All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #101 : Contexts Of Prose
The author of The Corrections also wrote which of the following novels?
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Invisible Man
The Bluest Eye
The Broom of the System
Freedom
Freedom
Jonathan Franzen published Freedom in 2010. The Broom of the System (1987) is by David Foster Wallace, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005) is by Jonathan Safran Foer, The Bluest Eye (1970) is by Toni Morrison, and Invisible Man (1952) is by Ralph Ellison.
Example Question #102 : Contexts Of Prose
How could The Corrections be classified?
Western Novel
Science-Fiction
Multigenerational novel
Dystopia
Murder Mystery
Multigenerational novel
The Corrections (2001) is concerned with the travails of the elderly Lambert couple (Midwesterners), their three adult children, and their grandchildren. It is a realist work that in part examines contemporary American family dynamic and in part investigates the nation’s paranoia, economic woes, and social structures.
Example Question #103 : Contexts Of Prose
Who is the author of The Corrections?
Philip Roth
Jonathan Franzen
John Cheever
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Carver
Jonathan Franzen
The Corrections (2001) is American novelist Jonathan Franzen’s third novel.
Raymond Carver wrote Where I'm Calling From (1988), Raymond Chandler wrote The Big Sleep (1939), Phillip Roth wrote The Ghostwriter (1979, and John Cheever wrote Oh What A Paradise It Seems (1982).
Example Question #104 : Contexts Of Prose
Who wrote Portnoy’s Complaint?
Don DeLillo
Philip Roth
Saul Bellow
John Updike
David Foster Wallace
Philip Roth
Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) is one of Philip Roth’s most famous novels.
Don DeLillo wrote White Noise (1985), Saul Bellow wrote Herzog (1964), John Updike wrote Rabbit, Run (1960), and David Foster Wallace wrote Infinite Jest (1996).
Example Question #105 : Contexts Of Prose
Which of the following elements of Portnoy’s Complaint resulted in its frequent banning in America and abroad?
A treasonous protagonist
Violent imagery
A Jewish protagonist
Explicit depictions of sexuality
A subversive plot
Explicit depictions of sexuality
Although the book does contain a Jewish protagonist, Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) was most commonly banned for its explicit depictions of masturbation and other elements of human sexuality.
Example Question #106 : Contexts Of Prose
Who is the author of the short story “Cathedral”?
Don DeLillo
Raymond Carver
Saul Bellow
Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Pynchon
Raymond Carver
“Cathedral,” (1983) a story about a blind man and a husband and wife, is one of the most famous works by American writer Raymond Carver (1938-1988).
Don DeLillo wrote White Noise (1985), Saul Bellow wrote Herzog (1964), Thomas Pynchon wrote Gravity's Rainbow (1973), and Thomas Wolfe wrote The Right Stuff (1979).
Example Question #101 : Contexts Of Prose
Which of the following is not another work by the author of the short story “Cathedral”?
“Neighbors”
“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love”
“The Swimmer”
“Where I’m Calling From”
“So Much Water So Close to Home”
“The Swimmer”
“The Swimmer” is a 1964 story by the American writer John Cheever. All the rest are well known works by Raymond Carver.
“So Much Water So Close to Home” and “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” were included in Carver's 1981 collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. "Neighbors" was included in Carver's 1976 collection Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?. “Where I’m Calling From” was the titular story in the short story collection Carver published just before his death in 1988.
Example Question #108 : Contexts Of Prose
How could the prose style of the author of “Cathedral” best be described?
Prolix
Fantastical
Anaphoric
Minimalistic
Garrulous
Minimalistic
Although the term "minimalism" offended and bothered him, like Ernest Hemingway, Mary Robison, and Amy Hempel, Raymond Carver is known for his sparse, minimalist prose style and commitment to brevity and syntactic conciseness.
Example Question #109 : Contexts Of Prose
Who is the famous Esquire editor known for working with the author of “Cathedral”?
Ezra Pound
Gordon Lish
Max Brod
Michael Pietsch
Max Perkins
Gordon Lish
While all of these men worked as editors, Gordon Lish is the editor known for paring down Raymond Carver’s work and contributing significantly to the author’s hallmark terseness in his collections prior to Cathedral (1983). After splitting with Lish, Carver's work took on a more hopeful, expansive tone.
Example Question #41 : Contexts Of American Prose
During what decade was “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” published?
1970s
1990s
1960s
1950s
1980s
1960s
This question is particularly tricky, since Joyce Carol Oates has had a very long and prolific writing career. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” was first published in Epoch Magazine in 1966 and has since been anthologized frequently.
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All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
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