Most literature is written such that the order of reading is unambiguo

Question

Most literature is written such that the order of reading is unambiguous. Indeed, most Western prose is intended to be read from left to right and top to bottom. This is not the only system, however; texts written in Arabic or Hebrew are read from right to left, and hieroglyphics, which can seem  involved  to modern eyes, were understood by ancient readers to be read vertically, down columns arranged from left to right. There exist, on the other hand, works of literature that require effort on the part of the reader to determine an appropriate order for reading the text on the page or even an appropriate order of the pages themselves. These works of ergodic literature (from the Greek ergon, meaning “work,” and hodos, meaning “path”) challenge the reader to be an active participant in experiencing the prose. The I Ching, for example, instructs the reader to pick random numbers and use them to look up passages to read. Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves is a modern illustration of ergodic literature. One chapter in which a group of characters traverses a maze is presented in a similarly labyrinthine manner: the reader must navigate text that winds back and forth, upside-down and right-side-up, and across and between pages to follow the episode.

Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

1 
 1. Which of the following would the author of the passage most likely consider an example of ergodic literature?

A. Guillaume Apollinaire’s Calligrammes, a book of poetry in which the text is arranged into complicated shapes and images that carry as much meaning as the text itself
B. James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, a novel written in a stream of consciousness style, which lacks a clear plot and includes a large number of made-up words
C. Marc Saporta’s Composition No. 1, a work of literature presented as a box of 150 loose pages intended to be shuffled and read in a random order

2 
 2. In the context in which it appears, “involved” most nearly means

(A) participatory
(B) troubling
(C) intelligible
(D) archaic
(E) complex

Carcass · Answer

QUESTION #1 Official Explanation

A, C   The passage defines ergodic literature as works that present the text, pages, or chapters without a prescribed order. Both (A) and (C) fit this definition, as Calligrammes presents the text such that it is not to be read “left to right and top to bottom,” and Composition No. 1 does not have a prescribed order to its pages. If matching these answer choices to the definition alone is difficult, compare them to the texts mentioned in the passage; Calligrammes is similar to House of Leaves in its arrangement of text on the page, and Composition No. 1 is similar to the I Ching in the randomness involved in determining its order of reading. (B) does not match this definition. While Finnegans Wake might be difficult to understand or interpret, there is nothing in the description of the novel that suggests that determining the order of reading requires effort on the part of the reader. ​​E

Carcass · Answer

QUESTION #2 Official Explanation

E  Hieroglyphics are described in the passage as having a prescribed order of reading that is different from that of many modern forms of writing, and the passage states that this order was “understood” by ancient readers. By contrast, modern readers might find them difficult to understand or excessively complicated, and this is exactly what “involved” means in this context. (E) complex is a close match for this definition and is the correct answer. (A) participatory is a common definition of “involved,” but the sentence does not specify anything that the hieroglyphics are participating in. There is nothing in the passage to suggest that hieroglyphics are (B) troubling, and (C) intelligible or “easily read or understood” is the opposite of the meaning expressed in the sentence. Finally, hieroglyphics are described as (D) archaic or “ancient,” but this answer choice misses the contrast between the difficulty modern readers may have in reading hieroglyphics and the ease with which contemporary readers understood their arrangement.

Most literature is written such that the order of reading is unambiguo

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