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American Literature Previous Year UGC-NET English Literature Questions

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American Literature PYQs English

1. Match List-I with List-II:
List I (Poem)
(a) “The Road not taken”
(b) “Tonight, I can Write the Saddest lines”
(c) “I hear America Singing”
(d) “I, too, Sing America”
List II (Poet)
I. Pablo Neruda
II. Robert Frost
III. Langston Hughes
IV. Walt Whitman
  • 1)(a)-I; (b)-II; (c)-III; (d)-IV
  • 2)(a)-II; (b)-I; (c)-IV; (d)-III
  • 3)(a)-III; (b)-II; (c)-IV; (d)-I
  • 4)(a)-IV; (b)-I; (c)-II; (d)-III
2. The concept of “eugenics” finds its illustration predominantly in the writings of:
[A] John Osborne
[B] George Bernard Shaw
[C] Eugene O’Neil
[D] Harold Pinter
[E] Arthur Miller
  • 1)A and B only
  • 2)A and C only
  • 3)B and C only
  • 4)D and E only
3. Match List I with List II:
List I
[A] “The lion’s skin”
[B] “The man who liked dickens”
[C] “Rip van winkle”
[D] “The bride comes to yellow sky”
List II
[I] Washington Irving
[II] W. Somerset Maugham
[III] Stephen Crane
[IV] Evelyn Waugh
  • 1)A-I, B-II, C-IV, D-III
  • 2)A-III, B-IV, C-I, D-II
  • 3)A-II, B-IV, C-I, D-III
  • 4)A-IV, B-I, C-III, D-II
4. Which of the following works has Santiago as its protagonist?
  • 1)Mansfield Park
  • 2)The Mayor of Casterbridge
  • 3)The Old Man and the Sea
  • 4)The Lord of the Rings
5. Who among the following is the author of The Steele Glass?
  • 1)The Earl of Surrey
  • 2)Thomas Sackville
  • 3)George Gascoigne
  • 4)Edmund Spenser
6. Given below are two statements: One is labelled as Assertion A and the other is labelled as Reason R.
Assertion (A): In 19th century, Charlotte Perkins Gilman asserted economic independence over voting rights.

Reason (R): The representation of women as power-seekers was not socially acceptable in 19th century America.
In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer:
  • 1)Both (A) and (R) are correct and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
  • 2)Both (A) and (R) are correct but (R) is NOT the correct explanation of (A)
  • 3)(A) is correct but (R) is not correct
  • 4)(A) is not correct but (R) is correct
7. Consumerism is a major theme in which of the following works?
[A] Loyalties
[B] Saint Joan of Stockyards
[C] Death of a Salesman
[D] Candida
[E] Waiting for Godot
  • 1)A and B only
  • 2)D and A only
  • 3)B and C only
  • 4)A and E only
8. Which among the following are appropriate about Latin American literature?
[A] There has been racial coherence and unity in literary representations of Latin America
[B] The Latin American literary tradition draws analogy between plant growth and human movement
[C] Dzul Poot’s stories depict the geography of the Chilam Balam towns
[D] Quechua had a wider popularity and presence across different nations
[E] The Latin American literature is unitary and refrains from intertextuality of any kind
  • 1)A, D and E only
  • 2)C, B and E only
  • 3)B, C and E only
  • 4)B, C and D only
9. Match List I with List II:
List I
[A] O’ Henry
[B] Rudyard Kipling
[C] Oscar Wilde
[D] Ralph Waldo Emerson
List II
[I] The Last Suttee
[II] Beauty
[III] At Verona
[IV] Hard to Forget
  • 1)(A)-(III), (B)-(I), (C)-(IV), (D)-(II)
  • 2)(A)-(II), (B)-(IV), (C)-(III), (D)-(I)
  • 3)(A)-(IV), (B)-(I), (C)-(III), (D)-(II)
  • 4)(A)-(I), (B)-(III), (C)-(II), (D)-(IV)
10. Match the following works of Edward Braithwaite according to their year of publication:
Works
[A] Rights of Passage
[B] Islands
[C] Masks
[D] The Arrivants
Years
[I] 1973
[II] 1969
[III] 1967
[IV] 1968
  • 1)(A)-(II), (B)-(I), (C)-(III), (D)-(IV)
  • 2)(A)-(I), (B)-(III), (C)-(IV), (D)-(II)
  • 3)(A)-(IV), (B)-(II), (C)-(I), (D)-(III)
  • 4)(A)-(III), (B)-(IV), (C)-(II), (D)-(I)
11. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated”. Which of the following texts glorifies this as its predominant theme?
  • 1)The Old Man and the Sea
  • 2)War and Peace
  • 3)A Farewell to Arms
  • 4)For Whom the Bell Tolls
12. In whose poem do the readers meet Aunt Jennifer’s tigers?
  • 1)Thom Gunn
  • 2)Kamau Brathwaite
  • 3)Roy Fisher
  • 4)Adrienne Rich
13. Which among the following is NOT an American Slave narrative?
  • 1)The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
  • 2)Life and Adventure of Henry Bibb
  • 3)Narrative of Solomon Northup
  • 4)Songs of Enchantment
14. Who among the following theorists has written on affective economies?
  • 1)Franco Moretti
  • 2)Bruno Latour
  • 3)Sara Ahmed
  • 4)Nigel Thrift
15. Which of the following is false about Frederick Douglass?
  • 1)Douglass’s autobiography belongs to the tradition of fugitive-slave narrative popular in the North before the Civil War.
  • 2)He provides a first-person account of his life spent in slavery.
  • 3)He was famous as an orator, dedicated to a black liberation movement.
  • 4)He wrote Up From Slavery.
16. Which of the following are the novels written by John Steinbeck?
[A] The Naked and the Dead
[B] The Grapes of Wrath
[C] East of Eden
[D] To Kill a Mockingbird
[E] Cannery Row
  • 1)A, C and D only.
  • 2)B, C and E only.
  • 3)C, D and E only.
  • 4)A, D and E only.
17. Identify the correct pairs:
[A] Ian McEwan – Amsterdam
[B] Italo Calvino – If on a Winter’s Night A Traveller
[C] Amitav Ghosh – The Circle of Reason
[D] D M Thomas – Everest Hotel
[E] Doris Lessing – The Testaments
  • 1)A, B and C only.
  • 2)A, B and E only.
  • 3)B, C and D only.
  • 4)C, D and E only.
18. Match List I with List II:
List I (Authors)
[A] Richard Wright
[B] Toni Morrison
[C] Barbara Chase Riboud
[D] Octavia Butler
List II (Works)
[I] A Mercy
[II] Kindred
[III] American Hunger
[IV] Sally Hemings
  • 1)A-III, B-I, C-IV, D-II
  • 2)A-III, B-II, C-IV, D-I
  • 3)A-IV, B-III, C-II, D-I
  • 4)A-II, B-IV, C-I, D-III
19. Choose from the following options the correct combination of the plays which made significant use of expressionistic techniques:
  • 1)The Hairy Ape, Machinal, All My Sons, Waiting for Lefty
  • 2)The Hairy Ape, The Crucible, Rapid Transit, The Adding Machine
  • 3)The Hairy Ape, Rapid Transit, All My Sons, The Adding Machine
  • 4)The Hairy Ape, The Emperor Jones, Rapid Transit, The Adding Machine
20. Match List I with List II:
List I (Poets)
[A] Walt Whitman
[B] A D Hope
[C] Derek Walcott
[D] Allen Ginsberg
List II (Poems)
[I] Howl
[II] A Far Cry From Africa
[III] Beat! Beat! Drums!
[IV] Australia
  • 1)(A)-(II), (B)-(III), (C)-(I), (D)-(IV)
  • 2)(A)-(I), (B)-(II), (C)-(III), (D)-(IV)
  • 3)(A)-(III), (B)-(IV), (C)-(II), (D)-(I)
  • 4)(A)-(III), (B)-(II), (C)-(I), (D)-(IV)
21. Arrange the works in chronological sequence:
[A] The Theatre of Revolt by Robert Brustein
[B] The Theater of the Absurd by Martin Esslin
[C] The Playwright as Thinker by Eric Bentley
[D] Modern American Drama by C.W.E Bigsby
[E] Modern Drama in Theory and Practice by L. N. Styan
  • 1)A, D, C, D and E
  • 2)E, C, D, A and B
  • 3)B, D, A, E and C
  • 4)C, B, A, E and D
22. Given below are two statements:
Statement I: The book The Life of the Drama was written by Eric Bentley.

Statement II: The book The Life of the Drama highlights the lives of certain seminal twentieth century dramatists.
In the light of the statements given above, choose the correct answer:
  • 1)Both Statement I and Statement II are true
  • 2)Both Statement I and Statement II are false
  • 3)Statement I is true but Statement II is false
  • 4)Statement II is true but Statement I is false
23. Who among the following has written the play Angels in America?
  • 1)David Mamet
  • 2)August Wilson
  • 3)Sam Shepard
  • 4)Tony Kushner
24. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” names the following figures:
[A] Ezra Pound
[B] Michelangelo
[C] Valerie Eliot
[D] Hamlet
[E] Walt Whitman
  • 1)A, C, and E
  • 2)B and D
  • 3)B, D and E
  • 4)D and E
25. Who among the following has written Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque?
  • 1)Herman Melville
  • 2)Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • 3)Mark Twain
  • 4)Edgar Allan Poe
26. Which of the following are written by William Faulkner?
[A] Sanctuary
[B] Color Struck
[C] Jesus, The Son of Man
[D] Light in August
[E] Absalom, Absalom!
  • 1)A, B and C
  • 2)B, C and D
  • 3)A, D and E
  • 4)C, D and E
27. Who among the following is the author of the novel titled Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life?
  • 1)Walt Whitman
  • 2)Herman Melville
  • 3)Mark Twain
  • 4)Tennessee Williams
28. Given below are two statements, one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R):
Assertion (A): James Ellroy started writing crime fiction, commencing with Brown’s Requiem (1981)

Reason (R): James Ellroy’s mother was murdered in 1958.
Choose the correct answer:
  • 1)Both (A) and (R) are correct and (R) is the correct explanation of (A)
  • 2)Both (A) and (R) are correct but (R) may not be the correct explanation of (A)
  • 3)(A) is correct but (R) is not correct
  • 4)(A) is not correct but (R) is correct
29. Arrange the following chronologically in accordance with their date of birth:
[A] Goethe
[B] Oscar Wilde
[C] Bertolt Brecht
[D] Eugene O’Neill
[E] Moliere
  • 1)A, B, D, C, E
  • 2)B, E, A, C, D
  • 3)C, D, A, B, E
  • 4)E, A, B, D, C
30. Given below are two statements:
Statement I: Invisible Man, published in 1952, is a novel by American writer Ralph Ellison

Statement II: It is a surreal and claustrophobic novel, which describes the experiences of a young African American in New York.
In the context of the statements above, choose the correct answer:
  • 1)Both Statement I and Statement II are true
  • 2)Both Statement I and Statement II are false
  • 3)Statement I is true, but Statement II is false
  • 4)Statement I is false, but Statement II is true
31. Identify the two previous titles of the poem “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” as Walt Whitman continued to revise it until it reached the present form in the “Sea-Drift” section of the 1881 edition.
[A] “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night”
[B] “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”
[C] “A Child’s Reminiscence”
[D] “The Wound-Dresser”
[E] “A Word Out of the Sea”
  • 1)C and E
  • 2)D and B
  • 3)A and D
  • 4)B and E
32. Which of the following poems are written by the American poet Robert Lowell?
[A] “Anecdote of the Jar”
[B] “Skunk Hour”
[C] “Howl”
[D] “Night Sweat”
[E] “A Gift Outright”
  • 1)A and C
  • 2)B and D
  • 3)C and E
  • 4)E and A
33. Which of the following two plays have been written by Arthur Miller?
[A] They Too Arise
[B] The Real Thing
[C] Some Kind of Love Story
[D] Tiny Alice
[E] The Crying of Lot 49
  • 1)A and C
  • 2)B and E
  • 3)C and E
  • 4)B and D
34. Match List I with List II:
List I (Authors)
[A] Ernest Hemingway
[B] William Faulkner
[C] Herman Melville
[D] Mark Twain
List II (Works)
[I] Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life
[II] Light in August
[III] The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson
[IV] Across The River And Into The Trees
  • 1)A-IV, B-II, C-I, D-III
  • 2)A-II, B-IV, C-I, D-III
  • 3)A-I, B-III, C-II, D-IV
  • 4)A-III, B-I, C-IV, D-II
35. Which poems have NOT been composed by Adrienne Rich?
[A] “Driving into the Wreck”
[B] “Transcendental Etude”
[C] “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law”
[D] “The Applicant”
[E] “Ripples on the Surface”
  • 1)A and B
  • 2)B and C
  • 3)A and C
  • 4)D and E
36. Edgar Allan Poe is often called as the originator of the short story as an established genre. He defined ‘the prose tale’ as:
  • 1)A narrative which can be read at one sitting of from half an hour to two hours.
  • 2)A narrative which can be read within five minutes or less.
  • 3)A narrative that can be read at one sitting of from one hour to four hours.
  • 4)A narrative that may be concluded and enjoyed in the single spell of less than half an hour.
37. Which of the following is true about Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire?
(A) It is set in New Orleans.
(B) The protagonist is a Mississippi landowner.
(C) It ends with Blanche’s defeat and departure.
(D) Tom Wingfield is the narrator.
(E) Laura and Stella are cousins.
  • 1)(A) and (D) Only
  • 2)(A) and (C) Only
  • 3)(B) and (C) Only
  • 4)(B) and (E) Only
38. Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): Toni Morrison and Adrienne Rich have contributed to a distinctive style.

Reason (R): Feminism, Adrienne Rich observes, is the field where “subjectivity and politics have to come together” in the most natural way.
In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer:
  • 1)Both (A) and (R) are correct and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
  • 2)Both (A) and (R) are correct but (R) is NOT the correct explanation of (A).
  • 3)(A) is correct but (R) is not correct.
  • 4)(A) is not correct but (R) is correct.
39. Which of the following is true about Arthur Miller’s plays?
(A) After the Fall is a semi-autobiographical play.
(B) Incident of Vichy deals with Nazi prosecution of the Jews.
(C) The Price anticipates economic crash.
(D) The Creation of the World is not a serio-comic re-writing of the story of Jesus.
(E) The Crucible uses a specific setting to consider the responsibilities of the artist.
  • 1)(E) and (A) Only
  • 2)(A) and (C) Only
  • 3)(A) and (B) Only
  • 4)(D) and (E) Only
40. Which among the following writers remarked that “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavour”?
  • 1)Henry David Thoreau
  • 2)Ralph Waldo Emerson
  • 3)Henry James
  • 4)Emily Dickinson

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