GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Contexts of American Prose
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #537 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
What philosophical system did the author of The Fountainhead engender?
Logical Positivism
Nihilism
Objectivism
Existentialism
McCarthyism
Objectivism
Objectivism, which has been described variously as rational individualism and monomaniacal solipsism, claims that the pinnacle of human accomplishment is personal success and happiness. These philosophical views are developed most thoroughly in Atlas Shrugged (1957).
The Fountainhead was published in 1943.
Example Question #62 : Contexts Of American Prose
When was Sophie’s Choice published?
1940s
1930s
1970s
1960s
1950s
1970s
Sophie’s Choice was originally published in 1979, although it did not win the National Book Award until 1980.
Example Question #61 : Contexts Of American Prose
Who is the author of The Grapes of Wrath?
Jack Kerouac
John Steinbeck
Richard Ford
John Dos Passos
Philip Roth
John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is the fifth major novel by John Steinbeck (1902-1968).
Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road (1957), John Dos Passos wrote A Pushcart at the Curb (1922), Richard Ford wrote Independence Day (1995), and Philip Roth wrote The Prague Orgy (1985)
All of these authors are American novelists who were active in the 20th century.
Example Question #62 : Contexts Of American Prose
Which of the following is not another novel by the author of The Grapes of Wrath?
East of Eden
Cannery Row
In Dubious Battle
The 42nd Parallel
Of Mice and Men
The 42nd Parallel
In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Mice and Men (1937), East of Eden (1952), The Grapes of Wrath (1939), and Cannery Row (1945) are all by John Steinbeck. The 42nd Parallel is a 1930 novel by John Dos Passos.
Example Question #63 : Contexts Of American Prose
Which of the following is a novella by the author of The Grapes of Wrath?
Billy Budd
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The Pearl
In Watermelon Sugar
Miracle on 34th Street
The Pearl
While all of these titles are novellas, only The Pearl (1947) is by John Steinbeck, who also wrote The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) is by Valentine Davies, Billy Budd (1924) is by Herman Melville, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) is by Truman Capote, and In Watermelon Sugar (1968) is by Richard Brautigan.
Example Question #64 : Contexts Of American Prose
Who is the author of Angle of Repose?
John Fowles
James Michener
John Hawkes
Wallace Stegner
E. Annie Proulx
Wallace Stegner
Angle of Repose (1971) is the tenth novel of American author Wallace Stegner (1909-1993).
James Michener wrote Tales of the South Pacific (1947) (he was also a noted patron of the arts and the founder of the Michener Foundation), E. Annie Proulx wrote Postcards (1992), John Hawkes wrote The Cannibal (1949), and John Fowles wrote The Collector (1963).
Example Question #65 : Contexts Of American Prose
When was Angle of Repose published?
1940s
1950s
1980s
1960s
1970s
1970s
Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose was published in 1971 and won the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Example Question #65 : Contexts Of American Prose
Which of the following is not another work by the author of Angle of Repose?
All the Little Live Things
The Big Rock Candy Mountain
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Spectator Bird
On a Darkling Plain
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Big Rock Candy Mountain (1943), On a Darkling Plain (1940), All the Little Live Things (1967), Angle of Repose (1971) and The Spectator Bird (1967) are by Wallace Stegner. A Confederacy of Dunces is a famous 1980 novel by John Kennedy Toole.
Example Question #66 : Contexts Of American Prose
With which region is the author of Angle of Repose most closely associated?
The American Southwest
The American Midwest
The American West
Continental Europe
The South Pacific
The American West
Wallace Stegner has been known as “the dean of Western writers” and had close ties with the University of Utah during his life. Angle of Repose (1971) is one of his many works set in the American West.
Example Question #68 : Contexts Of American Prose
Who is the author of Sophie’s Choice?
John Kennedy Toole
John Fowles
William Styron
William Kennedy
James Michener
William Styron
Sophie’s Choice (1979) is William Styron’s sixth novel and is the winner of the 1980 National Book Award. It concerns a tragic decision that the eponymous heroine had to make during the Holocaust.
James Michener wrote The Drifters (1971), William Kennedy wrote The Ink Truck (1969), John Kennedy Toole wrote A Confederacy of Dunces (1980), and John Fowles wrote The Ebony Tower (1974).
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