PrepTest 136, Section 1, Question 17
Music and literature, rivals among the arts, have(444 more words not shown)
The author's assertion in the(20 more words not shown)
- AEven a casual(25 more words not shown)
- BA small number(25 more words not shown)
- CAll novels about(22 more words not shown)
- DDepending partly on(18 more words not shown)
- EA smaller number(24 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The claim is precise: before Morrison, no African American writer had attempted to use a musical genre as the structuring principle of an entire novel. To challenge that, show us someone who tried it earlier.
What we’re looking for
We don't need evidence that Morrison failed. We need an earlier example of the claimed innovation. Also, the claim concerns a musical genre, so an earlier attempt using blues could count even though Morrison used jazz.
Working the answers
- A
This confirms that Morrison tried to imitate a jazz-performance style. It doesn't identify an earlier writer doing so, which is the missing piece for challenging her priority.
- BCorrect
These earlier African American novelists sought to base their work's form on the structure of blues music. That gives us earlier attempts to use a musical genre as a structural model. Even a small number is enough against a claim that none had tried it.
- C
Appearing to imitate an art isn't the same as deliberately using a musical genre to structure an entire novel. This broad statement supplies neither the specific earlier attempt nor the precise kind of structural borrowing we need.
- D
Sounding somewhat musical, perhaps when read aloud, doesn't establish that a novelist organized an entire work according to a musical genre. Musical sound and musical structure aren't interchangeable.
- E
Counting novels whose plots and characters concern music misses the distinction the author made. Music was already a subject of fiction; the priority claim concerns how an entire novel is structured.
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