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WorksheetsIntro. Contemporary Literature
Total questions: 30
Worksheet time: 15mins
What is a characteristic of contemporary literature regarding social or political themes?
It avoids social commentary to focus on aesthetics.
It is in itself a characteristic of contemporary literature.
It is strictly limited to non-fiction works.
It is only found in 19th-century texts.
Whereas Post Modern literature seems to be interested in itself, contemporary texts address:
Historical myths exclusively.
Language barriers.
Reality head-on.
Future technologies only.
In contemporary literature, the distinction between what two categories can be 'blurred'?
Poetry and Slam Poetry.
Fiction and Non-fiction.
Memoirs and Autobiographies.
Globalization and Identity.
How do writers of fiction base stories on real-life events to make historical figures come alive?
By using only primary source documents.
By incorporating imagined dialogue and scenes.
By avoiding any authentic material.
By focusing only on the distant past.
Why is the contemporary setting in time often emphasized or made explicit?
To make the story harder to understand.
To give the readers a sense of immediacy and relevance.
To follow 19th-century traditions.
To avoid talking about the present.
Modern writing has become increasingly global; for example, an American writer may easily write a text set in:
A vacuum.
The Middle East.
Only their hometown.
The 18th century.
In contemporary literature, what traditional element is often challenged and not used as often as before?
The use of dialogue.
The traditional omniscient narrator.
The use of punctuation.
Setting the scene.
Why might a contemporary writer stress the narrator’s 'peculiarity'?
To confuse the reader intentionally.
To play with the reader’s perception of reality.
To make the story shorter.
To avoid using first-person narratives.
Unlike films, which can establish a setting in one shot, what does literature use to set a scene?
Only historical facts.
Words, punctuation, and dialects.
Purely visual descriptions.
Character names only.
A contemporary text often reflects the experience of the individual of a:
Stable and unchanging world.
Fluid, transient and precarious existence.
Strictly religious and traditional society.
World without any technological advancement.
Which of the following is a bulleted characteristic of contemporary literature?
Plot-driven stories with weak characters.
Reality-based stories with strong characters and a believable story.
Stories that avoid political or social issues.
Literature that is always optimistic and certain.
The literature may reflect a growing skepticism in:
The existence of God.
The value of technology.
The importance of the future.
The existence of the internet.
What term is used for a style of writing involving producing very short pieces of fictional literature?
Epic Prose.
Flash Fiction.
Dramatic Works.
Long-form Memoir.
What is 'Slam Poetry'?
A type of poetry written only for digital screens.
A poetry competition where people read poems without props, costumes, or music.
A traditional form of 19th-century rhyming.
Poetry that focuses strictly on historical figures.
The word 'Memoir' comes from the French word *mémoire, which means:
'Fiction' or 'Imagination'.
'Reminiscence' or 'Memory'.
'Life' or 'Death'.
'History' or 'Truth'.
With increasing globalization, identity has become a common theme due to:
The decline of the internet.
Intersections of cultures and vocal discussions of women’s and LGBT rights.
The removal of all cultural barriers.
A lack of interest in the self.
Contemporary literature explores the notion of 'multiplicities of truth' regarding which theme?
Technology.
Flash Fiction.
History and Memory.
Intertextuality.
Why do 21st-century writers sometimes write hypothetically about the future?
To escape reality entirely.
To comment on the present and evoke introspection.
To avoid using intertextuality.
To focus on the 19th century.
What is 'Intertextuality' in postmodern style?
Writing without any references to other works.
Recognizing a piece of work as being one among many throughout history.
Using only one narrator for every story.
Focusing only on the 'soul' and the 'brain.'
Some intertextual themes go as far as to poke fun at a work’s own:
Length and word count.
Lack of originality or the clichés that it seemingly cannot escape.
Use of punctuation and dialects.
Setting in the Middle East.
The Contemporary Period of literature occurred directly after which literary period?
Romantic Period
Victorian Period
Modernist Period
Classical Period
The Contemporary Period of literature is often referred to as the ________ period.
Realist
Naturalist
Postmodern
Experimental
Which major historical events helped shape the Contemporary Period of literature?
The French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution
The Holocaust and the power of the atomic bomb
The Renaissance and the Enlightenment
The American Revolution and the Civil War
Contemporary works often feature ordinary places and deal with an awareness of itself from meaning, an interest in process, a desire to revise the past, and a desire to ________.
teach moral lessons
preserve traditions
have fun
promote realism
After the dropping of the atom bombs, Americans now saw themselves as a ________.
divided nation
peaceful society
major world power
declining empire
Modern literature refers to literature dating from the late nineteenth century to the ________.
early twentieth century
nineteen forties
nineteen sixties
Second World War
Contemporary literature refers to the literature dating from the ________ to the present.
Modernist Period
First World War
Second World War
Cold War
Who is described as a Chilean-American author who wrote her debut novel House of Spirits in 1982?
Margaret Atwood
Isabel Allende
Zadie Smith
Ian McEwan
Who is best known for her feminist and dystopian political themes and the novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1986)?
Isabel Allende
Zadie Smith
Margaret Atwood
David Mitchell
Who is known for frequent use of intricate and complex experimental structures in his works, including Cloud Atlas (2004)?
Haruki Murakami
Ian McEwan
Jonathan Franzen
David Mitchell
