Henry James (1843-1916)

Henry James (1843-1916) was an American novelist who spent most of his career in Britain. He was a realist, and his work is remarkable for its creative use of interior monologue and unreliable narrators. His essay "The Art of Fiction" argued for greater creative freedom for writers.

Henry James has many works that could appear on the exam. For the GRE Literature exam, focus on the following. Read each linked summary at least once.

1. Daisy Miller (1878)
-Seduced into improper behavior by the cad Winterbourne

2. The Portrait of a Lady (1881)
-Heiress Isabel Archer in Italy

3. The Turn of the Screw (1898)
-Ghost story; unreliable narrator.
-Flora, Miles, Miss Jessel, Quint

4. The Beast in the Jungle (1903)
-John Marcher & May Bartram await the grand fate John is sure will befall him, but which never does.

5. The Ambassadors (1903)
-Lambert Strether; the Newsomes; Chad Newsome; Countess Madame de Vionnet
-Strether tries to bring Chad back to New England from Paris.

Several of Henry James' novellas are worth adding to your GRE reading list. I recommend the Signet Classics Edition, which includes Daisy Miller, The Beast in the Jungle, and The Turn of the Screw.

E. M. Forster (1879-1970)

E. M. Forster (1879-1970) was an early-20th-century English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. He was a secular humanist. His Aspects of the Novel broached the idea of "flat" and "round" characters.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with E. M. Forster. Read each linked summary at least once.

1. Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905)
-Caroline Abbott; Lilia Herriton; Lilia falls in love w/ Italian on trip to Italy; marries, starts family, dies.

2. A Room with a View (1908)
-Charlotte Bartlett, Lucy Honeychurch, Mr. Emerson, George Emerson, Mr. Beebe, Eleanor Lavish, Cecil Vyse; young Englishwoman's romantic encounter in Florence impedes marriage.

3. Howards End (1910)
-Maragaret, Helen, & Tibby Schlegel; Charles, Paul, & Evie Wilcox; Schlegel (sentimentality) vs. Wilcox (pragmatism); epigraph: "Only connect."

4. A Passage to India (1924)
-Dr. Aziz, Adela Quested, the Marabar Caves; murder plot

E. M. Forster's Howard's End may be worth adding to your GRE reading list. I recommend the Dover Thrift Edition.

George Eliot (1819-1880)

George Eliot (1819-1880), aka Mary Anne Evans, was a Victorian realist novelist. Her works usually take place in the English countryside.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with George Eliot. Be sure to read the linked plot summaries at least twice before the exam.

1. Adam Bede (1859)
-Seth, Dinah, Mr. Irwine, Lisbeth, Hetty, Arthur

2. The Mill on the Floss (1860)

3. Silas Marner (1861)
-Silas Marner, Godfrey Cass, Molly, Eppie

4. Middlemarch (1871-2)
-Dorothea Brooke
-famously admired by Virginia Woolf as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people"

Middlemarch may be worth adding to your GRE Literature reading list. I recommend the Barnes & Noble Classics Edition.

Samuel Butler (1835-1902)

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) was a Victorian novelist.

Don't confuse him with the 17th-century poet who wrote Hudibras.

For the GRE Literature Exam, associate the following works with Samuel Butler:

1. Erewhon (1872, aka "Nowhere")
-Satire of Victorian society; parody of Utopia; similar to Gulliver's Travels

2. The Way of All Flesh (1903)
-Four generations of the Pontifex family; attacks Victorian-era (sexual) hypocrisy

Samuel Butler is not worth adding to your GRE Literature reading list.

Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

Eudora Welty (1909-2001) was a Southern Gothic novelist.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works and characters with Eudora Welty.

1. Delta Wedding
-The Fairchild family; George. Whole family voices the story.

2. The Optimist's Daughter (Pulitzer winner)
-Laurel Hand, Fay McKelva, Judge Clint McKelva, Becky McKelva

3. "Why I Live at the P.O." (short story)
-Sister (that's her name) tells why Mr. Whitaker broke up with her to marry her sister, Stella-Rondo.
-Sister said she was bigger-breasted on one side.

Eudora Welty is not worth adding to your reading list for the GRE Literature exam.

Gothic Novels (18th Century)

The Gothic novels of the 18th century were a combination of horror and romance. Almost universally, they contain some apparently supernatural plot elements, usually associated somehow with Catholicism, that later turn out to have natural explanations, a technique known as the gothic explique.

These novels were often criticized (and parodied) for their melodramatic tone.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following authors and works with the Gothic novel:

Horace Walpole (father of the form)
-The Castle of Otranto: Manfred, Conrad, Isabella

Anne Radcliffe (cited most often in the 19th century)
-The Mysteries of Udolpho: Montoni, Emily
-The Italian: VincentinoVivaldi, Ellena Rosalba

M.G. Lewis (events actually were supernatural)
-The Monk: Ambrosio, Mathilda

Jane Austen (parodying Radcliffe)
-Northanger Abbey: Catherine Morland, the Allens, Henry Tilney, John Thorpe

Jane Austen (1775-1817)

Jane Austen (1775-1817) is one of the most popular English novelists of all time. Her work is known for its realism and its subtle irony. Some have called her the founder of both the modern romance novel and the modern romantic comedy.

Any of Jane Austen's work is likely to appear on the GRE Literature exam. Read the Wikipedia entry for each of the following works at least once and familiarize yourself with the main characters.

1. Sense and Sensibility (1811)
-Elinor & Marianne Dashwood; Lucy Steele; John Willoughby; Colonel Brandon
2. Pride and Prejudice (1813)
-Elizabeth & Jane Bennett, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, Charles Bingham, George Wickham
3. Mansfield Park (1814)
-The Bertrams; Fanny Price; Mrs. Norris
4. Emma (1815)
-Emma Woodhouse, Mr. Knightley, Miss Bates, Frank Churchill, Harriet Smith, Jane Fairfax
5. Northanger Abbey (1817, posthumous)--her first completed novel
-Catherine Morland, Henry Tilney, John Thorpe, Isabella Thorpe; parody of the Gothic novel
6. Persuasion (1817, posthumous)
-Sir Walter, Elizabeth, Anne Elliot, Frederick Wentworth, Kellynch Hall (estate)

For the GRE Literature exam, it's worth reading any Jane Austen novel you haven't yet read, though don't read more than 2. In declining order of importance: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park.

If you're pressed for time, or if you've already read them and want to review, there are also pretty faithful film versions of Pride and Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility.

Edith Wharton (1862-1937)

Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist. She was from aristocratic New England stock; she lived and worked in France between the wars. Her work often depicts the suffocating society of the New England wealthy.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works and characters with Edith Wharton. In each case, a summary knowledge will suffice.

1. The House of Mirth (1905)
-Lily Bart, NYC socialite seeking husband; title from Ecclesiastes 7:4
2. Ethan Frome (1911)
-1900s New England; Zenobia (Zeena), romance with Mattie Silver. Told through townspeople's eyes.
3. The Age of Innocence (1920; Pulitzer winner)
-1870s NYC. Newland Archer engaged to May Welland; May's cousin Ellen Olenska intrudes.

Edith Wharton is not worth adding to your GRE reading list unless you find yourself with some extra time and you haven't read any of her work. In that case, I recommend the Oxford World's Classics edition of The House of Mirth.

Saul Bellow (1915-2005)

Saul Bellow (1915-2005) was a Nobel-Prize-winning American novelist, born in Canada to parents of Russian Jewish descent.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Saul Bellow. In each case, a summary knowledge will suffice.

1. Herzog
2. Seize the Day
3. Henderson the Rain King
4. The Adventures of Augie March

(He has some important later works, but they're too recent for the GRE folks.)

It's probably not worth adding Bellow to your GRE reading list.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was the preeminent British novelist of the 19th century. He's immensely popular: none of his published books has ever gone out of print. He's also a GRE Literature heavyweight: there is an enormous amount of Dickens material that could show up on the exam.

Associate the following facts and ideas with Dickens:

1. Vivid, often exaggerated characterization; borderline onomatopoeic names
2. Published almost exclusively in serials; cliffhanger endings
3. Many works preoccupied with poverty and attempted upward social mobility
4. A wide range of comic and serious tones

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Dickens:

1. Oliver Twist (1837-9)
2. The Pickwick Papers (1837)
3. Nicholas Nickelby (1838-9)
4. David Copperfield (1850)
5. Bleak House (1852-3)
6. Hard Times (1854)
7. Great Expectations (1860-1)

Don't fall into the trap of spending too much time on Dickens--the page to points ratio isn't good. Consider adding one Dickens novel to your list, no more. (See the links above for recommendations.)

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), aka Dr. Johnson, was an English essayist, critic, poet, and novelist. He is probably most famous for the glowing biography written by James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, or for compiling the first modern English dictionary. He was destitute and unrecognized well into his forties, at which time he achieved a certain literary celebrity.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Samuel Johnson. In each case a summary knowledge will suffice.

1. "The Vanity of Human Wishes" (poem)
2. The Lives of the English Poets (literary biography)
3. The Rambler (journal)
-in which Johnson published essays frequently
4. Dictionary of the English Language
5. Rasselas (novel)

Johnson's work is probably not work reading in full for the GRE Literature exam.

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was a Irish-born English satirist. His work is very likely to appear on the GRE Literature exam.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Jonathan Swift.

1. Gulliver's Travels
-Worth knowing Liliput, Brobdignag, Laputa, Struldburgs, Houyhnhnms, and Yahoos
2. "A Modest Proposal"
-Swift ironically suggests that poor Irish infants might be sold to the rich as food.
3. A Tale of a Tub
-Religious satire: Peter (Catholicism) vs Jack (Calvinism & Dissenting Protestants) vs Martin (Luther, but also, confusingly, Anglicanism)

Gulliver's Travels might be worth adding to your exam prep reading list. I recommend the Penguin Classics Edition.

Herman Melville (1819-1891)

Herman Melville (1819-1891) was an American novelist. His Moby-Dick and Billy Budd are considered by many to be the greatest ever American fiction.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Herman Melville. In each case, a summary knowledge coupled with a familiarity with the style of writing will suffice.

1. Moby-Dick
-Characters: Ishmael, Ahab, Queequeg, Dashoo, Tashtego, Starbuck; the Pequod
2. Billy Budd
-Titular character is a handsome sailor stock-hero falsely accused of mutiny by Claggart, then convicted by court martial and hung by Captain Vere; last words are "Long live Captain Vere."
3. "Bartleby the Scrivener"
-A novelette; Bartleby increasingly refuses to do any work around the office, saying "I'd prefer not to."

While Moby-Dick may be a bit too much to tackle for test prep, Billy Budd, and there's a half-decent movie version, too.

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was an English Modernist novelist and essayist. She was one of the major figures of the Modernist movement.

She was a pioneer of the modern stream-of-consciousness techniques, though in her hands the effect is less pronounced as in other modernist works, such as Joyce's Ulysses.

For the GRE Literature exam, associate the following works with Virginia Woolf. In each case, if you haven't read the book already, a general knowledge of plot, character, and style will suffice.

1. Mrs. Dalloway
-1 day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, in post-WWI England
-A famous example of stream of consciousness
2. To the Lighthouse
-Follows the Ramsay family, plus Lily Briscoe, before, during, and after WWI.
3. A Room of One's Own
-Book-length essay on barriers faced by woman writers of literature.
-Hypothetical "Judith Shakespeare;" coined the term "Oxbridge"
-Examines Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and George Eliot in detail
-Tone is heavily ironic/sarcastic

There's the off chance that the GRE folks will expect you to know that Woolf, who could be more than a bit haughty, once dismissed Joyce's Ulysses as "illiterate" and "underbred."

If you're interested in reading more, I recommend starting with this annotated To the Lighthouse.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was an American novelist and short fiction writer of the Lost Generation. He coined the term "The Jazz Age."

For the exam, be familiar with the general plots and characters of the following works.

1. The Great Gatsby
-Nick Carraway (narrator), Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan
2. This Side of Paradise
-Amory Blaine, Stephen Blaine, Beatrice O'Hara
3. Tender is the Night
-Dick Diver (psychoanalyst) & Nicole (patient, then wife)
4. "Bablyon Revisited"
-Charlie & Helen Wales. Father tries to regain custody after fight with alcoholism.

If you want to read more and haven't read Gatsby, I recommend Tender is the Night.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) was one of the fathers of the English novel. He was also an established dramatist. His works are generally comic and frequently ironic. He was one of the first English novelists who (unlike, say, Defoe and Richardson) didn't try to pretend that his works were actual memoirs or letters.

Associate the following works with Henry Fielding.

Shamela and Joseph Andrews
-Both parodies of Richardson's Pamela.
-Joseph Andrews, Shamela's brother, appears to be resistant to losing his virginity.

Tom Jones
-Mocks the moral rigidity of contemporary writers.
-Characters: Tom, Squire Allworthy, Blifil, Lady Bridget, Sophia Western.
*Opening passage commonly appears on the exam.

If you want to read more, you can't really go wrong with any Fielding, but Joseph Andrews and Shamela, usually published together, are shorter.