SAT OwlQuestion bank / Cross-Text Connections
Text 1: Some literary scholars argue that a novel's meaning is fixed by its author's intentions. To understand a book properly, they say, readers must learn as much as possible about what the author meant to express.
Text 2: Novelist Teresa Valdez has said she is often surprised by what readers find in her books. Some of the most perceptive interpretations she has heard, she says, point to patterns she never consciously planned but immediately recognizes as true to the work.
Based on the texts, how would Valdez most likely respond to the scholars' view in Text 1?
She would suggest that valid meanings in a novel can go beyond what its author consciously intended.
She would agree that readers should study an author's life before reading the author's novels.
She would argue that an author's intentions can never be determined.
She would claim that readers' interpretations of her novels are usually mistaken.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
The scholars say meaning is fixed by what the author intended. Valdez accepts as true readings that find patterns she never planned. She would therefore say a novel can hold valid meanings beyond the author's conscious intentions, choice A.
Choice D contradicts Valdez, who calls some readers' interpretations "perceptive" and "true to the work."
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