Latino literature of the United States is best known as a twentieth

Question

Latino literature of the United States is best known as a twentieth-century phenomenon; beginning in the 1960s, Chicano and Puerto Rican authors, then Cuban Americans and more recent Latino arrivals, have produced a substantial and impressive body of writing. While writers in Latin America were establishing what has been called the "boom" of Latin American narrative, their U.S. counterparts were forging a distinct tradition in poetry, drama, and fiction in their own voices. It is important, however, to recognize the long history of which this movement was a part. The spectacular flowering of U.S. Latino letters from the 1960s onward grew from seeds carefully and painstakingly sown by earlier writers. Their efforts often went unrecognized by non-Latino critics as well as by younger Latino authors, who were frequently unaware of their existence.

A case in point is The Rebel by Leonor Villegas de Magnan. The work is based on the author's fascinating experiences as the founder of a nursing corps that attended to and aided the revolutionary forces in the Texas-Mexico border region during the Mexican Revolution. Frustrated in her attempts to have this memoir published in Spanish in the 1920s, Villegas de Magn6n later wrote a version in English in the 1940s, but it met a similar fate. Thanks to the efforts of contemporary scholars and the foresight of editors dedicated to promoting Latino literature, the book was finally published in 1994. It stands as another challenge to the stereotypical misconceptions regarding Mexican Americans, particularly women, of that era. Similarly, for decades, the poet William Carlos Williams, though recognized as a major American poet, was not included in the sphere of U.S. Latino culture due to the lack of appreciation of his profound Puerto Rican and Spanish American roots. Recent scholarly research, however, including Julio Marzán's groundbreaking study The Spanish American Roots of William Carlos Williams (1994), has demonstrated that this important pioneer of modern American poetry is truly worthy of the distinction; Marzán has provided evidence that Williams's poetic sensibilities reflect a more hemispheric—New World application of the term "American."

1. Which of the following most accurately describes the two books that the passage mentions as having been published in 1994?

A. A prose narrative and a commentary on the works of a poet
B. A sociological study of a literary movement and a translation of a book of poetry
C. A biography of a poet and an anthology of translations of works of fiction
D. A historical treatment of a literary movement and a collection of poems
E. A work of fiction and a biography of a fiction writer

2. The passage most strongly supports the inference that Marzán’s views regarding Williams were

A. at odds with Williams’s own views regarding his work
B. intended to corroborate claims made by scholars in the 1940s but not widely discussed until the 1990s
C. controversial and widely rejected in the mid and late 1990s
D. a crucial factor in a line of scholarly inquiry
E. instrumental in securing publication for The Rebel

3. The passage most strongly suggests that The Rebel

A. is one of at least several long works of fiction by Villegas de Magnón
B. was published first in Spanish and then years later in an English-language version
C. contains descriptions of real-life events
D. was written in Mexico before 1920 and later published in the U.S.
E. was published in 1994 in a version that was heavily revised from the 1940s version

4. The highlighted word "similarly" is most likely intended to indicate that the author of the passage holds that both Williams and Villegas de Magnón

A. initially found the ethnic nature of their writings to be a barrier to publication
B. were important contributors to the development of U.S. Latino writing but were only belatedly recognized as such
C. were for some time misclassified by scholars who were unaware of these two writers’ Latino origins
D. became more widely recognized as a result of scholarly research by Marzán
E. created writings that were at least partly intended to challenge stereotypical misconceptions about Mexican Americans

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Show Answer Question #1

Official Answer

A

Show Answer Question #2

Official Answer

D

Show Answer Question #3

Official Answer

C

Show Answer Question #4

Official Answer

B

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Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

3. The passage most strongly suggests that The Rebel:

Explanation

A.  The passage does not provide information about whether The Rebel is one of several long works of fiction by Villegas de Magnan. It specifically focuses on The Rebel and its historical context rather than discussing the author's broader body of work.

B.  This option is not supported by the passage. The passage mentions that Villegas de Magnan attempted to have The Rebel published in Spanish in the 1920s but was unsuccessful. She later wrote a version in English in the 1940s, but it met a similar fate. The book was finally published in 1994, implying that there was no prior publication in Spanish.

C.  This option is correct. The passage explicitly states that The Rebel is based on the author's experiences as the founder of a nursing corps during the Mexican Revolution, indicating that it contains descriptions of real-life events.

D.  This option is not supported by the passage. The passage mentions that Villegas de Magnan attempted to have the memoir published in Spanish in the 1920s, but it does not state that the work was written in Mexico before 1920.

E.  The passage does not provide information about significant revisions between the 1940s version and the 1994 version of The Rebel. It mentions that Villegas de Magnan wrote a version in English in the 1940s, but the focus is on the challenges of publication rather than revisions.

Answer: C

Bunuel · Answer

Foxed the formatting of the original post and added the missing three questions.

YuktiMaheshwari · Answer

Hi  GMATNinja   karishma   MartyMurray : Could you please explain question 1?

sayan640 · Answer

The two books discussed in the passage are 'Rebel'  and 'The Spanish American Roots of William Carlos Williams '.
The 'rebel' narrates first hand experiences of Leonor Villegas de Magnan as the founder of a nursing corps , and the second is a scholarly research/study/ commentary.
Focus on this part of the passage,
 Rebel by Leonor Villegas de Magnan. The work is based on the author's fascinating experiences as the founder of a nursing corps that attended to...."

Recent scholarly research, however, including Julio Marian's groundbreaking study The Spanish American Roots of William Carlos Williams (1994), has demonstrated that this important pioneer of modern American poetry is truly worthy of the distinction

Hence A is the answer.

PReciSioN · Answer

Honestly, I dont like question 1. While none of the answer choices match, Marzan's work is not a commentary on the WORKS of the poet, rather on the poet and his background itself.

musagarw · Answer

Can someone please explain the Q4 here

SergejK · Answer

In Q4, A is the trap answer as not the ethnic nature of the writings was the problem but the authors' origins. B is correct as it provides the indisputable information that both authors were only later recognised for their work. C is incorrect as nowhere is it mentioned that the authors were misclassified. D is incorrect and even assumes too much. It is incorrect as Marzan was only writing about Williams and not Villegas de Magnón, and then, we actually don't know if Marzan was responsible for the acknowledgement. It is only mentioned that Marzan was one of those that were advocating for William's work. E talks about the authors' intent, about which the passage does not provide any information.

nousernamefine · Answer

I tried to ans for Q2 basis the infor in passage that william's book was also not given credit and recog in 1940's and it was later in 1990s so i marked B. Could you help understand how D is answer to this?

GMATNinja · Answer

In order for (B) to work, the passage would have to reference scholars who, in the 1940s, tried to highlight Williams's "profound Puerto Rican and Spanish American roots," even though those roots were not  widely  discussed until the 1990s.

But that's not what the passage describes. Scholars in the 1940s did claim that Williams was a "major American poet", but that's something that WAS accepted for decades, even before the 1990s. So that would not qualify as a claim that was (1) made in the 1940s and (2) not widely discussed until the 1990s.

(D) is a better fit. For decades (before the 1990s), Williams WAS recognized as a major American poet but was NOT included in the sphere of U.S. Latino culture.

That changed with the scholarly research in the 1990s, including Marzan's  groundbreaking  1994 work. Marzan's work was groundbreaking because it represented a new perspective on Williams' poetry and roots -- there had been a LACK of appreciation of Williams's profound Puerto Rican and Spanish American roots, and Marzan's work intended to change that.

Marzan's views on Williams were groundbreaking (i.e. game-changing), so it's safe to say that those views were a CRUCIAL factor in the study of Williams's poetry and roots. All of that aligns nicely with choice (D).

I hope that helps!

GMATCoachBen · Answer

Bunuel

Suggested passage edits:

-"Marian" is a typo; it should say "Marzán".

-"Marzan" should have an accent, to match "Marzán" in the questions.

Thanks!

Vidking · Answer

I didn't understand the reasoning for rejecting option A in Q1.

egmat · Answer

Vidking  Option A is actually the  CORRECT answer , not one to reject. The first book is mentioned as a  "memoir"  in the passage, which is a  prose narrative.  The second one is being called a  "groundbreaking study"  that "provided evidence that Williams's poetic sensibilities reflect a more hemispheric...application of the term 'American.'" This is clearly  a commentary on the works of a poet —it analyzes and interprets Williams's poetry through the lens of his cultural roots.

Why would you reject this?

Latino literature of the United States is best known as a twentieth

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Latino literature of the United States is best known as a twentieth

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