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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 narrator explains that post-structuralism emerged in France in the late ________.

2. According to the narrator in the Introduction, what two introductions to theory sources deal with the problems of teaching or learning theory?

3. The narrator states that the study of English literature was seen as a kind of substitute for ________.

4. The narrator explains in the Introduction that the emphasis on practice means that this is what form of book?

5. What was the name of the American literature lecturer mentioned in the Introduction who died in January of 1995?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

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

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

6. Discuss how J.A. Cuddon describes postmodernism in his "Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory."

7. How is French feminism different from American feminism?

8. What is "ecriture feminine"?

9. Discuss what higher education was like in England until the first quarter of the nineteenth century, according to the chapter titled "Theory Before Theory--Liberal Humanism."

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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."

Essay Topic 2

Analyze and discuss Peter Barry's instructional approach to literary theory.

Essay Topic 3

Explain how Peter Barry draws a parallel between gay and lesbian theory.

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