#18 - Global, Must, Author's and Subject Perspective

[npant120]

Hello,

I still do not fully understand where answer choice B is supported in Passage B. I understand how Borges would agree with this answer, but the way I interpreted passage B is that there are specific reading protocols "assigned" to certain texts, which classifies them into particular genres. Answer choice B implies that the reader can choose whichever protocol they want to use so that any science fiction story could be read as a detective story. Is this why this answer choice is correct? Is passage B implying that the author or the reader is in charge of the protocol used for each story? Just looking for some help in understanding this - all the other answers definitely look wrong, but B confused me for sure.

[npant120]

I may have just answered my own question here, but is the evidence for this in the line in passage B that says "We are free to read any text by any reading protocol we wish."? I am assuming this is what makes answer choice B correct, but let me know if I am missing something!

[Robert Carroll]

npant120,

Your second post is correct! That's the basis for answer choice (B).

Going a bit beyond that, note that when passage B speaks of genre classification, the author isn't demarcating genres very strongly. If a certain reading protocol produces a richer experience when reading a certain work, then that work is central to that genre. Sometimes, that won't even happen, as with borderline cases. Genre classification then isn't about how you MUST read a work, but which of the many choices you have (as, after all, you can read anything any way you want) will produce the richest experience. So everything CAN be read as anything - but those works which, when read a certain way, produce a richer experience, are the paradigm examples of that particular genre.

Robert Carroll