novel, with the novel apparently including autobiographical details
Author's response to critics ·
Mphahlele intentionally defies categorization
Critics say Mphahlele's autobiography is too fictional and his novel too autobiographical, but they miss the point
P2
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Expand on critics' perspective ·
Backhanded praise for novel
Critics imply that "The Wanderers" isn't great literature, dismiss it because it features real people
Mphahlele's response to critics ·
They're wrong; novel does feature an important fictional element
Author's explanation of Mphahlele's motivation ·
Social ideals underlie his work
Unclear what "humanist" and "integrationist" mean, but they're social ideals, and the author thinks they come through well in Mphahlele's writing; meanwhile, critics think Mphahlele's vision is incomplete
P3
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Contrast ·
Mphahlele's views against critics' views mentioned earlier
Critics concerned with categorizing Mphahlele's work as autobiography (fact) v. fiction, but Mphahlele says there's no such thing as pure fiction or absolute fact in novels
More on Mphahlele's motivation ·
Melds fact and fiction
Takes real experiences and then works in fictional elements to convey his social message
Main point ·
Mphahlele intentionally melds fact and fiction in order to get his social message across
Differences between autobiography and fictional novel don't matter
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Spotlight
4.
According to the passage, critics █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████
a
It should not ████ ████ █████████ ████ ██████████ ███████████
b
It should have ████ █████████ ██ ██ ██████████████
c
It does not ███████ ███████ ███████████ ███████
d
It intends to ███████ █████████████ ██████ ███████████
e
It places too ████ ████████ ██ ██████████████