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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Introduction: What is Literature?.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Eagleton, what happens when literary theory becomes "turgidly unreadable"?
(a) "It is being untrue to the importance of its form."
(b) "It is being true to its historical roots."
(c) "It is being untrue to its historical roots."
(d) "It is being true to the importance of its form."

2. How far has the "theoretical revolution" spread according to Eagleton?
(a) To the outer circle of critics and readers.
(b) Not beyond the circle of specialists and enthusiasts.
(c) Within the inner circle of critics and readers.
(d) Far beyond the circle of specialists and enthusiasts.

3. According to Eagleton, what is ironic about those who complain of the difficulty of literary theory?
(a) "That those who complain would not expect to understand a textbook of biology or chemical engineering."
(b) "That those who complain are often uncivilised and uneducated."
(c) "That those who complain would expect to understand a textbook of biology or chemical engineering."
(d) "That those who complain are often civilised and educated."

4. What example from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries does Eagleton provide that was not considered purely factual?
(a) News.
(b) Decrees.
(c) Novels.
(d) Sermons.

5. The distinction between fact and fiction in defining literature is what?
(a) Difficult.
(b) Complicated.
(c) Important.
(d) Questionable.

Short Answer Questions

1. What year did Terry Eagleton's "Literary Theory: An Introduction" first appear?

2. How do linguists describe the effect of language where "the texture, rhythm and resonance of words are in excess of their abstractable meaning."

3. According to Eagleton, when did the Russian formalists emerge?

4. What genre of writing does Eagleton provide that is an example of writing that is NOT considered to be literature?

5. During the 1960s, what kind of students began to enter higher education that broke down assumptions about literary studies?

(see the answer key)

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