I find this paragraph of the long passage extremely hard to understand even after watching Greg’s solution video. Since I didn’t get the gist of it, I got quite many questions wrong.
Can someone help me understand what is the purpose of “But” there? Why did the author include “but” here? Did he try to say something? Did the author try to compare realistic vs poetic?
The main idea of the whole passage is even more obscured to me. I know in the video Greg mentioned the idea is related to subtlety but I did not find this idea being echoed throughout the passage. Only in the 4th paragraph (5 paras in total), I started to see it being mentioned.
"I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense." Virginia Woolf's provocative statement about her intentions in writing Mrs. Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the "poetic" novelist concerned with examining states of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness. **But** Virginia Woolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as a visionary: literary critics' cavalier dismissal of Woolf's social vision will not withstand scrutiny.
summed up: Virginia Woolf didn’t just write dreamy abstract novels about her characters’ emotions and internal states; her novels also included critical commentary on the real social issues of her time.
When you’re going through these passages you should always be asking yourself whether the author of the passage agrees with the “critics” (Line 2) or not.
Here, the critics say: we don’t give a hoot about VW’s statements on the social system, her opinions on real-world issues didn’t really matter. she was a poet, not a proponent of social justice. But (here’s the counter-opinion)
The author says: Critics, you are wrong, VW was not only a poet, she was a damn good social critic too, don’t dismiss that aspect of her.
the “but” is there to emphasize the stark difference of opinion between the “critics” and the author.
This is extremely helpful. Thank you Lexi. I wasn’t able to make it clear that there are differences between poetic vs realistic novelist. This part “she was a poet, not a proponent of social justice.” really helps. If there are any other insights relating to this passage you’d like to share, would love to hear it
No problem! Whenever I see passages like this, the first thing I do is ignore most of the florid language and ask myself:
Step 1. Does the author agree or disagree with the critics/scientists/reviewers/historians mentioned in the passage? (A “But,” “While,” or “However,” halfway through will tell you the author is probably disagreeing.)
Step 2: Locate the most obvious, oft-repeated synonym/antonym pairing in the passage. The “buzzwords,” if you will. ETS throws you lots of these, and in the humanities/literature passages they always give me huge clues as to what’s going on. Especially because they’re so black and white. Here, we get:
Figure out the author’s position (agree/disagree/neutral), follow the buzzwords (ETS throws a ton of them at you), and you will probably find the passage quite simple. Lots of RC questions work with this strategy.
Wow. Great strategy. I noticed you put words in two categories there based on the reading. That’s great.
This is me trying to understand in plain English. Regarding the passage I quoted, the very last sentence seems to emphasize that Woolf is ALSO a realistic novelist, NOT JUST a poetic novelist. Is this the way you understand it as well? I’m a little confused the author used the phrase “as well as,” it makes me feel like the author does not put much weight on her being a realistic novelist, even though mentioning it.
Yes, you’re exactly correct, the critics are saying that Woolf is ONLY a poetic novelist, while author is saying that Woolf is a poetic AND realist novelist.
EDIT: The author is actually putting a lot of weight on the “realist” novelist part. The point of the paragraph is the author saying, Hey, wait, critics, pay attention to VW’s realism too. Both the critics and the author already agree that VW is a poetic novelist, so that idea is less important.
Lots of RC questions work with this strategy.