View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who presented I.A. Richard with the manuscript of the book which was published in 1930 with the title Seven Types of Ambiguity?

2. According to the narrator in the Introduction, the ________ probably saw the high-water mark of literary theory.

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

4. Who does Peter Barry claim described the feminist change in the late 1970s as a shift of attention from "andro-texts" to "gyno-texts"?

5. Author Peter Barry explains that all of the following are part of the three stages of the deconstructive process except for which one?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain the Oedipus complex of Sigmund Freud.

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

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

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

5. What is "ecriture feminine"?

6. How does Disneyland fit into the concept of hyperreality according to Baurdrillard?

7. What is a theoretical difference between structuralist and post-structuralist?

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

9. Briefly explain what post-structuralist critics do.

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

Distinguish modernism from post-modernism according to the book "Beginning Theory." Be sure to include the origin of both theories.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze and describe the organizational structure of New Historicism theory.

Essay Topic 3

In an argumentative essay, state whether you believe stylistics is a theory or a practice.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 742 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample