CLEP Humanities : Answering Other Questions About Fiction
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for CLEP Humanities
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Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Answering Other Questions About Twentieth Century Fiction
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to an author for __________.
a singular achievement in composing one poem
an author's literary output in a single year
an entire career of literary achievement
excellent work in multiple genres
a singular achievement in composing one novel
an entire career of literary achievement
The Nobel Prize in Literature, first established by Alfred Nobel's will in 1895, rewards authors for their total "work," which is read by the prize committee to mean an author's entire output for their career. The Nobel prize can be given to an author working in any field of literature, be it fiction, poetry, or even nonfiction. Usually, the Nobel Prize is seen as capping the career of an author, and is awarded usually to older writers.
Example Question #2 : Fiction
Which twentieth-century novel features a detailed rumination on “kitsch"?
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Swell Season
All Quiet on the Western Front
Pale Fire
The Stranger
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being features the 1968 Prague spring uprising as a background story for its characters' lives. The novel also discusses many philosophical themes, particularly the low-art known as "kitsch." Kundera's discussion of kitsch helps reflect on the "lightness" in the title of the novel.
Example Question #1 : Answering Other Questions About Twentieth Century Fiction
In a novel, a narrator that can see every event and understands every character's motivation is describes as a __________.
first person narrator
second person narrator
multiple first person narrators
third person omniscient narrator
third person limited narrator
third person omniscient narrator
A third person narrator describes a narrator whose perspective is from outside any individual's own thoughts. An omniscient narrator describes a narrator that knows and understands every event and character motivation. This is one of the most common kinds of narration, along with first person narration, which is told from the point of view of a single character. A third person limited omniscient narrator has a perspective from outside, but can only understand the motivation of one, primary character. A first person narrator uses "I" and narrates from one character's perspective. A second person narrator uses "you."
Example Question #1 : Answering Other Questions About Nineteenth Century Fiction
A "serialized" novel refers to a novel that was originally published __________.
as a shorter piece
under a pseudonym
in successive editions of a magazine or newspaper
in a heavily redacted format
in a limited run
in successive editions of a magazine or newspaper
Serialized publication was the most common form of initial publication for many novels in the nineteenth century, particularly the works of Charles Dickens. Typically, magazines would publish short sections, usually just a chapter at a time, in each edition of the publication. This form of publication would allow readers to see a novel in small chunks, and eagerly buy up the next edition of the magazine.
Example Question #1 : Answering Other Questions About Fiction
What is the novel that begins with the line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"?
Sense and Sensibility
Les Miserables
A Tale of Two Cities
Middlemarch
Great Expectations
A Tale of Two Cities
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," the opening line from A Tale of Two Cities, is one of the most famous opening lines in literature. It also explains the themes of the novel: Charles Dickens' story of the French Revolution contrasts what the revolutionaries wanted as being noble with the savagery and anarchy caused by this desire.
Example Question #1 : Answering Other Questions About Fiction
A bildungsroman refers to a novel in which __________.
the characters are slightly fictionalized versions of real life people
the story is told from multiple perspectives
the characters in the story all have a larger symbolic purpose
a character grows from an adolescent to an adult
the narrator has a limited perspective on the story
a character grows from an adolescent to an adult
A "bildungsroman," which is German for a "coming of age novel," is a novel whose story concerns the development and growth of the main character. Typically, the novel will feature a main character who grows from adolescence to adulthood throughout the story. Classic examples of the genre are David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
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