Question 19

The four sentences (labelled 1, 2, 3, 4) below, when properly sequenced would yield a coherent paragraph. Decide on the proper sequencing of the order of the sentences and key in the sequence of the four numbers as your answer:

1. The work is more than the text, for the text only takes on life, when it is realized and furthermore the realization is by no means independent of the individual disposition of the reader.

2. The convergence of text and reader brings the literary work into existence and this convergence is not to be identified either with the reality of the text or with the individual disposition of the reader.

3. From this polarity it follows that the literary work cannot be completely identical with the text, or with the realization of the text, but in fact must lie halfway between the two.

4. The literary work has two poles, which we might call the artistic and the aesthetic; the artistic refers to the text created by the author, and the aesthetic to the realization accomplished by the reader.


Correct Answer: 4312

A quick scan of the statements tells us that the statements discuss the nature of literary work - how it originates from the convergence of the text and the disposition of the readers. Note the phrase "From this polarity" in statement 3 - this must refer to the distinction presented in statement 4 ["literary work has two poles"] Statement 4 shows how the literary work comprises of two ends - (1) the artistic tied to the text, and (2) the aesthetic tied to the reader's realisation of the text. Statement 3 then underlines how the literary work cannot be equated to either of these and must lie somewhere midway netween the two. This idea is carried forward in Statement 1, which elaborates how the literary work is more than the text and becomes alive only when realised by the reader - in a way, this highlights how the literary work takes form due to the interplay between the artistic and the aesthetic. Statement 2 then extends on this idea of "convergence" [shown in 1] and reiterates the idea in 3 that the literary work, despite being an amalgamation of the two components, must not be mistaken with "the text or with the individual disposition of the reader." Hence, we obtain a coherent paragraph from the arrangement 4-3-1-2.

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