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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The narrator states that the study of English literature was seen as a kind of substitute for ________.

2. Which modern architect proclaimed that "decoration is a crime" in the chapter titled "Postmodernism"?

3. What example did Saussure use to explain what he meant by saying that there are no intrinsic, fixed meanings in language?

4. Who said the following quote found in the chapter titled Theory Before Theory--Liberal Humanism: "We are told that the study of literature 'cultivates the taste, educates the sympathies and enlarges the mind'"?

5. Which of the following works of T.S. Eliot was a collage of juxtaposed, incomplete stories, or fragments of stories according to the chapter titled "Postmodernism"?

Short Essay Questions

1. Compare post-colonialism to postmodernism as discussed in the chapter "Theory Before Theory--Liberal Humanism."

2. What does the formula SQ3R mean? Explain.

3. Discuss how J.A. Cuddon describes postmodernism in his "Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory."

4. According to the "Introduction," what does the saying that "after the moment of theory comes the 'hour' of theory" mean?

5. How is French feminism different from American feminism?

6. What are the three particular areas that are debated and disagreed upon when it comes to feminist criticism?

7. What are some of the important characteristics of the literary modernism practice?

8. What are the five (5) codes identified by Barthes in S/Z? Explain.

9. Do liberal humanists use the term "human nature"? Explain.

10. What is a theoretical difference between structuralist and post-structuralist?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze and describe Jacques Lacan's impact and purpose in psychoanalytic criticism.

Essay Topic 2

Identify, analyze, and discuss the significance of the ten principles of liberal humanism that Peter Barry summarizes within the book "Beginning Theory."

Essay Topic 3

Discuss how women are represented by both men and women in a piece of literature that you have read in the past. Explain how this representation of women would be viewed by feminist critics.

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