GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : Cultural and Historical Contexts
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #14 : Contexts Of World Prose
What country is the author of Independent People from?
Sweden
Finland
Iceland
Norway
Denmark
Iceland
Halldór Laxness is Icelandic – the only Icelandic writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Example Question #361 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Which of the following is not another work by the author of Independent People?
Iceland’s Bell
Under the Glacier
The Fish Can Sing
World Light
Finn Family Moomintroll
Finn Family Moomintroll
Finn Family Moomintroll is a 1948 children’s book by Tove Jansson, the creator of the beloved Moomin creatures. The Fish Can Sing (1957), World Light (1969), Iceland’s Bell (1943), and Under the Glacier (1972) are all by Laxness.
Example Question #362 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Which of the following is not another work by the author of Love in the Time of Cholera?
One Hundred Years of Solitude
“A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”
Of Love and Other Demons
Chronicle of a Death Foretold
Like Water For Chocolate
Like Water For Chocolate
Like Water For Chocolate is a 1989 novel by the Mexican novelist Laura Esquivel. Of Love and Other Demons was published in 1994, One Hundred Years of Solitude was published in 1967, Chronicle of a Death Foretold was published in 1981, Love in the Time of Cholera was published in 1985, and “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” was published in 1955 – all by Gabriel García Márquez.
Example Question #363 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
To which of the following genres does Love in the Time of Cholera belong?
Surrealism
Dadaism
Fantasy
Magical Realism
Science Fiction
Magical Realism
Gabriel García Márquez is known primarily as a magical realist writer, and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985), one of his most famous novels, is no exception to this blend of everyday realism and unexplained magical events.
Example Question #361 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Who is the author of Independent People?
Stieg Larsson
Tove Jansson
Halldór Laxness
Henrik Ibsen
Karl Ove Knausgård
Halldór Laxness
The poet, playwright, and fiction writer Halldór Laxness (née Halldór Guðjónsson) wrote the novel Independent People (1934), a two-volume work about the difficult lives of impoverished Icelandic farmers in the early 1900s.
Tove Jansson wrote Kometjakten (Comet in Moominland) (1946), Stieg Larsson wrote Män som hatar kvinnor (literally translated as "Men Who Hate Women," published in English under the title The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) (2005), Karl Ove Knausgård wrote Min Kamp (My Struggle) (2009-2011), and Henrik Ibsen wrote Peer Gynt (1867).
Example Question #19 : Contexts Of World Prose
During what decade was Independent People published?
1920s
1930s
1910s
1900s
1890s
1930s
Halldór Laxness published Independent People in two parts in 1934 and 1935.
Example Question #365 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
Who is the author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle?
Ha Jin
Yu Hua
David Mitchell
Banana Yoshimoto
Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami
Published in 1994, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is Haruki Murakami’s eighth novel.
Ha Jin wrote In the Pond (1998), David Mitchell wrote Cloud Atlas (2004), Banana Yoshimoto wrote Hardboiled & Hard Luck (1999), and Yu Hua wrote Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (1995).
Example Question #21 : Contexts Of World Prose
What country is the author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle from?
Japan
China
Vietnam
North Korea
South Korea
Japan
Haruki Murakami is a contemporary Japanese novelist. He was born in Kyoto. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle was published in 1994.
Example Question #602 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
Which of the following is not another work by the author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle?
Kafka on the Shore
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant
A Wild Sheep Chase
1Q84
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant is a 1995 novel by the Chinese author Yu Hua. The other titles are all novels by Murakami, who is also a short story writer.
Kafka on the Shore was published in 2002, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World was published in 1985, 1Q84 was published in 2009, and A Wild Sheep Chase 1982.
Example Question #362 : Cultural And Historical Contexts
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle contains all but which of the following elements?
Strange coincidence
An attack on a bird sanctuary
A series of unusual characters
Violence
Fantasy
An attack on a bird sanctuary
Murakami’s fiction is distinguished by his mingling of realism and fantasy, with that realism often touching on dark aspects of contemporary society. Strange characters and coincidences are also hallmarks of Murakami’s novels. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle does not, however, contain an attack on a bird sanctuary.
Certified Tutor
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
