CLEP Humanities : Fiction

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for CLEP Humanities

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Literature

A miraculous or unexpected intervention that quickly resolves a seemingly impossible plotline is called a __________.

Possible Answers:

flashback

chorus

red herring

deus ex machina

MacGuffin

Correct answer:

deus ex machina

Explanation:

"Deus ex machina," Latin for the god from the machine, is an ancient theater term that described a play's conclusion that found actual gods intervening from contraptions to quickly resolve a plot. The term is used more widely in literature and film in modern parlance to refer to a contrived ending to a plot that relies heavily on a miraculous or contrived intervention by some other figure than the main characters.

Example Question #1 : Fiction

The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded to an author for __________.

Possible Answers:

an author's literary output in a single year

an entire career of literary achievement

a singular achievement in composing one poem

a singular achievement in composing one novel

excellent work in multiple genres

Correct answer:

an entire career of literary achievement

Explanation:

The Nobel Prize in Literature, first established by Alfred Nobel's will in 1895, rewards authors for their total "work," which is read by the prize committee to mean an author's entire output for their career. The Nobel prize can be given to an author working in any field of literature, be it fiction, poetry, or even nonfiction. Usually, the Nobel Prize is seen as capping the career of an author, and is awarded usually to older writers.

Example Question #2 : Answering Other Questions About Twentieth Century Fiction

Which twentieth-century novel features a detailed rumination on “kitsch"?

Possible Answers:

Pale Fire

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Swell Season

The Stranger

Correct answer:

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Explanation:

Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being features the 1968 Prague spring uprising as a background story for its characters' lives. The novel also discusses many philosophical themes, particularly the low-art known as "kitsch." Kundera's discussion of kitsch helps reflect on the "lightness" in the title of the novel.

Example Question #4 : Fiction

In a novel, a narrator that can see every event and understands every character's motivation is describes as a __________.

Possible Answers:

second person narrator

first person narrator

third person limited narrator

multiple first person narrators

third person omniscient narrator

Correct answer:

third person omniscient narrator

Explanation:

A third person narrator describes a narrator whose perspective is from outside any individual's own thoughts. An omniscient narrator describes a narrator that knows and understands every event and character motivation. This is one of the most common kinds of narration, along with first person narration, which is told from the point of view of a single character. A third person limited omniscient narrator has a perspective from outside, but can only understand the motivation of one, primary character. A first person narrator uses "I" and narrates from one character's perspective. A second person narrator uses "you." 

Example Question #2 : Fiction

The novels of John Updike are marked by all of the following EXCEPT __________.

Possible Answers:

a sharp realism

a focus on middle-class American life

explorations of Protestant theology and morality

frank descriptions of sexual activities

a use of fantasy elements

Correct answer:

a use of fantasy elements

Explanation:

John Updike was a prolific, successful, and critically acclaimed American author whose work was centered in the middle of the twentieth century. Updike's style, which was fairly consistent over his more than twenty novels and dozens of short stories, featured an intense realism in storytelling about middle class Americans that often had frank descriptions of sexual activity and discussions of Protestant beliefs.

Example Question #3 : Fiction

The American author who wrote a series of novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawtha County, Mississippi was __________.

Possible Answers:

John Updike

William Faulkner

Philip Roth

Sinclair Lewis

Edith Wharton

Correct answer:

William Faulkner

Explanation:

Virtually the entire canon of William Faulkner is set in the fictional Yoknapatawtha County. Even the stories set elsewhere refer back to or feature characters from Faulkner's other stories set there. William Faulkner’s literary achievements earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949.

Example Question #3 : Literature

Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis (1915) tells the tale of __________.

Possible Answers:

a man who is charged with a crime he did not commit

a man overcome by the guilt of the monstrous crime he committed

a young woman who is stoned to death by her fellow villagers

a man transformed into a hideous bug

the use of an elaborate torture device

Correct answer:

a man transformed into a hideous bug

Explanation:

Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is a landmark novella that tells the story of Gregor Samsa, who finds himself transformed one morning into a massive bug. The Metamorphosis is Kafka's most famous story, and has many of the hallmarks of Kafka's style, including surreal situations, ironic plots, and dark humor.

Example Question #3 : Clep: Humanities

The author Raymond Chandler's style was marked by all of the following EXCEPT __________.

Possible Answers:

sparse descriptions and language

complex plot twists

Los Angeles as a setting

detective stories

romantic tales of heroism

Correct answer:

romantic tales of heroism

Explanation:

Raymond Chandler wrote his first book when he was in his 40s during the Great Depression. Nonetheless, he instantly became one of America's bestselling authors, writing several books in a "pulp" vein about the detective Phillip Marlowe. In doing so, Chandler pioneered literary detective fiction, with its hard-boiled investigator, sparse language, complex plots, and dark mood. Chandler's typical Los Angeles settings also saw many of his books, like The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye, made into films.

Example Question #4 : Clep: Humanities

Which of these twentieth century American novels concerns a corrupt evangelist in the Midwest?

Possible Answers:

Arrowsmith

Tender is the Night

Elmer Gantry

The Jungle

The Sound and the Fury

Correct answer:

Elmer Gantry

Explanation:

Sinclair Lewis published his novel Elmer Gantry in March 1927, and immediately had both a bestseller and controversy on his hands. Lewis' story of a corrupt and immoral evangelist, which was based on the careers of actual evangelists, drew widespread derision from religious groups. Nonetheless, Elmer Gantry was the bestselling American novel of 1927.

Example Question #4 : Fiction

The novel Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison uses the main character's invisibility as an allegory for __________.

Possible Answers:

U.S. involvement in overseas wars

the Biblical story of Jesus' crucifixion

depression and anxiety

the Red Scare

the African-American experience

Correct answer:

the African-American experience

Explanation:

Ralph Ellison's 1952 novel Invisible Man tells the story of an unnamed narrator who is not physically "invisible," but instead is someone who people refuse to see. Ellison's book was an allegory for the status of African Americans in American society at the time. The book also dealt with Marxist politics, cultural norms, and issues of black nationalism through its narrator becoming invisible.

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