Identification of British Prose

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AP English Literature and Composition › Identification of British Prose

Questions 1 - 10
1

Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter: the latter, a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda. Conrad, the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly, and of no promising disposition; yet he was the darling of his father, who never showed any symptoms of affection to Matilda. Manfred had contracted a marriage for his son with the Marquis of Vicenza’s daughter, Isabella; and she had already been delivered by her guardians into the hands of Manfred, that he might celebrate the wedding as soon as Conrad’s infirm state of health would permit.

Manfred’s impatience for this ceremonial was remarked by his family and neighbours. The former, indeed, apprehending the severity of their Prince’s disposition, did not dare to utter their surmises on this precipitation. Hippolita, his wife, an amiable lady, did sometimes venture to represent the danger of marrying their only son so early, considering his great youth, and greater infirmities; but she never received any other answer than reflections on her own sterility, who had given him but one heir. His tenants and subjects were less cautious in their discourses. They attributed this hasty wedding to the Prince’s dread of seeing accomplished an ancient prophecy, which was said to have pronounced that the castle and lordship of Otranto “should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it.” It was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; and still less easy to conceive what it had to do with the marriage in question.

Which of the following authors did not later write a work in the same genre?

Charles Dickens

Clara Reeve

Edgar Allan Poe

Ann Radcliffe

Mary Shelley

Explanation

Reeve, Poe, Shelley, and Radcliffe all published Gothic novels in the nineteenth century. Dickens’ novels, which include Great Expectations, The Pickwick Papers, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and David Copperfield, did not write Gothic literature, but rather Victorian works with elements of realism, social commentary, comedy, melodrama, and eloquent description.

Adapted from The Castle of Otranto, A Story. Translated by William Marshal, Gent. From the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. Nicholas at Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764; ed. 1901)

2

Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter: the latter, a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda. Conrad, the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly, and of no promising disposition; yet he was the darling of his father, who never showed any symptoms of affection to Matilda. Manfred had contracted a marriage for his son with the Marquis of Vicenza’s daughter, Isabella; and she had already been delivered by her guardians into the hands of Manfred, that he might celebrate the wedding as soon as Conrad’s infirm state of health would permit.

Manfred’s impatience for this ceremonial was remarked by his family and neighbours. The former, indeed, apprehending the severity of their Prince’s disposition, did not dare to utter their surmises on this precipitation. Hippolita, his wife, an amiable lady, did sometimes venture to represent the danger of marrying their only son so early, considering his great youth, and greater infirmities; but she never received any other answer than reflections on her own sterility, who had given him but one heir. His tenants and subjects were less cautious in their discourses. They attributed this hasty wedding to the Prince’s dread of seeing accomplished an ancient prophecy, which was said to have pronounced that the castle and lordship of Otranto “should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it.” It was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; and still less easy to conceive what it had to do with the marriage in question.

Which of the following authors did not later write a work in the same genre?

Charles Dickens

Clara Reeve

Edgar Allan Poe

Ann Radcliffe

Mary Shelley

Explanation

Reeve, Poe, Shelley, and Radcliffe all published Gothic novels in the nineteenth century. Dickens’ novels, which include Great Expectations, The Pickwick Papers, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and David Copperfield, did not write Gothic literature, but rather Victorian works with elements of realism, social commentary, comedy, melodrama, and eloquent description.

Adapted from The Castle of Otranto, A Story. Translated by William Marshal, Gent. From the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. Nicholas at Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764; ed. 1901)

3

The following line is the opening of which literary work?

“A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment.”

The Return of the Native

The Turn of the Screw

Bleak House

“Bartleby the Scrivener"

A Passage to India

Explanation

The excerpt is the opening lines of Thomas Hardy's 1878 novel, The Return of the Native.

4

The following line is the opening of which literary work?

“A Saturday afternoon in November was approaching the time of twilight, and the vast tract of unenclosed wild known as Egdon Heath embrowned itself moment by moment.”

The Return of the Native

The Turn of the Screw

Bleak House

“Bartleby the Scrivener"

A Passage to India

Explanation

The excerpt is the opening lines of Thomas Hardy's 1878 novel, The Return of the Native.

5

Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter: the latter, a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda. Conrad, the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly, and of no promising disposition; yet he was the darling of his father, who never showed any symptoms of affection to Matilda. Manfred had contracted a marriage for his son with the Marquis of Vicenza’s daughter, Isabella; and she had already been delivered by her guardians into the hands of Manfred, that he might celebrate the wedding as soon as Conrad’s infirm state of health would permit.

Manfred’s impatience for this ceremonial was remarked by his family and neighbours. The former, indeed, apprehending the severity of their Prince’s disposition, did not dare to utter their surmises on this precipitation. Hippolita, his wife, an amiable lady, did sometimes venture to represent the danger of marrying their only son so early, considering his great youth, and greater infirmities; but she never received any other answer than reflections on her own sterility, who had given him but one heir. His tenants and subjects were less cautious in their discourses. They attributed this hasty wedding to the Prince’s dread of seeing accomplished an ancient prophecy, which was said to have pronounced that the castle and lordship of Otranto “should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it.” It was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; and still less easy to conceive what it had to do with the marriage in question.

In what decade was this novel published?

1760s

1660s

1860s

1560s

Explanation

The novel was published in 1764.

Adapted from The Castle of Otranto, A Story. Translated by William Marshal, Gent. From the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. Nicholas at Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764; ed. 1901)

6

What dystopian novel contains such inventions as hormone chewing gum, “feelies,” and children raised in hatcheries?

Brave New World

Lord of the Flies

Animal Farm

Fahrenheit 451

1984

Explanation

Published in 1932, Brave New World was written by Aldous Huxley. The title was taken from Shakespeare’s The Tempest (V.i.187-190):“Oh, wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, / That has such people in ’t!”The novel itself is concerned with advancements in reproductive technology and loss of individual identity in a mass-produced culture. In Huxley’s society, population is strictly limited and children are bred to belong to certain castes so as not to disrupt the harmonious consumer culture.

7

Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter: the latter, a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda. Conrad, the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly, and of no promising disposition; yet he was the darling of his father, who never showed any symptoms of affection to Matilda. Manfred had contracted a marriage for his son with the Marquis of Vicenza’s daughter, Isabella; and she had already been delivered by her guardians into the hands of Manfred, that he might celebrate the wedding as soon as Conrad’s infirm state of health would permit.

Manfred’s impatience for this ceremonial was remarked by his family and neighbours. The former, indeed, apprehending the severity of their Prince’s disposition, did not dare to utter their surmises on this precipitation. Hippolita, his wife, an amiable lady, did sometimes venture to represent the danger of marrying their only son so early, considering his great youth, and greater infirmities; but she never received any other answer than reflections on her own sterility, who had given him but one heir. His tenants and subjects were less cautious in their discourses. They attributed this hasty wedding to the Prince’s dread of seeing accomplished an ancient prophecy, which was said to have pronounced that the castle and lordship of Otranto “should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it.” It was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; and still less easy to conceive what it had to do with the marriage in question.

In what decade was this novel published?

1760s

1660s

1860s

1560s

Explanation

The novel was published in 1764.

Adapted from The Castle of Otranto, A Story. Translated by William Marshal, Gent. From the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. Nicholas at Otranto by Horace Walpole (1764; ed. 1901)

8

What dystopian novel contains such inventions as hormone chewing gum, “feelies,” and children raised in hatcheries?

Brave New World

Lord of the Flies

Animal Farm

Fahrenheit 451

1984

Explanation

Published in 1932, Brave New World was written by Aldous Huxley. The title was taken from Shakespeare’s The Tempest (V.i.187-190):“Oh, wonder! / How many goodly creatures are there here! / How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, / That has such people in ’t!”The novel itself is concerned with advancements in reproductive technology and loss of individual identity in a mass-produced culture. In Huxley’s society, population is strictly limited and children are bred to belong to certain castes so as not to disrupt the harmonious consumer culture.

9

This novel about an aristocratic family in 1920s England features characters such as Lord Sebastian, Lady Marchmain, and Charles Ryder. Who is the author?

Evelyn Waugh

Ezra Pound

Kingsley Amis

Thomas Mann

Hart Crane

Explanation

The novel described is Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited. The story concerns the young Charles Ryder, who is befriended by Sebastian Marchmain (son and heir apparent of the elite Roman Catholic Marchmain family) and who eventually falls in love with Julia Marchmain. The novel examines contemporary issues such as faith and religion, homosexuality, alcoholism, and family ties.

10

This novel about an aristocratic family in 1920s England features characters such as Lord Sebastian, Lady Marchmain, and Charles Ryder. Who is the author?

Evelyn Waugh

Ezra Pound

Kingsley Amis

Thomas Mann

Hart Crane

Explanation

The novel described is Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited. The story concerns the young Charles Ryder, who is befriended by Sebastian Marchmain (son and heir apparent of the elite Roman Catholic Marchmain family) and who eventually falls in love with Julia Marchmain. The novel examines contemporary issues such as faith and religion, homosexuality, alcoholism, and family ties.

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