University of Kannur
M.Phil Entrance Examination, August 2019
Department of Studies in English, Thalassery Campus

 Exam Date: 02 August 2019.

Time: 2 Hours                                                                                      Maximum: 100 Marks

PART I (OBJECTIVE)

Time: 30 Minutes                                                                                Maximum: 50 Marks

Part I contains fifty (50) multiple choice questions, each question carrying one (1) mark. Tick off (✔) your answers. There is no negative marking. (1x 50=50)

1. Within Cultural Studies, which triad best describes its political emphasis?

A. Power-culture-ideology
B. Power-culture-education
C. Power-culture-space
D. Power-culture-religion

Answer: A. Power-culture-ideology    

2. The Centre credited with developing the first methodological frames, and programs, for reading popular culture is ______.

A. Centre for Cultural Studies, Sussex
B. Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, Birmingham
C. Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths
D. Centre for Cultural Studies Research, University of East London.

Answer: B. Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, Birmingham

3. The interconnected nature of social categories such as race, class, sexuality and gender, as they now appear in literary-cultural analysis, is grouped under the term______.

A. Connectedness
B. lnterlinkages
C. lntersectionality
D. Cross-culturalism

Answer: C. lntersectionality     

4. “The circulation of social energy” and “the circulation of sexual energy” are now famous phrases from a particular school of literary criticism. Identify the school.

A. Formalism
B. Deconstruction
C. Structuralism
D. New Historicism

Answer: D. New Historicism

5. TG Grammar was introduced by ____________.
A. Bloomfield
B.  Grimm
C. Chomsky
D. Pierce

Answer: C. Chomsky   

6. The term ‘inscape’ describes an aspect of the poetry of ____________.
A. T.S. Eliot
B. G.M. Hopkins
C. D.G. Rossetti
D. W.B. Yeats

Answer: B. G.M. Hopkins

7. The Russian word for “defamiliarization” is ____________.
A. Ostranenie
B. Verfremdungseffekt
C. Ozvláštnění
D. Etrangeté

Answer: A. Ostranenie

8. Scrutiny was edited and published by ____________.
(A) Ezra Pound
(B) F.R. Leavis
(C) I.A Richards
(D) William Empson

Answer: (B) F.R. Leavis    

9. Which literary genre is generally considered to be a product of industrialisation?

(A) Epic
(B) Novel
(C) Drama
(D) Tragedy

Answer: (B)  Novel 

10. Which of the following poems is NOT part of T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets?

(A) Little Gidding
(B) Burnt Norton
(C) East Coker
(D) Hollow Men

Answer: (D) Hollow Men

11. Which of the following is NOT true of Fan fiction?

(A) It is also written as ‘fanfiction’
(B) It is written by fans of any work of fiction
(C) It prominently features established characters, settings, and other intellectual properties from an original creator.
(D) Fan fiction is always commissioned or authorized by the original work’s creator or publisher

Answer: (D) Fan fiction is always commissioned or authorized by the original work’s creator or publisher

12. What does ISSN stand for?

A. International Standard Section Number
B. International Studies Section Number
C. International Standard Serial Number
D. International Studies Serial Number

Answer: C. International Standard Serial Number

13. Skipping a word or phrase when quoting a passage in your writing is called:
A. Hyperbole
B. Epitaph
C. Ellipsis
D. Prolepsis

Answer: C. Ellipsis     

14. A comprehensive Bibliography comprises:

A. Works Cited
B. Works Referred
C. Works Consulted
D. All of the above

Answer: D. All of the above

15. It is extremely important that our quote from an author (primary or secondary text) be
(i) accurate
(ii) sensitive to the context
(iii) careful of the nuances
(iv) accessible

A. (ii) and (iii)
B. (ii) and (iv)
C. (i) and (ii)
D. (iii) and (iv)

Answer: C. (i) and (ii)  

16. In research, documentation means_______.
A. preservation of documents
B. collection of documents
C. acknowledging the exact sources of information
D. writing summaries of documents

Answer: C. acknowledging the exact sources of information 

17. The practice of publishers seeking the advice of expert readers, or referees, before publishing a book is called:
A. critical review
B. referencing
C. peer review
D. scrutiny

Answer: C. peer review    

18. The idea of the chronotope in fiction was first theorized by_______.
A. Bakhtin
B. Shklovsky
C. Propp
D. Lukacs

Answer: A. Bakhtin

19. Which of the following is generally not considered a ‘primary source’ for literary research?
A. Novel
B. Diary
C. Poem
D. Glossary

Answer:  D. Glossary

20. A hypothesis is_________
(a). A statement which serves as the basis for future investigation
(b). A statement of the aims of an investigation
(c). A methodical evaluation of research evidence
(d). A&C

Answer: (a). A statement which serves as the basis for future investigation  

21. If you are looking for critical material on the following topic “The Representation of Poverty in Contemporary Indian Fiction in English”, what would be the best and most productive keywords for your search?

A. representation, poverty
B. poverty, Indian fiction
C. Indian, English
D. representation, Indian fiction

Answer: B. poverty, Indian fiction  

22. Which of the following statements is NOT true of ‘Fat Studies’?
A. It is an interdisciplinary field.
B. It studies the nutrition of fats.
C. It studies fat human bodies.
D. It is akin to critical weight studies.

Answer: B. It studies the nutrition of fats.  

23. Which of the following does NOT fit into the rubric of ‘Materialist criticism’?
A. Marxist criticism
B. New Historicism
C. Cultural Materialism
D. Myth Criticism

Answer: D. Myth Criticism

24. The New Critical method of reading is attributed to:
A. Matthew Arnold
B. Cleanth Brooks
C. Harold Bloom
D. Jacques Derrida

Answer:  B. Cleanth Brooks    

25. Examining the prolepsis, paralipsis and analepsis in a plot would mean one is studying_______

A. Narratology
B. Tragedy
C. Poetry
D. History

Answer:  A. Narratology    

26. When we study ‘diction’ in a text, we study the ________.
A. words on a page
B. choice of words
C. words in a dictionary
D. lyrical words

Answer:  B. choice of words  

27. Identify the odd group from among the following:
(a). Carlyle, Charles Lamb, John Ruskin
(b) S.T. Coleridge, J.M. Synge, Thomas Hardy
(c) Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan, Raja Rao
(d) Nissim Ezekiel, A.K.Ramanujan, Jayanta Mahapatra

Answer:  (b) S.T. Coleridge, J.M. Synge, Thomas Hardy

28. The second series in Algernon Swinburne’s Poems and Ballads is dated:

(a) 1875
(b)1866
(c)1878
(d)1880

Answer:  (c) 1878     

29. Bathsheba Everdeen is a character in Hardy’s

(a) Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)
(b) The Return of the Native (1887)
(c)The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)
(d) Jude the Obscure (1895)

Answer: (a) Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)    

30. Walter Besant’s All Sorts and Conditions of Men  (1882) deals with the setting up of a ____ in Stepney.

A. Church Palace
B. Youngster’s Palace
C. People’s Palace
D. Society for Young Men

Answer: C. People’s Palace   

31. Which of the following is NOT a play by G.B. Shaw?

A. The Light that Failed
B. You Can Never Tell
C. Captain Brassbound’s Conversion
D.The Man of Destiny

Answer: A. The Light that Failed     

32. One of the central tenets of aestheticism as delineated in Walter Pater’s Studies in the History of Renaissance (1873) was that

a) life was the referent of art.
b) art has no reference to life.
c) art bore a passing resemblance to life.
d) morality was the artist’s cause.

Answer: b) art has no reference to life.

33. Which among the following was D.H. Lawrence’s first published work?

a) Sons and Lovers
b) The Rainbow
c) The White Peacock
d) Women in Love

Answer:  c) The White Peacock

34. Which one among the following novels was NOT written by H.G. Wells?

a) The Time Machine
b) Kipps
c) The History of Mr Polly
d) A Man from the North

Answer: d) A Man from the North

35. Who won the Austrain State Prize for European Literature in 1993?

a) Monohar Malgonkar
b) Salman Rushdie
c) Shashi Deshpande
d) Nirad C Chaudhuri

Answer: b) Salman Rushdie

36. Which of the Plantaganet monarchs was called ‘Coeur de Lion’?

a) Henry II
b) Richard I
c) Henry VI
d) Richard III

Answer: b) Richard I

37. Which of the following was written during the “Italian period” in Chaucer’s life?

a) Roman de la Rose
b) The House of Fame
c) The Legend of Good Women
d) Book of the Duchess

Answer:  b) The House of Fame

38. Who wears a gold brooch upon which is inscribed “Love conquers all” in Latin in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales?

a) The Wife of Bath
b)  The Nun
c) The Doctor
d) The Prioress

Answer: d) The Prioress

39. Which of the following is NOT true of the concept of ‘rhizome’?

A. It is a critical and philosophical concept borrowed from botany.
B. It is developed by Deleuze and Guattari.
C. It is used to describe theory and research that allows for multiple, non-hierarchical entry and exit points in interpretation.
D. It functions like a tree.

Answer: D. It functions like a tree. 

40. Who wrote The Black Atlantic?

A. Paul Gilroy
B. Frank Fanon
C. bell hooks
D. Chinua Achebe

Answer: A. Paul Gilroy

41. Name the English poet who was married to Sylvia Plath ____________.

(a)  Thom Gunn
b) Philip Larkin
(c) Ted Hughes
(d) Donald Davies

Answer: (c) Ted Hughes

 42. Who wrote the book The Sublime Object of Ideology?

(a) Deleuze
(b) Zizek
(c) Althusser
(d) W.H Auden

Answer: (b) Zizek  

43. Name the anthropologist who influenced the New Historicist emphasis on culture as text: __________

(a) Clifford Geertz
(b) Stephen Greenblatt
(c) Wolfgang Iser
(d) Alan Sinfeild

Answer: (a) Clifford Geertz   

44. His research supervisor was critical of his work for not being __________ enough.

(a) qualitative
(b) potential
(c) rigorous
(d) apparent

Answer: (c) rigorous  

45. Environmental ________ should be at the top of today’s political agenda.
(a) topics
(b) issues
(c) principles
(d) theories

Answer:  (b) issues    

46. Choose the word that is NOT suitable:

The speaker’s aim was to ________ the facts.
(a) establish
(b) check
(c) bear out
(d) present

Answer: (c) bear out  

47. Choose the word that is NOT suitable:

The evidence ________ a different conclusion.
(a) suggests
(b) points to
(c) supports
(d) emerges

Answer: (d) emerges

48. Choose the word that is NOT suitable:

The writer provides some _________ examples.
(a) telling
(b) striking
(c) growing
(d) illuminating

Answer: (c) growing

49. “Metaphor is so widespread that it is often used as an umbrella term to include other figures of speech such as metonyms which can be technically distinguished from it in its narrower usage.” Identify the metaphorical phrase in this sentence:
(a) “narrower usage”
(b) “technically distinguished”
(c)  “figures of speech”
(d) ”umbrella term”

Answer: (d) ”umbrella term”

50. “Aporia”is a key concept in
(a) Structuralism
(b) Deconstruction
(c) New Historicism
(d) Feminism

Answer: (b) Deconstruction    

End of PART I

PART II (DESCRIPTIVE)  

Time: 90 Minutes                                                                                                       Total Marks 50

Read the following passage carefully, explain the main idea and present your answer(s) (in about 100 words) to the question(s) raised by the author in about experience: (1×4=4)

In our struggle for responsibility, we fight against someone who is masked. The mask of the adult is called “experience.” It is expressionless, impenetrable, and ever the same. The adult has always already experienced [erlebt] everything—youth, ideals, hopes, woman. It was all illusion.—Often we feel intimidated or embittered. Perhaps he is right. What can our retort be? We have not yet experienced anything.

Walter Benjamin, “Experience”

1. Match the following: (8x½=4)

1. Bertolt Brecht                                          H. Epic Theatre
2. Antonin Artaud                                       D. Theatre of Cruelty
3. Garcia Marquez                                      A. Magical Realism
4. Linda Hutcheon                                      B. Narcissistic Narrative
5. Amitav Ghosh                                          F. Ibis Triology
6. Arundhati Roy                                         C. The Doctor and the Saint
7. Jokha Alharthi                                         E. Celestial Bodies
8. Jonathan Dollimore                                G. Radical Tragedy

III. Match the beginning of each sentence with the most appropriate ending: (8x½=4)

1. The research focuses on one particular aspect of modern society.
2. The writer makes a powerful case for restructuring parliament.
3. The writers take an original approach to their theme.
4. Until recently there was little awareness of the problem.
5. I think you should broaden the scope of your research.
6. To date, there has been little research into the environmental effects of nanoparticles.
7. There are many important issues facing the world today. 
8. The study revealed a regular pattern of changes in temperature.

IV. Explain the difference between the sentences in each pair: (2×1½=3)

i)  A. The results were somewhat surprising given the circumstances.
B. The results were especially surprising given the circumstances.

ii) A. The study is primarily concerned with urban formations.
B. The study is ultimately concerned with urban formations.

Answer: (i) A. The results were somewhat surprising given the circumstances:
this means that the results were rather or fairly surprising in view of the circumstances.
B. The results were especially surprising given the circumstances: this means that the results were particularly surprising in view of the circumstances; in other words, the results in the second sentence surprised the writer more than those in the first sentence. The result exceeded the expectation.

(ii) A. The study is primarily concerned with urban alienation: this means that urban alienation is the explicit focus of the study.
B. The study is ultimately concerned with urban alienation: this means that urban alienation was probably not the initial focus of the study but it turned out in the end to be its most significant theme.

V. Write short notes on any FIVE (two from Section A, one from Section B & two from Section C) of the following (in about 120 words). (5×5=25)

Section A

1. The Graphic Novel
2. Queer aesthetics in literature
3. Dalit Canon?
4. Marxist literary critic of your choice
5. Feminism, with special focus on Kerala
6. The Uses of English in India

Section B

7. Role of documentation in research
8. Plagiarism and academic dishonesty
9. Writing drafts

Section C

10. “Reading must always aim at a certain relationship, unperceived by the writer, between what he commands and what he does not command of the patterns of the language he uses.” (Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology). Explain.
11. “Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.” (T.S. Eliot). Explain.
12. “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” (Bertolt Brecht). Explain.
13. “Every novel says to the reader: “Things are not as simple as you think.” That is the novel’s eternal truth.” (Milan Kundera, The Art of the Novel). Explain.
    

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VI. Write an essay on any one of the following: (1×10=10)

1. What are the major trends in contemporary theatre? Explain with reference to some plays you are familiar with.
2. Discuss the key concerns and debates in postcolonial literature
3. Discuss the major Indian novelists writing in English today.
4. “Indian English literature is a literature in translation.’ Discuss
5. Critically discuss Shakespeare’s tragedies. Illustrate with examples.
6. Discuss the major trends in Victorian poetry. Illustrate with examples.

End

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