PrepTest 113, Section 2, Question 15
Literary critic: The meaning of a literary work(57 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AThere are no(13 more words not shown)
- BA meaning imposed(9 more words not shown)
- CA writer's intentions(10 more words not shown)
- DThe true intentions(18 more words not shown)
- EThe deepest understanding(11 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Several interpretations can be valid without every interpretation being equally good. Imagine a book that repeatedly explores the cost of revenge. Readers might reasonably disagree about its message, but that doesn't make the writer's choices disappear. The text still gives them something to respond to.
The critic's next step also seems too quick. Interpretations primarily impose meaning. Primarily doesn't mean entirely. And not having to consider the writer's intentions doesn't mean an interpretation can never discover anything about the writer. Why should every interpretation tell us more about the critic?
What we’re looking for
Those are my first concerns with the conclusion's sweep. The question asks for an assumption the argument needs. We want something the reasoning depends on, even if it doesn't settle every objection we've raised.
Working the answers
- A
Several interpretations can meet a set of standards. That doesn't mean there are no standards for deciding which interpretations are valid. The argument doesn't need to deny the existence of every criterion; it needs to connect interpretation with information about the critic.
- BCorrect
This supplies a connection I hadn't spelled out in my initial objection. The author moves from critics imposing meaning to interpretations telling us about those critics. For that move to work, the meaning a critic imposes has to reflect facts about that critic.
Suppose the imposed meaning revealed nothing about the person doing the interpreting. Merely calling it imposed wouldn't establish that the interpretation tells us more about the critic than about the writer. B provides the needed link. It doesn't, by itself, prove the much broader claim about every interpretation or settle all our concerns about the writer's influence. An assumption can be needed without being enough to finish the whole argument.
- C
Something can be relevant without having to be considered in every valid interpretation. The critic says interpretations need not consider the writer's intentions; that isn't a claim that intentions could never matter. More to the point, the argument doesn't depend on their being relevant. C supplies no required connection from imposed meaning to information about the interpreter.
- D
Not needing to consider someone's intentions doesn't mean those intentions can never be known. A critic could know exactly what a writer intended and still offer a reading that imposes a different meaning. The argument doesn't need the strong claim that discovering true intentions is impossible.
- E
The deepest understanding of the work is a different issue from whether an interpretation tells us more about its critic than its writer. The argument doesn't rank interpretations by depth or require biographical knowledge. It could make its claim about interpreters without assuming the requirement in E.
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