New Historicist Criticism -- Quiz #1

The Writer's Workshop

New Historicism Quiz #1

If you have any questions or comments on this quiz, please email Dr. Tom Fish.

No. of Questions= 10

1. The New Historicist approach to literature is DIFFERENT from traditional socio-historical approaches because __________.

a) its goal is not to identify how a piece of literature reflects the unified worldview of society.

b) the literary commentary focuses primarily upon the linguistic structures of the text.

c) the circumstances of a writer's life are not deemed relevant to the meaning of the text.

d) its goal is offer an objective interpretation of the text by showing its reflection of verifiable historical or biographical information.

2. An important assumption of New Historicist criticism is that __________.

a) culture is based upon class conflict

b) only a very few facets of culture are reflected in the determinate social themes of a piece of literature

c) culture is driven by a dialectic of economic forces

d) culture is a web of conflicting discourses vying for power and influence

3. According to Stephen Greenblatt, dual cultural imperatives are often reflected in a literary text: mobility and __________.

a) exchange

b) constraint

c) hegemony

d) discourse

4. Because of the importance of "intertextual relations," New Historicist criticism often __________.

a) borrows strategies of Structuralist criticism and emphasizes the binary oppositions structuring the text.

b) discusses literature side-by-side with letters, advertising, film, comic books, fashions, etc.

c) acknowledges the biases which readers and critics may bring to the literary text.

d) explores how the literary text reflects contraditions between the "base" and "superstructure" of culture

5. The New Historicist recognizes that a multiplicity of perspectives and interests define the historical reality of a society at any given moment. This collective consciousness expressed in a text is termed its cultural __________.

a) reality principle

b) fabulation

c) episteme

d) ideology of form

6. Although Marlow is the primary narrator of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the voices of other characters (like Kurtz, the Aunt, the Intended, the Chief Accountant) contribute to our understanding of the social reality depicted in the novel. The contribution of these voices to the meaning of the novel illustrates the New Historicist concept of __________.

a) discourse

b) mobility

c) intertextual relations

d) an interrogative narrative

7. From a New Historicist perspective, a work of literature __________.

a) has its meaning delimited by the conventions of its genre

b) has its meaning delimited by the intentions of the author

c) is not an autonomous work of art but only one of a number of types of cultural "texts."

d) is the product of the ideology of the dominant class of society.

8. For Catherine Belsey, an "interrogative text" __________.

a) challenges the ideology of the status quo

b) gets a reader to experience cultural contradictions, thus encouraging a questioning or reassessment of society's values

c) exhorts the reader to become a force for mobility or change in culture

d) subverts the prevailing "unit idea" of a given culture.

9. According to Stephen Greenblatt, the discourse of culture reflected in literature enable an "exchange" or negotiation of goods, ideas, attitudes, and even people. This exchange is important for it determines __________.

a) the episteme of a text's allusions

b) the poetics of culture reflected in the unit ideas of the text.

c) the reader's role as "structured act"

d) the direction and destiny of a society

10. A New Historicist seeks to avoid __________.

a) the affective fallacy

b) the intentional fallacy

c) reducing the meaning of the text to a single determinate point-of-view.

d) addressing the ideological content of a text

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� 1999 Thomas E. Fish
Cumberland College
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1.	The New Historicist approach to literature is DIFFERENT from traditional socio-historical approaches because __________.

	a)	its goal is not to identify how a piece of literature reflects the unified worldview of society.
	b)	the literary commentary focuses primarily upon the linguistic structures of the text.
	c)	the circumstances of a writer's life are not deemed relevant to the meaning of the text.
	d)	its goal is offer an objective interpretation of the text by showing its reflection of verifiable historical or biographical information.


2.	An important assumption of New Historicist criticism is that __________.

	a)	culture is based upon class conflict
	b)	only a very few facets of culture are reflected in the determinate social themes of a piece of literature
	c)	culture is driven by a dialectic of economic forces
	d)	culture is a web of conflicting discourses vying for power and influence


3.	According to Stephen Greenblatt, dual cultural imperatives are often reflected in a literary text: mobility and __________.

	a)	exchange
	b)	constraint
	c)	hegemony
	d)	discourse


4.	Because of the importance of "intertextual relations," New Historicist criticism often __________.

	a)	borrows strategies of Structuralist criticism and emphasizes the binary oppositions structuring the text.
	b)	discusses literature side-by-side with letters, advertising, film, comic books, fashions, etc.
	c)	acknowledges the biases which readers and critics may bring to the literary text.
	d)	explores how the literary text reflects contraditions between the "base" and "superstructure" of culture


5.	The New Historicist recognizes that a multiplicity of perspectives and interests define the historical reality of a society at any given moment. This collective consciousness expressed in a text is termed its cultural __________.

	a)	reality principle
	b)	fabulation
	c)	episteme
	d)	ideology of form


6.	Although Marlow is the primary narrator of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the voices of other characters (like Kurtz, the Aunt, the Intended, the Chief Accountant) contribute to our understanding of the social reality depicted in the novel. The contribution of these voices to the meaning of the novel illustrates the New Historicist concept of __________.

	a)	discourse
	b)	mobility
	c)	intertextual relations
	d)	an interrogative narrative


7.	From a New Historicist perspective, a work of literature __________.

	a)	has its meaning delimited by the conventions of its genre
	b)	has its meaning delimited by the intentions of the author
	c)	is not an autonomous work of art but only one of a number of types of cultural "texts."
	d)	is the product of the ideology of the dominant class of society.


8.	For Catherine Belsey, an "interrogative text" __________.

	a)	challenges the ideology of the status quo
	b)	gets a reader to experience cultural contradictions, thus encouraging a questioning or reassessment of society's values
	c)	exhorts the reader to become a force for mobility or change in culture
	d)	subverts the prevailing "unit idea" of a given culture.


9.	According to Stephen Greenblatt, the discourse of culture reflected in literature enable an "exchange" or negotiation of goods, ideas, attitudes, and even people. This exchange is important for it determines __________.

	a)	the episteme of a text's allusions
	b)	the poetics of culture reflected in the unit ideas of the text.
	c)	the reader's role as "structured act"
	d)	the direction and destiny of a society


10.	A New Historicist seeks to avoid __________.

	a)	the affective fallacy
	b)	the intentional fallacy
	c)	reducing the meaning of the text to a single determinate point-of-view.
	d)	addressing the ideological content of a text