A TO Z Literary Principles from History of English Literature: Note 104

A Set of 26 Objective Questions & AnswersUGC NET ENGLISH QUESTION BANK 

1.  Pamela by Richardson: Novel as a popular genre began with Richardson's Pamela in 1740.

2. But the journey of Novel began in 14’Th and 15’Th centuries in the process of formation in the form of romantic tales based upon adventures and romantic episodes. Malory's- Morte D'Arthur ; Chaucer’s- The Canterbury Tales ; Thomas More's- Utopia; Sidney's –Arcadia; Lodge's- Rosalynde; Greene's- Pandosto ; John Bunyan’s- The Pilgrim's Progress and  The Life and Death of Mr. Badman  (Other contributed: Lyly, More ,Bacon Delony, Dekker and Nashe)

3. The Rockinghorse Winner by D.H. Lawrence has documented the strange relationship between a spendthrift mother and her son, who only longs to make her happy

4.   The author of Ars Poetica is Horace. Horace - BC, Roman lyric poet and satirist, whose works are masterpieces of Latin literature of the Golden Age. Horace was born Quintus Horatius Flaccus in December  BC, the son of a freedman, in Venusia now Venosa, Italy, and educated in Rome and subsequently in Athens, where he studied Greek philosophy and poetry at the Academy. Soon after the assassination of Julius Caesar in  BC, Horace was recruited into the Republican army by Marcus Junius Brutus, one of the assassins. He was made a military tribune and fought at Philippi, where the Republican army was routed by Mark Antony and Octavian later Augustus. Under the terms of a general amnesty, Horace returned to Rome, where he received a government job and began to write poetry.

5. Works by Dr. Johnson: Preface to the English Dictionary, Preface to Shakespeare, Lives of English Poets

6. The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde: This story uses the form of a fairy tale to look at love, sacrifice and relationships.

7.The Nose by Nikolai Gogol: This short satirical work tells the tale of a St. Petersburg official whose nose decides it’s had enough and leaves his face to start a life of its own.

8.   The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber: The most famous of Thurber’s stories, inspiring the term Mittyesque, focuses on a man who is bored with his mundane life and escapes through a series of grand, heroic fantasies inspired by his surroundings.

9.The Telltale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe: There are few out there who haven’t read or at least heard of this classic tale. Over a few short pages, Poe builds the suspense as a murderer begins to feel the guilt of his crime.

10. The Use of Force by William Carlos Williams: This story asks readers to consider whether or not it is ethical to hurt someone for their own good and, more importantly, whether one should be ashamed to enjoy the experience.

11.The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez: This magical realist story focuses on a couple who have found what they believe to be an angel in their front yard– for better or for worse.

12. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman: An early work of feminist literature, this story follows a young woman as she descends into psychosis, becoming obsessed with the pattern and color of the wallpaper.

13. Moll Flanders: Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders was considered to be the best by E. M. Forster. 

14.Three Questions by Leo Tolstoy: While Tolstoy may be better known for his epic novels, this short story in the form of a parable about a king searching for the most important questions in life shows he mastered the medium of the short story as well.

15. To Build a Fire by Jack London: Known for his epic tales about man in nature, this short story doesn’t disappoint as a man and dog are pitted against the wilderness in a battle for survival. Dubliners by James Joyce: Over the course of fifteen short stories, readers will gain insights into Irish middle-class life at the beginning of the 20th century. Dubliners is a short-story cycle, its stories are not linked by recurring characters, but by theme and setting, two elements that are intimately related in this collection. Joyce’s initial intention, as he explained in a letter to the publisher Grant Richards, was to hold a mirror up to Dublin, to present as realistic a portrait of the city as possible by depicting Dubliners of various ages and from various walks of life. That portrait is, generally speaking, a disparaging one, but the negative tone is not consistently maintained throughout. By the time the volume concludes, with “The Dead” a story written slightly later than the others and which differs markedly from his earlier writing, a more sympathetic note is sounded, and we may glimpse there the far more generous vision that would characterize Joyce’s later comic masterpiece, Ulysses.

16.   Short story cycles: Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio (1919), or Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories linked by recurring characters and plots.

17.  The Story by Amy Bloom: a metafiction. This self-reflective, playful story that takes a look at the idea of storytelling itself.

18. The Swimmer by John Cheever: This story may have been originally conceived as a novel, but it holds up well as a short story, blending realism and surrealism as it explores life in suburban American.

19. I, Robot by Issac Asimov: Made into a variety of movies and inspiring many other writers, this collection is an essential read for any sci-fi fan.

20.  Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri: This Pulitzer-winning collection captures the difficulties of Indian-Americans caught between one culture and another.

21. Nine Stories by JD Salinger: Containing some of Salinger’s most famous short works like "For Esme– with Love and Squalor," this collection is a great way to connect with the well-known author. Many of Salinger’s early short stories have never been published in book form. Nine Stories, a 1953 anthology of his stories, won great critical acclaim. Reviewing it for the New York Times, novelist Eudora Welty praised Salinger's writing as “original, first-rate, serious and beautiful.” In one of the stories, 'A Perfect Day for Bananafish,' the author introduces the fictional Glass family, an Irish-Jewish New York family with seven children.

22.  Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout: Containing 13 short stories, this Pulitzer Prize-winning work details the lives of Olive and those inhabiting the small Maine town she calls home.

23. Steps by Jerzy Kosinski: In a series of short vignettes, Kosinski will shock, disgust and creep you out. Whether you like the book or not, you won’t walk away unmoved.

24. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien: Nominated for and winning numerous literary awards, this collection of stories about the Vietnam War is moving– perhaps even more so because many of them are based on the author’s own experiences.

25. Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? By Joyce Carol Oates: This short story was inspired by the murders committed in Tucson, Arizona, by serial killer Charles Schmid.

26.  Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? by Raymond Carver: Themes of segregation and unhappiness are the center of this collection of short stories on American life.  Read More A to Z (Objective Questions)   

 Ardhendu De

Ref: 1. History of English Literature- Albert     

2. The Concise Cambridge History of English Literature

3. UGC NET OLD QUESTION PAPERS