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04 Dec 2024, 01:45
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Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
65%
(hard)
Question Stats:
58% (01:53) correct
42%
(01:57)
wrong
based on 435
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Columnist: "Novels published in the past 50 years are far inferior to those published even as recently as 100 years ago. Consider the difference between James
Joyce's Ulysses, from 1922, and the paperbacks you can find featured on the displays at the mega-bookstores. Joyce's writing is art; these contemporary books are no better than TV sitcoms."
Which of the following points to the most serious logical flaw in the columnist's argument?
A. The books the author picked from the bookstore displays may not represent the quality of modern writing
B. The mega-bookstores choose their featured books according to several well-known best-seller lists.
C. Novelists today can rely on their publicists and the Internet to boost the popularity of their novels.
D. A reader who is not familiar with James Joyce's Ulysses could find the columnist's argument unconvincing.
E. There could be criteria other than artistic merit by which to analyze a book's quality.
Joyce's Ulysses, from 1922, and the paperbacks you can find featured on the displays at the mega-bookstores. Joyce's writing is art; these contemporary books are no better than TV sitcoms."
Which of the following points to the most serious logical flaw in the columnist's argument?
A. The books the author picked from the bookstore displays may not represent the quality of modern writing
B. The mega-bookstores choose their featured books according to several well-known best-seller lists.
C. Novelists today can rely on their publicists and the Internet to boost the popularity of their novels.
D. A reader who is not familiar with James Joyce's Ulysses could find the columnist's argument unconvincing.
E. There could be criteria other than artistic merit by which to analyze a book's quality.
Azakura16
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05 Dec 2024, 11:55
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Quote:
Premise: James Joyce’s writing in his 1922 novel, Ulysses, is art.
Premise: Contemporary paperbacks that are featured on the displays at mega-bookstores are no better than TV sitcoms.
Conclusion: Novels published in the past 50 years are far inferior to those published 100+ years ago.
Take note that it’s not a very sound comparison to cherry pick a book from 100 years ago that’s still literarily relevant today and compare it to whatever is currently on the display shelf of your local mega-bookstore. The equivalent of dimestore paperbacks from 1922 would probably not have still been in print long enough for a modern reader to be exposed to them.
We’re looking for a logical flaw in the argument.
A. This is a logical flaw. We don’t know how the bookstores select their display materials. If it’s selected by sales volume, and celebrity cookbooks are having a moment, then it wouldn’t be a very reasonable comparison.
B. This strengthens the argument. If it was the opposite, and they selected their displays based on famously panned and reviled modern novels that are an affront to literature, it would weaken the argument.
C. This could strengthen the argument, though there’s nothing in the passage saying that Joyce’s publicist couldn’t have done the same. It’s not what we’re looking for either way.
D. Irrelevant. I think how the author views Joyce is clear.
E. This could, perhaps, weaken the argument. It’s not specific enough though. If it listed another criteria, and the bookstores' displayed novels were more competitive based on that criteria, it would be a stronger choice.
Best answer is A.
04 Jan 2025, 05:00
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Official explanation:
(A) You need to find the statement that points to the most serious flaw in the columnist's argument. This argument, which claims that novels published within the last 50 years are inferior to those published even 100 years ago, relies on a comparison of James Joyce's Ulysses and the paperbacks featured in the mega-bookstores. It is very possible that those books are not adequately representative of novels written in the two time periods being compared.
Choice (A) points out this flaw by suggesting that the columnist's choice of books is not representative.
Choice (B) offers no evidence either for or against the columnist's argument. Even if these featured books are best-sellers, this tells you nothing about their quality. All it tells you is that the mega-bookstores feature what the public likes.
Choice (C) supports the columnist's argument by suggesting that books published today become popular (and publishable, you might infer) mainly through advertising, which could imply that they don't need to be well-written to be published (or featured in a bookstore).
Choice (D) is irrelevant. You're concerned with the quality of the columnist's argument, not its reception by a certain kind of reader.
Choice (E) is incorrect because the author does use terms that address quality ("no better than"). You may infer that what the author means by "inferior" is "less artistic," so that the argument is merely less convincing than it could be.
