GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #292 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Who is the author of The Fountainhead?
Anton Chekhov
Kate Chopin
Leon Trotsky
Ayn Rand
Barbara Kingsolver
Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead (1943) is Ayn Rand’s best-selling second novel. It concerns the independent, cutthroat architect Howard Roark; his idealistic lover, Dominique Francon; and his competitor, the sycophantic Peter Keating.
Leon Trotsky wrote My Life (1930), Anton Chekhov wrote The Duel (1891), Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening (1899), and Barbara Kingsolver wrote The Poisonwood Bible (1998).
Example Question #293 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
What is another novel by the author of The Fountainhead?
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Atlas Shrugged
The Stranger
Tender is the Night
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Atlas Shrugged
Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s third and final novel, is arguably her most famous work and was published in 1957. Tender is the Night (1934) is by F. Scott Fitzgerald, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) is by Ernest Hemingway, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1940)is by Carson McCullers, and The Stranger (1942)is by Albert Camus.
Example Question #42 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925
During what decade was The Fountainhead published?
1950s
1960s
1940s
1920s
1930s
1940s
The Fountainhead was published in 1943 after being rejected by a dozen publishing houses.
Example Question #294 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Which of the following is a central subject of Naked Lunch?
A cold case murder
Transvestitism
A famous abduction
Pedophilia
Drug addiction
Drug addiction
Through a series of loosely connected, non-chronological vignettes, Naked Lunch (1959) portrays the adventures and struggles of the drug addict William Lee.
Example Question #295 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Who is the author of Naked Lunch?
William S. Burroughs
Henry Miller
Hunter S. Thompson
Ernest Hemingway
Thomas Wolfe
William S. Burroughs
Naked Lunch is a novel published by William S. Burroughs in 1959.
Hunter S. Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971), Thomas Wolfe wrote the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968), Henry Miller wrote Tropic of Cancer (1934), and Ernest Hemingway wrote A Moveable Feast (1964).
Example Question #45 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925
During what decade was Naked Lunch originally published?
1970s
1940s
1930s
1950s
1940s
1950s
This is a tricky question. Naked Lunch was first released in Paris in 1959, although it could not be published in the United States until 1962 because of American obscenity laws.
Example Question #296 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Which of the following was not one of the reasons that Naked Lunch was censored in the United States?
Depiction of drug addiction
Obscene language
Depiction of the murder of a child
Depiction of pedophilia
Anti-Catholic language
Anti-Catholic language
Burroughs’ highly controversial work did not include anti-Catholic language, although it did include a parody of anti-Semitic language. Burroughs was notably supported in his obscenity trial by writers Norman Mailer and Allen Ginsberg, among others.
Naked Lunch was published in 1959.
Example Question #118 : Contexts Of Prose
Who is the author of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”?
Kate Chopin
Mary Robison
Ayn Rand
Barbara Kingsolver
Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” (1966) is one of Joyce Carol Oates’ best known short stories.
Mary Robison wrote Believe Them: Stories (1988), Ayn Rand wrote We the Living (1936), Kate Chopin wrote "The Storm" (1898), and Barbara Kingsolver wrote Animal Dreams (1990).
Example Question #301 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Which of the following is not another work by the author of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”?
them
Black Water
Too Much Happiness
What I Lived For
The Wheel of Love and Other Stories
Too Much Happiness
Too Much Happiness (2009) is a short story collection by the Canadian writer Alice Munro. All the other titles are works by Joyce Carol Oates.
Black Water was published in 1992, What I Lived For was published in 1994, The Wheel of Love and Other Stories was published in 1970, and them was published in 1969.
Example Question #302 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
What philosophical system did the author of The Fountainhead engender?
Objectivism
Logical Positivism
McCarthyism
Nihilism
Existentialism
Objectivism
Objectivism, which has been described variously as rational individualism and monomaniacal solipsism, claims that the pinnacle of human accomplishment is personal success and happiness. These philosophical views are developed most thoroughly in Atlas Shrugged (1957).
The Fountainhead was published in 1943.
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