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- Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:00 am
#73659
Complete Question Explanation
The correct answer choice is (A).
This Concept Reference question calls for a widely-held view in the US. There are two places where the US is referred to by name - the very beginning of the passage and the discussion that starts with line 15. In both places, the US view is a view that distrusts generalism and thinks that authors should focus on one literary genre. More specifically, poets should write poetry, not fiction, and fiction writers should write fiction, not poetry. A good prephrase would get at the element of separation of genres in the US view.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice.: Lines 10-11 tell us that character and narrative events are distinctive of fiction. If the US view is that poetry and fiction shouldn't be mixed, then poets should not employ these characteristic elements of fiction.
Answer choice (B): There is no indication that poetry is more serious than fiction or vice versa, so there is no basis for the comparison in this answer choice.
Answer choice (C): The first sentence tells us that graduate programs focus on one or other of the two genres, but there is no indication of a bias, so this answer is out.
Answer choice (D): This is a classic Opposite answer. Line 9 tells us that poetry is lyrical. The US view is that fiction and poetry should be separate. If fiction incorporated lyrical elements, it would be incorporating elements of poetry, which would mix the genres. This is precisely the opposite of what the US view wants.
Answer choice (E): We don't know what the US view of Europeans is from this passage, so there is no way to infer anything about the US view of European literary cultures.
The correct answer choice is (A).
This Concept Reference question calls for a widely-held view in the US. There are two places where the US is referred to by name - the very beginning of the passage and the discussion that starts with line 15. In both places, the US view is a view that distrusts generalism and thinks that authors should focus on one literary genre. More specifically, poets should write poetry, not fiction, and fiction writers should write fiction, not poetry. A good prephrase would get at the element of separation of genres in the US view.
Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice.: Lines 10-11 tell us that character and narrative events are distinctive of fiction. If the US view is that poetry and fiction shouldn't be mixed, then poets should not employ these characteristic elements of fiction.
Answer choice (B): There is no indication that poetry is more serious than fiction or vice versa, so there is no basis for the comparison in this answer choice.
Answer choice (C): The first sentence tells us that graduate programs focus on one or other of the two genres, but there is no indication of a bias, so this answer is out.
Answer choice (D): This is a classic Opposite answer. Line 9 tells us that poetry is lyrical. The US view is that fiction and poetry should be separate. If fiction incorporated lyrical elements, it would be incorporating elements of poetry, which would mix the genres. This is precisely the opposite of what the US view wants.
Answer choice (E): We don't know what the US view of Europeans is from this passage, so there is no way to infer anything about the US view of European literary cultures.