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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The chapter titled "Postmodernism" states the term "postmodernism" was used in the 1930s, but its current sense and vogue can be said to have begun with ________'s "The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge."

2. Which of the following terms best fit the following definition: "a form of literary criticism which uses some of the techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature"?

3. Peter Barry explains that ________'s most significant thinking was contained in the essays "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time" and "The Study of Poetry."

4. What example did Saussure use to explain what he meant by saying that there are no intrinsic, fixed meanings in language?

5. From which of Babara Johnson's literary pieces can the following definition of deconstructive reading be found according to author Peter Barry: "Deconstruction is not synonymous with 'destruction.' It is in fact much closer to the original meaning of the word 'analysis,' which etymologically means 'to undo'"?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are the five (5) codes identified by Barthes in S/Z? Explain.

2. What are the three stages of the deconstructive process? Explain.

3. What did Ferdinand de Saussure say about linguistic structures which the structuralists found so interesting?

4. What does the formula SQ3R mean? Explain.

5. What are the three particular areas that are debated and disagreed upon when it comes to feminist criticism?

6. What is structuralism? Where and when did it begin?

7. Why was Freudian interpretation interesting to literary critics?

8. Do liberal humanists use the term "human nature"? Explain.

9. Explain what Peter Barry means when he informs the reader "that it is much better to read intensely in theory than to read widely".

10. Who was I.A. Richards?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe and discuss how and why Sigmund Freud is relevant to literary theory. Give at least five supporting examples that indicate that relevance.

Essay Topic 2

Identify, list, and describe the specific functions ecocritics perform in their analysis of literary text.

Essay Topic 3

Identify, analyze, and discuss the following quote: "The most basic difference between liberal humanist and structuralist reading is that the structuralist's comments on structure, symbol, and design, become paramount, and are the main focus of the commentary, while the emphasis on any wider moral significance, and indeed on interpretation itself in the broad sense, is very much reduced."

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