GRE Subject Test: Literature in English : GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
Study concepts, example questions & explanations for GRE Subject Test: Literature in English
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #8 : Contexts Of British Prose After 1925
Which of the following is least likely to be the title of a (hypothetical) critical essay about Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World?
"Love in the Time of Dystopia"
"Castes and Conditioning: Educational Methods"
"Natural Reproduction: An Antiquated Approach"
"Gender Identity: A Fluid Paradigm"
"Gentle Tyranny: Leaders of the World State"
"Gender Identity: A Fluid Paradigm"
Set in the fictional and futuristic World State dictatorship, Huxley’s novel is darkly dystopian and concerns a society where natural reproduction no longer occurs. Instead, babies are grown in scientific labs and separated into artificial castes, where they are conditioned and raised to have only a certain level of intelligence. The novel centers on the relationship between two characters, Lenina Crowne and Bernard Marx, and the various ways in which they defy societal expectations and rules. The only subject not covered in this novel is gender identity.
Example Question #452 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
Which of the following contemporary British authors is known for her three novels about World War I and for her use of real English poet-soldiers such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon as characters?
A. S. Byatt
Hilary Mantel
Zadie Smith
Pat Barker
Carol Ann Duffy
Pat Barker
The author is Pat Barker, and the novels are Regeneration, The Eye in the Door, and The Ghost Road. The works concern the lives and mental illnesses of several English soldiers (including Sassoon and Owen) in a psychiatric hospital during World War I.
Example Question #9 : Contexts Of British Prose After 1925
Which British writer could be described as a modern-day fairy tale writer?
Kate Atkinson
P. D. James
Nadifa Mohamed
Angela Carter
A. S. Byatt
Angela Carter
Angela Carter was well known for her fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays, but one of her best known works of fiction is The Bloody Chamber, a short story collection that presents familiar fairy tales with an unfamiliar (and often feminist) twist.
Example Question #451 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
Which of the following modernist British novels does not include an important love affair?
1984
The Heart of the Matter
Lady Chatterly’s Lover
Brideshead Revisited
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange
All of the above books except A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, feature some form of adultery or romantic secrecy.
Example Question #32 : Contexts Of Prose
Which of the following contemporary British novels does not include an important love affair?
None of these choices
The Satanic Verses
White Teeth
Wolf Hall
Never Let Me Go
None of these choices
All of the above novels feature important love affairs. In Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, there are several significant acts of adultery or romantic secrecy. In Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian Never Let Me Go, the three main characters are involved in a love triangle. In Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, one of the two protagonists pursues the mountaineer he is in love with. In Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, the infamous Henry VIII pursues romantic dalliances with various women.
Example Question #33 : Contexts Of Prose
During what decade was The Remains of the Day published and awarded the Man Booker Prize?
1940s
1960s
1970s
1950s
1980s
1980s
The Remains of the Day was published in 1989, and it won the Booker Prize that same year. It is Kazuo Ishiguro’s third novel.
Example Question #457 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
What country was the author of The Remains of the Day born in?
Japan
North Korea
Indonesia
South Africa
China
Japan
Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan. He moved to England with his family when he was five years old and is considered an English author.
Example Question #37 : Contexts Of British Prose
During what decade was White Teeth published?
2010s
1990s
2000s
1980s
1970s
2000s
White Teeth, Zadie Smith’s first novel, was published in 2000 and won the Whitbread Book Award for a first novel, the Guardian First Book Award, and the Commonwealth Writers First Book Prize the same year.
Example Question #41 : Contexts Of Prose
Which of the following is not another work by the author of White Teeth?
The Autograph Man
NW
The Embassy of Cambodia
On Beauty
Possession
Possession
The Autograph Man (2002), On Beauty (2005), NW (2012), The Embassy of Cambodia (2013) are all by Zadie Smith. Possession (1990) is a novel by the English author A.S. Byatt.
Example Question #459 : Gre Subject Test: Literature In English
During what decade was I, Claudius published?
1900s
1940s
1920s
1930s
1910s
1930s
I, Claudius was published in 1934.
All GRE Subject Test: Literature in English Resources
