When Literary Periods are Defined on the Basis of Men’s Writing, Women’s Writing Must be Forcibly Assimilated

Reading Passage Question

When literary periods are defined on the basis of men’s writing, women’s writing must be forcibly assimilated into an irrelevant grid: a Renaissance that is not a renaissance for women, a Romantic period in which women played very little part, a modernism with which women conflict. Simultaneously, the history of women’s writing has been suppressed, leaving large, mysterious gaps in accounts of the development of various genres. Feminist criticism is beginning to correct this situation. Margaret Anne Doody, for example, suggests that during “the period between the death of Richardson and the appearance of the novels of Scott and Austen,” which has “been regarded as a dead period,” late-eighteenth-century women writers actually developed “the paradigm for women’s fiction of the nineteenth century—something hardly less than the paradigm of the nineteenth-century novel itself.” Feminist critics have also pointed out that the twentieth-century writer Virginia Woolf belonged to a tradition other than modernism and that this tradition surfaces in her work precisely where criticism has hitherto found obscurities, evasions, implausibilities, and imperfections.

“When literary periods are defined on the basis of men’s writing, women’s writing must be forcibly assimilated” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 4 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

Question 1
It can be inferred from the passage that the author views the division of literature into periods based on men’s writing as an approach that

(A) makes distinctions among literary periods ambiguous
(B) is appropriate for evaluating only premodern literature
(C) was misunderstood until the advent of feminist criticism
(D) provides a valuable basis from which feminist criticism has evolved
(E) obscures women’s contributions to literature

Question 2
The passage suggests which of the following about Virginia Woolf’s work?

1. Nonfeminist criticism of it has been flawed.
2. Critics have treated it as part of modernism.
3. It is based on the work of late-eighteenth-century women writers.

(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II and III

Question 3
The author quotes Doody most probably in order to illustrate

(A) a contribution that feminist criticism can make to literary criticism
(B) a modernist approach that conflicts with women’s writing
(C) writing by a woman which had previously been ignored
(D) the hitherto overlooked significance of Scott’s and Austen’s novels
(E) a standard system of defining literary periods

Question 4
The passage provides information that answers which of the following questions?

(A) In what tradition do feminist critics usually place Virginia Woolf?
(B) What are the main themes of women’s fiction of the nineteenth century?
(C) What events motivated the feminist reinterpretation of literary history?
(D) How has the period between Richardson’s death and Scott’s and Austen’s novels traditionally been regarded by critics?
(E) How was the development of the nineteenth-century novel affected by women’s fiction in the same century?

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