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 phrase, “there is no ‘essence’ of literature whatsoever” in the passage?

Options

A

There is no sensibility in literary texts.

B

There is no central meaning in literary texts.

C

There is no aesthetic consideration in literature

D

There is no rational logic in literature

Correct Answer :

There is no central meaning in literary texts.

Solution :

The correct option is: There is no central meaning in literary texts.

Step-by-step Explanation:

1. Analyze the passage: The author argues that literature is not defined by any "inherent quality or set of qualities" that remains constant across all texts. Instead, literature is characterized by how people relate to and value writing. The text compares "literature" to "games" (referencing Ludwig Wittgenstein's concept of family resemblances) and "weeds," highlighting that these terms are functional rather than ontological. They describe how things are used or valued, rather than their fixed, intrinsic nature.


2. Interpret the phrase "there is no 'essence' of literature whatsoever": "Essence" refers to an intrinsic, defining, or permanent property that makes something what it is (e.g., a core identity or a single, universal characteristic). By stating there is no "essence" of literature, the passage implies that there is no fixed, universal quality, defined core, or central, objective meaning inherent in literary texts themselves. Instead, meaning and value are constructed dynamically by the reader's relationship to the text.


3. Relate to the correct option: Since literature has no fixed inherent essence, there is no single, predetermined "central meaning" embedded within literary texts. Meaning is functional and depends entirely on how a reader approaches the text (for example, reading a railway timetable to reflect on modern existence rather than to find a train connection). Therefore, the implication is that there is no central meaning in literary texts.

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