IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) · English Language and Literature
5 multiple-choice questions marked as you go, and 5 written questions with worked solutions. All on Analysing a creator's choices and their effect.
In structuralist literary criticism based on the linguistic theories of Ferdinand de Saussure, how is the relationship between the signifier (the sound-image or word form) and the signified (the concept it represents) fundamentally characterized?
In Marxist literary theory, how did Louis Althusser define the role of Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs) in relation to cultural texts and literature?
Which literary theory asserts that a text contains internal contradictions, tensions, and paradoxes that prevent it from establishing a single, unified, or stable meaning, thereby undermining its own apparent logic?
According to Advanced Literary Criticism, specifically within the framework of Reader-Response Theory as proposed by Wolfgang Iser, what is the significance of 'gaps' or 'indeterminacies' ( Unbestimmtheit ) in a literary text?
Within the framework of Advanced Literary Criticism, which critical lens focuses specifically on the power dynamics between the 'colonizer' and the 'colonized' and the construction of 'the Other' in a text?
In the context of Advanced Literary Criticism, briefly explain how a Marxist critic might interpret the relationship between the protagonist and their employer in a 19th-century realist novel.
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Within Advanced Literary Criticism and Postcolonial Theory, what term did Edward Said use to describe the Western scholarly, artistic, and political depiction of Eastern societies as inherently exotic, irrational, and inferior in order to justify imperial domination?
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In Advanced Literary Criticism, which specific formalist term, introduced by New Critics W.K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley, refers to the error of evaluating a literary work based on its emotional impact or psychological effect on the reader?
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In structuralist and post-structuralist literary theory, Ferdinand de Saussure's semiotic model provides a foundation for analyzing how language constructs meaning.
(a) Identify and define the two components of the 'sign' according to Saussurean semiotics, and explain the nature of their relationship.
(b) Explain how Jacques Derrida's concept of différance extends and deconstructs Saussure's principle that meaning in language is purely relational and negative.
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Advanced literary criticism often relies on applying specific theoretical frameworks to texts to deconstruct dominant ideologies.
(a) Outline the core premise of Reader-Response criticism, specifically regarding the locus of meaning (text vs. reader). (2 points)
(b) Compare Reader-Response criticism with New Criticism (Formalism), explaining how their views on authorial intent fundamentally diverge. (3 points)
(c) Evaluate a potential limitation of applying a purely formalist approach when analyzing texts from marginalized cultures or historical periods. (2 points)
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