GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Cultural and Historical Contexts
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
Example Questions
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.
Example Question #4 : Contexts Of World Prose
What country is the author of The Handmaid’s Tale from?
South Africa
Japan
England
Canada
Chile
Canada
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian novelist, poet, and essay writer. She was born in 1939 in Ottawa. Atwood continues to live in Canada, now in Toronto, and is active on the Canadian literary and eco-political scenes.
Example Question #5 : Contexts Of World Prose
Which of the following genres does The Handmaid’s Tale belong to?
Fantasy
Western Fiction
Mystery or Crime Fiction
Historical Fiction
Dystopian Fiction
Dystopian Fiction
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) is set in a futuristic, dystopian society. While it does contain some science fiction elements, Atwood herself has resisted this classification, preferring her work be termed dystopian or speculative fiction. The Handmaid's Tale is not a fantasy novel: there is no use of magic by any of the characters in the story.
Example Question #6 : Contexts Of World Prose
Who is the author of The English Patient?
Joseph Boyden
Alice Munro
Michael Ondaatje
Mochtar Lubis
Margaret Atwood
Michael Ondaatje
The English Patient is Michael Ondaatje’s 1992 Booker Prize-winning novel.
Canadian author Joseph Boyden wrote The Three Day Road (2005), Indonesian author Mochtar Lubis wrote Maut dan Cinta (Death and Love) (1977), Canadian author Margaret Atwood wrote The Edible Woman (1969), and Canadian author Alice Munro wrote Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You (1974) (She has also recently had a Canadian postage stamp commisioned in her honor!).
Example Question #7 : Contexts Of World Prose
What war is The English Patient set during?
the Iraqi War
World War II
the Cold War
World War I
the French and Indian War
World War II
The English Patient (1992) concerns four characters (a nurse, a thief, a burn victim, and a British soldier) flung together in a dilapidated Italian villa towards the end of World War II.
Example Question #9 : Contexts Of World Prose After 1925
Of which country is the author of The English Patient a citizen?
Canada
Indonesia
Iceland
Bangladesh
South Africa
Canada
Although he was born in Sri Lanka in 1943, Michael Ondaatje is a Canadian writer. He moved to Canada in 1962.
Example Question #8 : Contexts Of World Prose
Which of the following is not another collection by the author of Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage?
The House of the Spirits
Dance of the Happy Shades
Runaway
Lives of Girls and Women
Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You
The House of the Spirits
The House of the Spirits is a 1982 novel by the Chilean-American author Isabel Allende. All the rest are titles by Alice Munro.
Dance of the Happy Shades was published in 1968, Runaway was published in 2004, Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You was published in 1974, and Lives of Girls and Women was published in 1971.
Example Question #11 : Contexts Of World Prose
Who is the author of Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage?
Alice Munro
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Jeanette Winterson
Carol Shields
Ursula K. Le Guin
Alice Munro
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001) is Alice Munro’s tenth collection of short stories.
Ursula K. LeGuin wrote The Dispossessed (1974), Carol Shields wrote The Stone Diaries (1993), Jeanette Winterson wrote Sexing the Cherry (1989), and Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote Anne of Green Gables (1908).
Example Question #12 : Contexts Of World Prose
To what genre do the stories of Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage belong?
Fantasy
Mystery
Science Fiction
Realism
Magic Realism
Realism
Munro’s fiction is characterized first and foremost by a strong realist bent, innovative chronological structures and a spare, unadorned prose style.
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage was published in 2001.
Example Question #171 : Contexts Of Prose
During which decade was Love in the Time of Cholera published?
1950s
1990s
1960s
1980s
1970s
1980s
Love in the Time of Cholera was first published in Spanish in 1985 and in English in 1988.
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All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
