December 2004 LSAT Section 2 Question 15

Literary critic: Often the heirs of a successful writer decide to publish the manuscripts and the letters the dead w...

MasonDees on June 7, 2022

Why not B?

I'm unsure why B is wrong. Isn't the idea that since writers are critical of their works immediately after completion, they must be destroyed in order to prevent being published and associating the author with them? But if most books published posthumously would've been published anyway by the author, doesn't this then mean that most authors outgrow their hatred for their recently completed works, thus negating the need to immediately destroy them? Appreciate any help on this.

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jakennedy on June 12, 2022

Hi @MasonDees,

It sounds like you are referring to answer choice D, so let me know if that is not the case and I can answer again.

The first thing that I will mention is that you said “most books published posthumously” but the passage said “many books”. That subtle difference can have a big impact. Many is a some quantifier, so it could be that a few authors would have published the book had they lived but that most would not have.

The bigger problem is that the stimulus is referring specifically to those manuscripts and letters that the author does not deem worthy of publication. The answer choice, on the other hand, is referring to books in general.

Suppose author Z has a book that she thinks is her best work yet, but she unfortunatley passes away before it can be published. Answer choice D could be talking about situations like that rather than situations in which the author disliked the manuscript or letter.