# PTE Reading MCS #14: Evolution of Contemporary...

Reading: Multiple Choice, Single Answer #14 - Level 2 - Feeds Reading

> Read the text and answer the question by choosing one option. Only one answer is correct.

The outpouring of contemporary American Indian literature in the last two decades, often called the Native American Renaissance, represents for many the first opportunity to experience Native American poetry. The appreciation of traditional oral American Indian literature has been limited, hampered by poor translations and by the difficulty, even in the rare culturally sensitive and aesthetically satisfying translation, of completely conveying the original's verse structure, tone, and syntax. By writing in English and experimenting with European literary forms, contemporary American Indian writers have broadened their potential audience, while clearly retaining many essential characteristics of their ancestral oral traditions. For example, Pulitzer-prizewinning author N. Scott Momaday's poetry often treats art and mortality in a manner that recalls British romantic poetry, while his poetic response to the power of natural forces recalls Cherokee oral literature. In the same way, his novels, an art form European in origin, display an eloquence that echoes the oratorical grandeur of the great nineteenth-century American Indian chiefs.

Which of the following is most likely one of the reasons that the author mentions the work of N. Scott Momaday?

- To illustrate how the author believes that members of the Native American Renaissance have broadened their potential audience
- To emphasize the similarities between Momaday's writings and their European literary models
- To demonstrate the contemporary appeal of traditional Native American oral literature
- To suggest that contemporary American Indian writers have sacrificed traditional values for popular literary success

## Answer

To illustrate how the author believes that members of the Native American Renaissance have broadened their potential audience

## Explanation

The passage uses the author's work as a concrete illustration of how blending traditional themes with established literary forms allows writers to connect with a broader, diverse audience.

## Hints

- Look at the sentence immediately preceding the mention of the specific author.
- Consider why an author would use a specific person's career to support a general argument about literary trends.

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