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. Cultural studies aim to demonstrate how people are affected by ___________.

2. Some scholars fear that literature could inspire _____________.

3. In English literature, many lead characters were written in order to inspire ______________.

4. In terms of reading a literary work, Culler believes publication places what burden on a reader?

5. According to the majority of theorists, who has the power to determine what can be known as literature?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the goal of cultural studies?

2. What factors determine what will be read by a particular society?

3. According to Chapter 3, how have cultural studies expanded the literary canon?

4. In Chapter 2, why are the use of words and language so meaningful to literature?

5. When was literature used in Britain to control the masses?

6. How do literary theorists explain the procedure used by poetics?

7. Why is publishing considered a stamp of approval on a literary work?

8. Based on Chapter 1, what is the purpose of the critique that often comes from literary theory?

9. According to Chapter 4, what does "reader-response" criticism depend upon?

10. According to the Western culture, what does language help to express?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the differences between constative and performance utterances.

1) What are the rules behind these two devices?

2) How do they affect the meaning of literature?

3) In what ways do they conflict with one another?

Essay Topic 2

Readers identify with characters in literature. Theorists believe this identification can accomplish many things, both on a personal and societal level. Write an essay analyzing the many ways reader identification can influence a reader, citing examples from the text.

Essay Topic 3

Novels, like any good form of literature, offer the opportunity to educate the reader about different lifestyles and social injustice. Write an essay examining how and why the structure and delivery of a novel can achieve these objectives, citing examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 557 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample