Time—35 minutes

27 Questions

Directions: Each passage in this section is followed by a group of questions to be answered on the basis of what is stated or implies in the passage. For some of the questions, more than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question. However you are to choose the best answer that is the response that most accurtely and completely answers the question and blacken the corresponding space on your answer sheet.

Wherever the crime novels of P.D. James are discussed by critics, there is a tendency on the one hand to exaggerate her merits and on the other to casigate her as a genre¹ writer who is getting above

(5) hereself. Perhaps underlying² the debate is that familiar, false opposition³ set up between different kinds of fiction, according to which enjoyable novels are held to be somehow slightly lowbrow, and a novel is not considered true literature unless it is a tiny bit dull.

(10) Those commentators⁴ who would elevate James's books to the status of high literature point to her painstakingly⁵ constructed characters, her elaborate settings, her sense of place, and her love of abstractions: notions about morality, duty, pain, and

(15) pleasure are never far from the lips of her police officers and murderers. Others find her pretentious⁶ and tiresome⁷; an inverted⁸ snobbery⁹ accuses her of abandoning the time-honored conventions of the detective genre in favor of a highbrow literary style.

(20) The critic Harriet Waugh wants P.D. James to get on with "the more taxing business of laying a tricky¹⁰ trail and then fooling the reader" Philip Oakes in The Literary Review groans¹¹, "Could we please proceed with the business of clapping the handcuffs on the

(25) killer¹²?"

James is certainly capable of strikingly good writing. She takes immense trouble to provide her characters with convincing histories and passions. Her descriptive digressions are part of the pleasure of the

(30) books and give them dignity and weight. But it is equally true that they frequently interfere¹³ with the story; the patinas¹⁴ and aromas¹⁵ of a country kitchen receive more loving attentiion than does the plot itself. Her devices to advance the story can be shameless and

(35) thin, and it is often impossible to see how her detective arrives at the truth; one is left to conclude that the detective solves crimes through intuition. At this stage in her career P.D. James seems to be less interested in the specifics of detection than in her characters'

(40) vulnerabilities and perplexities.

However once the rules of a chosen genre cramp¹⁶ creative though, there is no reason why an able and intersting writer should accept them. In her latest book, there are signs that James is beginning to feel

(45) constrained¹⁷ by the crime-novel genre. Here her determination to leave areas of ambiguity¹⁸ in the solution of the crime and to distribute guilt¹⁹ amont the murderer, victim, and bystanders points to a conscious rebellion against the traditional neatness of detective

(50) fiction. It is fashionable, though reprehensible²⁰, for one

1. writer to prescribe to another. But perhaps the time has come for P.D James to slide out of her handcuffs and stride into the territory of the mainstream²¹ novel.

Which one of the following best states the author's main conclusion?

(A) Because P.D. James's potential as a writer is stifled²² by her chosen genre, she should turn her talents toward writing mainstream novels.
(B) Because the requirements of the popular novel are incompatible²³ with true creative expression. P.D. James's promise as a serious author has been diminished.
(C) The dichotomy between popular and sophisticated literature is well illustrated²⁵ in the crime novels of P.D. James.
(D) The critics who have condemned²⁶ P.D James's lack of attention to the specifics of detection fail to take into account plots.
(E) Although her plots are not always neatly²⁷ resolved, the beauty of her descriptive passages justifies²⁸ P.D. James's decision to write in the crime-　novel genre.

2. The author refers to the "patinas and aromas of a country kitchen" (line 32) most probably in order to

(A) illustrate²⁴ James's gift for innovative²⁹ phrasing
(B) highlight James's interest in rural society
(C) allow the reader to experience the pleasure of James's books.
(D) explain how James typically constructs her plots
(E) exemplify James's preoccupation with descriptive writing.

3. The second paragraph serves primarily to

(A) propose an alternative to two extreme opinions described earlier
(B) present previously³⁰ mentioned positions in greater detail
(C) contradict an assertion cited previously
(D) introuce a controversial interpretation
(E) analyze³¹ a dilemma³² in greater depth

4. The passage support which one of the following statements about detective fiction?

(A) There are as many different detective-novel conventions as there are writers of crime novels.
(B) Detective fiction has been characterized by extremely high literary quality.
(C) Detective fiction has been largely ignored by literary critics.
(D) There is very little agreement among critics about the basic elcements of a typical detective novel.
(E) Writers of detective fiction have customarily followed certain conventions in constructing their novels.