GRE Reading Comprehension
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Source: CHP
Many critics of Eamily Bronte's novel Wuthering Heights see its second part as a counterpoint that comments on, if it does not reverse, the first part, where a "romantic" reading receives more confirmation. Seeing the two parts as a whole is encouraged by the novel's sophisticated structure, revealed in its complex use of narrators and time shifts. Granted that the presence of these elements need not argue an authorial awareness of novelistic construction comparable to that of Henry James, their presence does encourage attempts to unify the novel's heterogeneous parts. However, any interpretation that seeks to unify all of the novel's diverse elements is bound to be somewhat unconvincing. This is not because such an interpretation necessarily stiffens into a thesis (although rigidity in any interpretation of this or of any novel is always a danger), but because Wuthering Heights has recalcitrant elements of undeniable power that, ultimately, resist inclusion in an all-encompassing interpretation. In this respect, Wuthering Heights shares a feature of Hamlet.
Which of the following inferences about Henry James's awareness of novelistic construction is best supported by the passage?
- A James, more than any other novelist, was aware of the difficulties of novelistic construction.
- B James was very aware of the details of novel- istic construction.
- C James's awareness of novelistic construction derived from his reading of Bronte.
- D James's awareness of novelistic construction has led most commentators to see unity in his individual novels
- E James's awareness of novelistic construction precluded him from violating the unity of his novels.