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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. Which of the following term best can be defined as one in which we cannot know where we are, since all the concepts which previously defined the center, and hence also the margins, have been "deconstructed," or undermined?

2. Sigmund Freud believed that a ________ was an escape-hatch or safety-valve through which repressed desires, fears, or memories seek an outlet into the conscious mind.

3. The narrator explains that the first prestigious name in English writing about literature was that of ________, who wrote his "Apology for Poetry" in about 1580.

4. In the chapter titled Structuralism, Saussure used the terms ________ and ________ to signify language as a system or structure on the one hand, and any given utterance in that language on the other.

5. According to Peter Barry in the chapter titled Structuralism, the novel "Middlemarch" is an example of a literary ________.

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Explain F.D. Maurice's opinions of literature as detailed in the chapter "Theory Before Theory--Liberal Humanism."

3. In which way is post-structuralism more fundamental than structuralism?

4. Discuss Sigmund Freud's concept of "dream work."

5. What does the formula SQ3R mean? Explain.

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

7. Explain how literary theory, after Sir Phillip Sydney, was significantly advanced in the eighteenth century.

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

9. Why was the representation of women in literature felt to be one of the most important forms of socialization?

10. Briefly summarize author Peter Barry's own introduction to literary theory as seen in "My own stock-taking" found within the "Introduction."

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss how women are represented by both men and women in a piece of literature that you have read in the past. Explain how this representation of women would be viewed by feminist critics.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss what it means to read literature with the perspective of "Orientalism" in mind.

Essay Topic 3

Explain how deconstruction ties into post-structuralism. Use specific examples from the text to support your answer.

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