Reading Comprehension

PT154 · S3 · P2 · Q12 Literary Falsehoods

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Passage A The path a historical novelist has to tread is clearly beset by dangers.

Topic

The necessity and complexity of "lying" (inventing or altering facts) in historical novels and autobiographical writing.

Framework

Present Debate (both passages wrestle with the tension between truth and invention in writing about the past).

Main Point

Both passages argue that factual inaccuracies—what they call "lies"—are sometimes necessary and even desirable for writers of historical novels (Passage A) or autobiographies (Passage B), as these "lies" can enhance narrative, character, and emotional truth. However, both also express that there's a line between productive invention and unintentional errors or misleading distortions. - Most Valuable Sentences: - Passage A: (End of P1) - Passage B: (P3)

P1A: The Dilemma for Historical Novelists

Writers of historical novels face a challenge: being completely accurate means unreadable or dull books, so they must invent dialogue and details to bring characters to life, which means "telling lies" to some extent.

P2A: Distinguishing Lies from Mistakes

It's important to differentiate between intentional "lies" (deliberate creative liberties) and accidental mistakes (unforgivable inaccuracies). Good historical fiction uses constructive "lies" to serve the story; mistakes harm it.

P3A: Lying Done Well (Shakespeare as Model)

Not all lies are acceptable—some are too obvious or off-putting—but well-done lies are necessary. Shakespeare intentionally distorted facts for emotional impact, which made his plays memorable.

12.

Both authors would be likely to disagree with which one of the following?

The truth of a given
Fails B: Passage B Agrees
We can reject this most easily because Passage B's first paragraph clearly agrees with this idea. One memory is true, the other is more emotionally vivid. So apparently truth and emotional vividness are separate things.
16% picked this
Unintentional mistakes tend to detract
Fails A: Passage A Agrees
We can reject this most easily because Passage A would agree. He thinks that unintentional mistakes are bad and detract from the story (end of 2nd paragraph).
13% picked this
Most writers usually succeed in
Too Strong: most, usually
Neither writer offers any commentary on whether more than 50% of writers succeed more than 50% of the time, so there's no ammunition for disagreeing with this claim.
5% picked this
The tendency of authors to
Unsupported Disagree Position: increases over time
Neither writer offers any commentary on whether writers tend to lie more as they age or gain experience, so there's no ammunition for disagreeing with this claim.
4% picked this
Correct
Readers expect complete factual accuracy
Why this is right
Passage B clearly disagrees with this in her final paragraph, saying that readers don't come to autobiographies expecting factual accuracy (if they wanted that, they'd read a biography). Passage A more subtly disagrees with this claim. The beginning of his third paragraph says that "some lies go too far and alienate the reader", suggesting that other lies don't go too far and don't alienate the reader. His second paragraph also highlights a tolerance for factual inaccuracy, by saying that "it's not as simple as accurate = good and inaccurate = bad".
Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
61% picked this

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