Q8

[vswamy]

The question asks about which quotation from the answer choices given "exemplifies" the atttitude of lines 5-9. My answer was E but the answer is C. Could you explain why?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

We're asked to find a quotation that best exemplifies the "familiar" attitude mentioned in lines 5-9. There the passage states that "enjoyable novels are held to be somehow slightly low-brow, and a novel is not considered true literature unless it is a tiny bit dull."

There are two claims here, and we're looking for an answer choice that matches with either one. We can find an answer choice that says enjoyable novels are low-brow or an answer choice that says that a novel is not considered true literature unless it is a tiny bit dull.

(A) has it all wrong. Truly great literature should not be fantastical and whimsical but rather dull.
(B) has it all wrong. Truly great literature should not be humorous but rather dull.
(C) is the closest match to the statement in lines 5-9. If a work is dull, it does not divert (entertain) the reader, but rather places demands on the reader to work through it.
(D) has nothing to do with either enjoyable literature or truly great literature.
(E) misses the mark by focusing on the requirements of the genre, rather than the experience of the reader.

Does this help clear things up? If you need any further explanation, please feel free to let me know!

[lhermary]

Can you go into more detail as why E is wrong? It seems to be the most logical answer.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

The problem with answer choice (E) is that it's too much related to the main thrust of the passage and not enough to the attitude described in lines 5-9. There, a false opposition is described and we're looking for an answer choice that harkens back to that attitude.

enjoyable (easy to read) fiction = low brow
true literature = tiny bit dull (demanding of the reader)

Try to choose an answer choice on questions like this that are closer (literally the text you use to justify your answer choice should come from right around the quote in question) to the line reference.

Answer choice (E) also seems to get it wrong. The author doesn't seem to suggest that all the author needs to do to produce great literature is to follow the genre's requirements, but seems to suggest that good literature places demands on the reader.

Hope that helps!

[wguwguwgu]

I picked B because of the wording "happens to be". Doesn't this phrase, in contrast to A which says "qualify them as", preclude a usual association being "humorous" (enjoyable) and "great"?

In HINDSIGHT (sigh), I see that the sentence in the passage is phrases in a way that "interesting" and "good" is mutually excluding, so even "happens to be" can't be right. Is this really the reason that B is wrong? that's so annoying, mean, malicious --- they give you the contrast between B and A that prompts you to pick the better one, but wait, B is also wrong!

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Is this really the reason that B is wrong?

I think you're too caught up in some of the peripheral language. The reason that answer choice (B) is wrong is that it doesn't place any demands on the reader. The passage says that great works are a bit dull/demanding, whereas books that are enjoyable are lowbrow.

Answer choice (B) does not reflect this "familiar" attitude. Answer choice (C) however does.

Does that answer your question?

[einuoa]

Is this really the reason that B is wrong?

I think you're too caught up in some of the peripheral language. The reason that answer choice (B) is wrong is that it doesn't place any demands on the reader. The passage says that great works are a bit dull/demanding, whereas books that are enjoyable are lowbrow.

Answer choice (B) does not reflect this "familiar" attitude. Answer choice (C) however does.

Does that answer your question?

I was hesitating on C, but I couldn't make the inference that "place demands upon its readers" means that it is dull and that "divert them" means that it's exciting, or what not. Could you explain this more in detail?

[maryadkins]

It's not a perfect match, it's just the closest.

Placing demands is standing in for being dull so presumably difficult to read at moments. Divert means entertain by being "enjoyable" but in a way that doesn't challenge. Again, not perfect synonyms, but the closest of the 5 which is what you're always going for in Reading Comp.