Genres and Subgenres of Literature

Question 1

A literary genre is best described as:

Answer 1

a. A character in a story
b. A category of literature
c. A type of poem
d. A work of nonfiction

A category of literature

Question 2

Which of the following genres is an example of prose writing?

Answer 2

a. Poem
b. Lyric
c. Novel
d. Play

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT an example of nonfiction?

Answer 3

a. Essays
b. Memoirs
c. Novellas
d. Biographies

Question 4

An epic is characterized by:

Answer 4

a. Wars and empire-building
b. Personal struggles and conflicts in society
c. Letters and a first-person perspective
d. Youth and coming of age

Wars and empire-building

Question 5

Also called Bildungsroman, which of the following choices is a type of novel that tells the story of a young character advancing from a stage of innocence to a stage of young adulthood?

Answer 5

a. Epistolary novel
b. Apprenticeship novel
c. Picaresque novel
d. Epic

Question 6

This kind of novel is told through letters between one or more characters.

Answer 6

a. Epistolary
b. Apprenticeship
c. Picaresque
d. Epic

Question 7

Picaresque novels are novels that:

Answer 7

a. Present an imaginative picture of a particular landscape.
b. Examine nation-building and war.
c. Are often satirical and follow the adventures of a roguish traveler who must rely on wits to survive.
d. Are set in a particular place, such as a manor house, and do not move outside of that particular setting.

Question 8

Regarding historical novels, which one of the following is NOT true?

Answer 8

a. They are the only novels that present history as it actually happened.
b. They use conventions commonly associated with the novel genre.
c. They may include fictional characters.
d. They present historical events in a fictional form.