The work of South African writer Ezekiel Mphahlele has confounded

Question

The work of South African writer Ezekiel Mphahlele has confounded literary critics, especially those who feel compelled to draw a sharp distinction between autobiography and fiction. These critics point to Mphahlele’s best-known works—his 1959 autobiography  Down Second Avenue  and his 1971 novel  The Wanderers —to illustrate the problem of categorizing his work. While his autobiography traces his life from age five until the beginning of his self-imposed 20-year exile at age thirty-eight,  The Wanderers  appears to pick up at the beginning of his exile and go on from there. Critics have variously decried the former as too fictionalized and the latter as too autobiographical, but those who focus on traditional labels inevitably miss the fact that Mphahlele manipulates different prose forms purely in the service of the social message he advances.

Even where critics give him a favorable reading, all too often their reviews carry a  negative subtext.  For example, one critic said of  The Wanderers  that if anger, firsthand experiences, compassion, and topicality were the sole requirements for great literature, the novel might well be one of the masterpieces of this declining part of the twentieth century. And although this critic may not have meant to question the literary contribution of the novel, there are those who are outright dismissive of  The Wanderers  because it contains an autobiographical framework and is populated with real-world characters. Mphahlele briefly defends against such charges by pointing out the importance of the fictional father-son relationship that opens and closes the novel. But his greater concern is the social vision that pervades his work, though it too is prone to misunderstandings and underappreciation. Mphahlele is a humanist and an integrationist, and his writings wonderfully articulate his vision of the future; but critics often balk at this vision because Mphahlele provides no road maps for bringing such a future about.

Mphahlele himself shows little interest in establishing guidelines to distinguish autobiography from fiction. Though he does refer to Down Second Avenue as an autobiography and  The Wanderers  as a novel, he asserts that no novelist can write complete fiction or absolute fact. It is the nature of writing, at least the writing he cares about, that the details must be drawn from the writer’s experiences, and thus are in some sense fact, but conveyed in such a way as to maximize the effectiveness of the social message contained in the work, and thus inevitably fiction. As he claims, the whole point of the exercise of writing has nothing to do with classification; in all forms writing is the transmission of ideas, and important ideas at that:  “Whenever you write prose or poetry or drama you are writing a social criticism of one kind or another. If you don’t, you are completely irrelevant—you don’t count.”     1 
 1. Based on the passage, with which one of the following statements would Mphahlele be most likely to agree?

(A) All works of literature should articulate a vision of the future.
(B) It is not necessary for a writer to write works to fit predetermined categories.
(C) Literary categories are worth addressing only when literary works are being unjustifiably dismissed.
(D) Most works of literature that resemble novels could accurately be classified as autobiographies.
(E) The most useful categories in literature are those that distinguish prose from poetry and poetry from drama.

2 
 2. The passage states that Mphahlele believes which one of the following?

(A) Writing should provide a guide for achieving social change.
(B) Writing should have as its goal the transmission of ideas.
(C) Writing is most effective when it minimizes the use of real people and events to embellish a story.
(D) Good writing is generally more autobiographical than fictional.
(E) Fiction and autobiography are clearly identifiable literary forms if the work is composed properly.

3 
 3. In lines 18–25, the author uses the phrase “negative subtext” ( Highlighted ) in reference to the critic’s comment to claim that

(A) the critic believes that Mphahlele himself shows little interest in establishing guidelines that distinguish fact from fiction in literature
(B) the comment is unfairly one-sided and gives no voice to perspectives that Mphahlele might embrace
(C) the requirement of firsthand experiences mentioned in the comment is in direct contradiction to the requirements of fiction
(D) the requirements for great literature mentioned in the comment are ill conceived, thus the requirements have little bearing on what great literature really is
(E) the requirements for great literature mentioned in the comment are not the sole requirements, thus Mphahlele’s work is implied by the critic not to be great literature

4 
 4. According to the passage, critics offer which one of the following reasons for their dismissal of  The Wanderers ?

(A) It should not have been populated with realworld characters.
(B) It should have been presented as an autobiography.
(C) It does not clearly display Mphahlele’s vision.
(D) It intends to deliver controversial social criticisms.
(E) It places too much emphasis on relationships.

5 
 5. The author quotes Mphahlele (lines 55–58:  “Whenever you write prose or poetry or drama you are writing a social criticism of one kind or another. If you don’t, you are completely irrelevant—you don’t count.” ) primarily in order to

(A) demonstrate Mphahlele’s eloquence as a writer
(B) provide a common goal of writing among novelists
(C) further elaborate the kind of writing Mphahlele values
(D) introduce the three literary forms Mphahlele uses to write social criticism
(E) show that Mphahlele makes no distinction among prose, poetry, and drama

6 
 6. Which one of the following aspects of Mphahlele’s work does the author of the passage appear to value most highly?

(A) his commitment to communicating social messages
(B) his blending of the categories of fiction and autobiography
(C) his ability to redefine established literary categories
(D) his emphasis on the importance of details
(E) his plan for bringing about the future he envisions

7 
 7. Which one of the following is most strongly suggested by the information in the passage?

(A) Mphahlele’s stance as a humanist and an integrationist derives from an outlook on writing that recognizes a sharp distinction between fiction and autobiography.
(B) The social vision contained in a work is irrelevant to critics who feel compelled to find distinct categories in which to place literary works.
(C) Critics are concerned with categorizing the works they read not as a means to judge the quality of the works but as a way of discovering tendencies within literary traditions.
(D) If Mphahlele were to provide direction as to how his vision of the future might be realized, more critics might find this vision acceptable.
(E) For a work to be classified as a novel, it must not contain any autobiographical elements.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

2. The passage states that Mphahlele believes which one of the following?

Difficulty Level:   650

Explanation

In this question we need to review Mphahlele’s beliefs, stated most directly at the end of  paragraph 3 . Writing is the transmission of ideas, according to Mphahlele. The relevance of a piece of writing resides solely in the writing’s effectiveness as social criticism. Scan the choices, and  (B)  captures those core beliefs.

(A)  is a 180. Mphahlele himself did not provide a guide for achieving the future he envisioned. Why would he demand it of others?

(C)  distorts Mphahlele’s point that a writer cannot write fiction without incorporating some details from the writer’s life experiences. Mphahlele says nothing about any need to minimize this injection of real details into a piece of fiction.

(D)  is another distortion. According to Mphahlele, good writing criticizes society in some way—the amount of autobiographical detail is not a determining factor in evaluating a piece of writing.

(E)  is another 180—Mphahlele is not at all interested in maintaining a clear separation between fiction and autobiography, and he holds that such a separation is in fact impossible to achieve.

Answer: B

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

3. In lines 18–25, the author uses the phrase “negative subtext” (Highlighted) in reference to the critic’s comment to claim that

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

Why would the author refer to a  “negative subtext”  in otherwise favorable reviews of Mphahlele’s work? To show that critics who insist on a strict separation of autobiography and fiction cannot fully appreciate Mphahlele’s writing. Answer  choice (E)  captures that  “under-appreciation”  of Mphahlele’s work. For the record:,

(A), (B),  and (D) all distort the author’s point. The language about Mphahlele’s lack of interest in establishing guidelines appears in the beginning of  paragraph 3 ; this had nothing to do with the critics’ point of view, the focus of  (A).

The comment is ostensibly favorable but contains a negative subtext, so it is not  “one-sided,”  as  (B)  proposes. Finally, the factors mentioned in the comment are not purported to be  “the requirements for great literature,”  so  (D) , too, does not provide a fair reading of the critic’s comment.

(C)  fails because the critic never purports to articulate the  “requirements of fiction.”

Answer: E

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

7. Which one of the following is most strongly suggested by the information in the passage?

Difficulty Level:   750

Explanation

When the question stem doesn’t offer any clues to guide your research, go straight to the answer choices.

(A)  starts out fine—the author recognizes Mphahlel as a humanist and integrationist in line 36  (is a humanist and an integrationist, and his writings) . However, the answer choice veers off -course at the end, by putting Mphahlele in the camp of those who recognize a  “sharp distinction”  between fiction and autobiography.

(B)  is extreme—the author notes that critics who dismiss Mphahlele’s work due to its blending of fact and fiction  “misunderstand”  and  “underappreciate”  Mphahlele’s social vision. That’s not the same as saying that a writer’s social vision is irrelevant to those critics.

(C)  Critic’s reasons for categorizing works into distinct genres are beyond the scope of the passage.

(D)  In  lines 37–40 , the author notes that critics balk at Mphahlele’s social vision because he provides no road maps for bringing about the future he envisions, which suggests that  (D)  is the correct answer choice.

For the record,  (E)  can be dismissed as either outside the scope of the passage (the passage does not set forth criteria for classifying a work as a novel), or extreme (that critics decry Mphahlele’s autobiography as being  “too fictionalized”  and his fiction as being  “too autobiographical”  is not the same as saying that there can be no overlap whatsoever between the two genres).

Answer: D

CKHE · Answer

Explanation for Q7:

7. Which one of the following is most strongly suggested by the information in the passage?

(A) Mphahlele’s stance as a  humanist and an integrationist  derives from an outlook on writing that recognizes a sharp distinction between fiction and autobiography. 
 E: Highlighted part is correct and mentioned in the passage in Para 2. The second part is the opposite of what Mphahlele believes: "As he claims, the whole point of the exercise of writing has nothing to do with classification" (3rd para)

(B) The social vision contained in a work is irrelevant to critics who feel compelled to find distinct categories in which to place literary works.
 E: Out of scope because though Para 2 mentions "...l, there are those who are outright dismissive of The Wanderers because it contains an autobiographical framework....", it or the passage does not say anything about such critics being dismissive of Mphahlele's social vision.

(C) Critics are concerned with categorizing the works they read not as a means to judge the quality of the works but as a way of discovering tendencies within literary traditions.
 E: This is a confusing option because the critics seem to give more importance to categorization of text over content. However, the passage never talks about all the 'tendencies within literary traditions' or why critics categorize the works.

(D) If Mphahlele were to provide direction as to how his vision of the future might be realized, more critics might find this vision acceptable.
 E: This is clearly supported by ' but critics often balk at this vision because Mphahlele provides no road maps for bringing such a future about.'

(E) For a work to be classified as a novel, it must not contain any autobiographical elements.
 E: Out of scope

The work of South African writer Ezekiel Mphahlele has confounded

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The work of South African writer Ezekiel Mphahlele has confounded

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