GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Contexts of Prose
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #341 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Which of the following is another work by the author of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter?
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
A Good Man Is Hard To Find
The Life You Save May Be Your Own
The Lame Shall Enter First
Parker’s Back
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
The Ballad of the Sad Café is a 1951 collection containing a novella, poems, plays, and several short stories. (The rest of these titles belong to short stories by Southern writer Flannery O’Connor.)
Example Question #342 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
The title of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter comes from a poem by which Scottish poet?
Mary Astell
W.B. Yeats
Dylan Thomas
Fiona Macleod
Robert Burns
Fiona Macleod
Carson McCullers’ title is taken directly from Fiona Macleod’s 1896 poem “The Lonely Hunter.” This answer gives you a helpful clue to narrow down the answer choices: The poet must be Scottish. Dylan Thomas was Welsh, W.B. Yeats was Irish, and Mary Astell was English.
Example Question #343 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Who is the author of The Moviegoer?
Walker Percy
Robert Penn Warren
John Updike
Nicholson Baker
Truman Capote
Walker Percy
The Moviegoer (1961) is a National Book Award-winning novel by the Louisiana author Walker Percy (1916-1990).
Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood (1965), Nicholson Baker wrote The Anthologist (2009), Robert Penn Warren wrote All the King's Men (1946), and John Updike wrote Rabbit, Run (1960).
Example Question #91 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925
Which of the following is not another novel by the author of The Moviegoer?
The Last Gentleman
Love in the Ruins
The Neon Bible
The Thanatos Syndrome
Lost in the Cosmos
The Neon Bible
Love in the Ruins (1971), The Thanatos Syndrome (1987), The Last Gentleman (1966), and Lost in the Cosmos (1983) are all novels by Walker Percy. The Neon Bible (1989) is the little-known first novel of John Kennedy Toole.
Example Question #104 : Contexts Of American Prose
In what region of the United States is The Moviegoer set?
the West
Alaska
the Northeast
the Midwest
the South
the South
Like many of Percy’s other novels, The Moviegoer (1961) is set in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Example Question #105 : Contexts Of American Prose
Who is the author of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter?
Carson McCullers
John Irving
Eudora Welty
John Updike
Ayn Rand
Carson McCullers
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940) is the first novel by American author Carson McCullers (1917-1967).
Example Question #1 : Contexts Of World Prose After 1925
Which of the following is not another work by the author of The English Patient?
The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left-Handed Poems
Coming Through Slaughter
Divisadero
Oryx and Crake
In the Skin of a Lion
Oryx and Crake
Ondaatje wrote Coming Through Slaughter (1976), In the Skin of a Lion (1987), Divisadero (2007), and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid: Left-Handed Poems (1970). He did not write Oryx and Crake, a 2003 novel by Margaret Atwood.
Example Question #2 : Contexts Of World Prose After 1925
What country is the author of Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage from?
Canada
Denmark
Ireland
Scotland
New Zealand
Canada
Alice Munro is a Nobel Prize-winning Canadian writer.
Example Question #1 : Contexts Of World Prose After 1925
Who is the author of The Handmaid’s Tale?
Margaret Atwood
Pat Barker
Alice Munro
Angela Carter
Ursula K. Le Guin
Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid’s Tale is Canadian author Margaret Atwood’s sixth novel.
Alice Munro (also Canadian) wrote Lives of Girls and Women (1971), Ursula K. LeGuin wrote The Dispossessed (1974), Pat Barker wrote The Regeneration Trilogy (1991, 1993, 1995), and Angela Carter wrote The Passion of New Eve (1977).
Example Question #2 : Contexts Of World Prose After 1925
Which of the following fields of study is most relevant to studying the The Handmaid’s Tale?
Religious studies
Race studies
Archaeology
Chemistry
Feminism
Feminism
While it does contain some religious references, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) is first and foremost a feminist novel that discusses gender dynamics, power, sexuality, and reproductive rights.
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All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
