#3 - Concept Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[rwraulynaitis]

Hi PowerScore,

For #3 I initially liked answer choice (A) because it could be proven by the passage, but I did not feel as if it actually answered the question. While the author does think Tutuola's work should be viewed within the African oral tradition (lines 27-29), I did not see how that relates to Tutuola's position in world literature.

Therefore, I selected answer choice (C), which describes the author as being pleased with the reception of Tutuola's work. Despite the author's belief that Tutuola was mistakenly viewed as a novelist, I thought that "receiving wide international recognition" and "praised by many literary critics as fresh, inventive" conveyed that the author liked how Tutuola was received, leading me to answer choice (C).

Where did I go wrong in this assessment?

[Jeremy Press]

Hi rw,

So it turns out that answer choice C is really more of an "opposite" answer. Look at the end of the first paragraph, where the author says that "literary critics have assumed too facilely [i.e. too easily] that [Tutuola] wrote novels." The author is not pleased with the reception Tutuola has gotten from literary critics, because they have made poor assumptions about his work. Even in the second paragraph, where the author acknowledges many critics get at least one thing about Tutuola right (they're right to suggest his subjects "are not strikingly original"), the author immediately pivots back to the overarching criticism of the critics, by saying "[t]he most useful approach is one that regards him as working within the African oral tradition" (in other words, not the approach the literary critics are taking by viewing him as a writer of novels).

With regard to answer choice A, let me turn the question back to you (and good instinct in gravitating toward that answer!): isn't it accurate to say that if you think a writer's works should be situated (or read within) the "African oral tradition" that's giving a good indication of how you think that writer should be positioned within world literature? After all, that tradition (at least in the author's view) is a part of world literature through Tutuola's work. So don't get too hung up on that slight difference. It's not enough to make answer choice A worse than any of the other answer choices. And at the end of the day, we're simply tasked with finding the "most accurate" characterization.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy