Both passages are concerned with answering which one of the following questions?

Mazen on July 10, 2022

Hi

In reference to my previous post regarding question #13, I reflected on what made this question, #13, so puzzling to me. It's not really the question, #13, but rather the way the correct answer-choice, C, is phrased. I could not bring myself to accept that a particular genre could have determinants that classify it as another genre.

But I went back and re-read the passages. In passage A, lines 5-8: "For Borges, this "special type of reader" confront literature with such 'incredulity and suspicions' that he or she might read any narrative as a detective story." I understood those lines to mean that if it's possible for a reader to read "any narrative as a detective story" (and I uncomfortably classified "detective story as a narrative in its own right and is distinct from the original classification of this same narrative ), then it must follow the reader's state of mind or one-sided approach can determine one genre as another. Insofar as passage A, am I correct, and did I identify the lines for textual support?

In passage B, the textual support is less subtle, it's centers on the reading protocols; specifically, lines 32-33, "We are free to read any text by any reading protocol we wish, and lines 27-29: "A more fruitful way to characterize the distinction between genres is to view it as a distinction between reading protocols." I interpret those lines to mean that "reading protocols" serve to differentiate genres, and since reader are "free" to use any protocol to read any text, then it follows that a text/narrative written as specific genre could be determined as another by a reader using her/his preferential reading protocol. Did I get the textual support from passage B for answer-choice C correctly?

(If I got it correctly, a simple yes would suffice and would be greatly appreciated for confidence on test day. I know that I gave you a lot to sort through between this post and my previous one.)

Thank You
Mazen

Emil-Kunkin on July 11, 2022

I want to address your second point in your first message first- that would probably be the correct approach. If there are four answers you are certain are wrong, and one that you cannot definitively eliminate, then go with the one you cannot disprove. I would add the caveat that, if you don't fully understand the answer you're selecting, I would try at least 1-2 more careful reads of that answer choice to make sure it says what you think it says.


As to your point about genre, I think that C is saying something slightly different from how you interpreted it. I read C to mean that the passages aim to answer the question of what makes a work fit into genre X rather than any other genre. We have support for that in lines 19-21 of passage A, and 27-33 in passage B. I think we certainly have some overlap between genres, like sci-fi comedy (Futurama, Hitchhikers Guide), or Jazz Rock (Steely Dan). However, both passages argue for the idea that what defines a genre is the way that people interact with it. That is, they both answer the question of how to determine if a work belongs properly in one genre or another.

I think your textual support was good, particularly for passage B, and I think the lines you pointed out in A also do indirectly support C, as do 19-21.

Mazen on July 12, 2022

Hi Emil,

How you read answer-choice C: "what makes a work fit into genre X rather than any other genre?"

In my own words, what makes a literary work classify as fiction genre rather than another genre? Is that right? If I read you and the question correctly, then this is clearly the answer.

(I'm sorry, one of the sources of my linguistic challenges, I should tell you, is that English is my third language; I began to learn it when I was 21 years old, not so young to learn a brand-new language!)

Thank You Emil
Mazen