Reading Comprehension

PT127 · S4 · P1 · Q2 Amos Tutuola

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With his first published works in the 1950s, Amos Tutuola became the first Nigerian writer to receive wide international recognition.

Central Topic / Purpose

Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola / Clarify a Misconception (Challenge Position)

Main Point

Some of Tutuola's critics think he was a novelist who was ripping off and retelling local tales, but in reality Tutuola was more of a teller of folktales than a novelist.

Passage Map

P1: Intro to Tutuola / Misconception -- He was the first famous Nigerian writer. Lots of critics praised him, but other critics thought he wrote very derivative, unoriginal novels. P2: Author's Clarification -- He's not writing novels. We should approach him as a folktalist in the African oral tradition. P3: Background on African oral folktale tradition -- you tell familiar stories with a personal twist. P4: Relating Tutuola back to African oral folktale -- examples of Tutuola doin' folktale stuff.

Other Commentary

Most Humanities passages will either defend an artist against criticism (often with a "these critics just don't get it" feel, like Clarify Misconception) or they will simply present an informative summary of that artist / art movement (in which case the Purpose is just to Highlight Something Noteworthy) .

The main point/purpose of this passage is foreshadowed in the most common spot: right after a "but/yet/however/recently" pivot, at the end of the first paragraph.

2.

Tutuola's approach to writing folktales would be most clearly exemplified by a modern-day Irish author who

  1. applied conventions of the modern

    Reverse

    Tutuola is applying conventions of folktales to what otherwise seems like a novel, so this seems backward.

    9% picked this

  2. re-created important elements of the

    Reverse

    This is very much like (A), making it sound like he's bringing the novel/literary world into the oral art form. But Tutuola brought the oral art form into the novel / literary world.

    5% picked this

  3. combined characters from English and

    Mismatch combining multiple characters

    While Tutuola does combine languages from different traditions in his folktales, he doesn't combine characters. Also, telling a story of modern life is not quite the same as adapting a classic story to a modern setting.

    8% picked this

  4. Correct

    transplanted traditional Irish folktales from

    Why this is right

    This reinforces the first sentence of the 4th paragraph, "familiar tales are transferred to modern settings".

    Skill tested: Application · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    73% picked this

  5. utilized an omniscient narrator in

    Mismatch stories about contemporary life

    Tutuola does use an omniscient narrator, but only at the ending of the tale, not to tell the whole story. And putting a familiar tale in a modern setting (as the passage says) is not the same as telling a contemporary tale.

    5% picked this

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