Q11 - Linsey has been judged

[WaltGrace1983]

This is a necessary assumption question so we'll start off with the core.

The writings of many good modern novelists are typically disjointed and subjective
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It is ill-founded to say that, just because her lyrics are typically disjointed and subjective, Linsey is a bad songwriter


So this argument is talking Linsey, a songwriter. The author is using the judgments bestowed upon novelists to validate judgements bestowed upon a songwriter. What is the gap? The gap is that the author is assuming that how one can judge both the two types of art - songs and novels - and those that create these types of art are in some way connected. In other words, what if we don't judge novelists and their novels in the same that we judge songwriters and their songs? Maybe being disjointed is great for a novel because it creates some type of symbolism while it is bad in a song because it makes it cringing to listen to.

(A) attacks this gap beautifully. While it doesn't specifically address judgement, it addresses how art affects people. It is saying that the effect of disjointed lyrics is the same as disjointed novels, thus we can still say that a certain disjointed set of lyrics is okay because a certain disjointed novel is also okay. In other words, (A) is assuming that songs and novels are comparable.

(B) This shifts the focus from the artists themselves to the readers of a novel. Who cares what the readers think? Maybe all readers do appreciate the subtleties of a disjointed novel yet we must remember that this still doesn't connect the premise to the conclusion. We can say whatever we want about novelists but if we don't tie it into how we do/don't think about songwriters then the answer choice is a lost cause.

(C) This is comparing the "narrative structure" of some songs to other songs. First of all, do we know anything about "narrative structure?" This seems completely irrelevant. Second of all, how does this connect songs to novels? It doesn't and this is the task of the question!

(D) This is a very interesting answer choice because I can totally see it as a cookie-cutter strengthener with slightly different wording. If this had said "...usually more suitable for novels than song lyrics [period]," than this would create a reason to believe that the conclusion itself doesn't follow from the premise. However, now I am just speculating and this doesn't at all matter for the question. In this case, (D) is wrong because we are comparing these works to "other written works." Like (C), we simply don't need to bring this other extraneous information in! Let's stick to the works we are given and leave it at that!

(E) This simply doesn't get to the connection between novels and songs again. Eliminate.