Question Details

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
this sense, one can think of literature less as some inherent quality or set of qualities displayed by certain kinds of writing all the way from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, than as a number of ways in which people relate themselves to writing. It would not be easy to isolate, from all that has been variously called ‘literature, some constant set of inherent features. In fact, it would be as impossible as trying to identify the single distinguishing feature which all games have in common. There is no ‘essence’ of literature whatsoever. Any bit of writing may be read ‘non-pragmatically’, if that is what reading a text as literature means, just as any writing may be read ‘poetically. If I pore over the railway timetable not to discover a train connection but to stimulate in myself general reflections on the speed and complexity of modern existence, then I might be said to be reading it as literaturE) John M. Ellis has argued that the term ‘literature’ operates rather like the word ‘weed’: weeds are not particular kinds of plant, but just any kind of plant which for some reason or another a gardener does not want arounD) Perhaps ‘literature’ means something like the opposite: any kind of writing which for some reason or another somebody values highly. As the philosophers might say, ‘literature’ and ‘weed’ are functional rather than ontological terms: they tell us about what we do, not about the fixed being of things.


What is the implication of the statement: “In this sense, one can think of literature less as some inherent quality or set of qualities displayed by certain kinds of writing all the way from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, than as a number of ways in which people relate themselves to writing”?

Options

A

Literature has values that are constant and universal for all classes and races.

B

Literature has a moral dimension, which cannot be superseded by any other values.

C

Literature has values that may be interpreted differently by different subject-positions.

D

The inherent quality of literature is its literariness.

Correct Answer :

Literature has values that may be interpreted differently by different subject-positions.

Solution :

The correct option is: Literature has values that may be interpreted differently by different subject-positions.


Step-by-Step Explanation:

1. Analyzing the Statement:
The prompt asks us to interpret the implication of the opening sentence: “In this sense, one can think of literature less as some inherent quality or set of qualities displayed by certain kinds of writing all the way from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf, than as a number of ways in which people relate themselves to writing.”

2. Deconstructing the Contrast:
The author sets up a contrast between two views of literature:
- Inherent qualities: The view that literature has some fixed, essential property (ontological) built into the text itself from Beowulf to Virginia Woolf.
- Relational/Functional: The view that literature is defined by "a number of ways in which people relate themselves to writing" (functional).

3. Connecting to the Correct Option:
Because literature is defined by how people (readers, observers, society) relate to it rather than any fixed, internal essence, its value and meaning are not absolute or static. Instead, the value is constructed through the relationship between the reader and the text. Different individuals, groups, or "subject-positions" (defined by their contexts, values, and perspectives) will relate to the writing in different ways, leading to varied interpretations and valuations of what constitutes literature. This directly implies that literature has values that may be interpreted differently by different subject-positions.

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