GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Contexts of American Prose

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English

varsity tutors app store varsity tutors android store

All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources

1 Diagnostic Test 158 Practice Tests Question of the Day Flashcards Learn by Concept

Example Questions

Example Question #151 : Contexts Of Prose

Which of the following is not another title by the author of Fahrenheit 451?

Possible Answers:

Dandelion Wine

The Illustrated Man

Something Wicked This Way Comes

The Martian Chronicles

Stranger in a Strange Land

Correct answer:

Stranger in a Strange Land

Explanation:

The Martian Chronicles (1950), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), Dandelion Wine (1957), and The Illustrated Man (1951) are all novels by Ray Bradbury. Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) is a famous science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein.

Example Question #153 : Contexts Of Prose

To what genre does The Bushwhacked Piano belong?

Possible Answers:

Picaresque

Memoir

Political thriller

Psychological thriller

Tragedy

Correct answer:

Picaresque

Explanation:

The Bushwhacked Piano (1971) falls into the category of the picaresque, as it follows the comical misadventures of a central character (Nicholas Payne) through a series of farcical events.

Example Question #81 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925

Who is the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

Possible Answers:

Helen Thomas

Hunter S. Thompson

Seymour Hirsch

Truman Capote

Nellie Bly

Correct answer:

Hunter S. Thompson

Explanation:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (1971) is a novel by the famous American journalist Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005). Its central themes are substance abuse, the 1960s countercultural movement, excess, and ruin.

Seymour Hirsch wrote The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House (1983), Nellie Bly wrote Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887), Truman Capote wrote In Cold Blood (1965), and Helen Thomas wrote Front Row at the White House : My Life and Times (2000).

All of the alternative answer options were American literary journalists.

Example Question #82 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925

Which of the following is not another title by the author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?

Possible Answers:

Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

The Curse of Lono

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

The Rum Diary

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

Correct answer:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Explanation:

The Rum Diary (1998), The Curse of Lono (1983), Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 (1973), and Hell’s Angels (1966) are all works by Hunter S. Thompson. Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a 1972 novel by Richard Bach.

Example Question #83 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925

Who is the author of Fahrenheit 451?

Possible Answers:

Thomas McGuane

Robert A. Heinlein

Cormac McCarthy

Ray Bradbury

Ursula K. Le Guin

Correct answer:

Ray Bradbury

Explanation:

Fahrenheit 451 (1953) is one of the most famous novels by Ray Bradbury (1920-2012).

Cormac McCarthy wrote All the Pretty Horse (1992), Thomas McGuane wrote Nobody's Angel (1981), Robert A. Heinlein wrote The Number of the Beast (1980), and Ursula K. Le Guin wrote The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia (1974).

Example Question #84 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925

Who is the author of The Bushwhacked Piano?

Possible Answers:

Hunter S. Thompson

Walker Percy

Thomas McGuane

Cormac McCarthy

Robert A. Heinlein

Correct answer:

Thomas McGuane

Explanation:

The Bushwhacked Piano (1971) is one of American writer Thomas McGuane’s ten novels.

Cormac McCarthy wrote Blood Meridian (1985), Robert A. Heinlein wrote The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1968), Walker Percy wrote The Moviegoer (1961), and Hunter S. Thompson wrote Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1966).

Example Question #85 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925

Which of the following novels belongs to the same genre as The Bushwhacked Piano?

Possible Answers:

Tales from Earthsea

The Handmaid’s Tale

Blood Meridian

All the King’s Men

A Confederacy of Dunces

Correct answer:

A Confederacy of Dunces

Explanation:

Like The Bushwhacked Piano (1971), John Kennedy Toole’s acclaimed 1980 novel A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel featuring a hapless young American man and a comedic set of misadventures.

Blood Meridian (1985) by Cormac McCarthy is a revisionist western, Tales from Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin is a collection of fantasy stories, The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood is dystopian speculative fiction, and All the King’s Men (1946) by Robert Penn Warren is political fiction.

Example Question #86 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925

When was The Moviegoer published?

Possible Answers:

1930s

1950s

1940s

1960s

1970s

Correct answer:

1960s

Explanation:

The Moviegoer was first published in 1961.

Example Question #81 : Contexts Of American Prose After 1925

During what decade was The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter published?

Possible Answers:

1940s

1920s

1930s

1950s

1910s

Correct answer:

1940s

Explanation:

The novel, McCullers’ first, was set in the 1930s and published in 1940.

Example Question #91 : Contexts Of American Prose

Which of the following is another work by the author of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter?

Possible Answers:

The Lame Shall Enter First

A Good Man Is Hard To Find

The Life You Save May Be Your Own

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe

Parker’s Back

Correct answer:

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe

Explanation:

The Ballad of the Sad Café is a 1951 collection containing a novella, poems, plays, and several short stories. (The rest of these titles belong to short stories by Southern writer Flannery O’Connor.)

All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources

1 Diagnostic Test 158 Practice Tests Question of the Day Flashcards Learn by Concept
Learning Tools by Varsity Tutors