DISCUSSION: Lines 33-34 help give us the answer. Dostoyevsky thought only true art could serve other goals. And lines 40-41 show that Dostoyevsky thought true literature was simply well-written literature.
___________
- CORRECT. Read the lines mentioned above. Art can’t fulfill its purpose (political or otherwise) unless it is good art. For a book, that means the book must be well written.
- Lines 35-41 contradict this. Dostoyevsky thought a book was well written if it made the author’s thoughts clear.
- This is just dumb. There are plenty of terrible books that also have no political goal.
- If you picked this, you probably remembered lines 26-27, where Dostoyevsky disagreed that art must serve political goal.
But that doesn’t mean Dostoyevsky thinks art should never have political goals. It’s just that Dostoyevsky doesn’t think political goals are the main thing: he’s mainly concerned that books are good art. But if a book is well written, Dostoyevsky wouldn’t reject it merely because it also had a political goal.
Lines 35-41 imply that Dostoyevsky would agree political literature was well written if it expressed the author’s thoughts. - There’s no reason that political literature must be bad literature. Lines 35-41 imply that Dostoyevsky would agree political literature was well written if it expressed the author’s thoughts.
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Claudia says
Could you please look at this sentence for choice “D”? is there a word missing? But that doesn’t mean Dostoyevsky thinks are should never have political goals. TY
FounderGraeme Blake says
Ah thank you, I should have put art instead of are. Have fixed it.
Note: This is an old comment but I wanted to clarify the point.
hern says
hI, can you explain preptest 64, reading comprehension question 26, in more detail. I fail to see where political point of view links to well written in the third paragraph. I understand the chain, readers understand > artistic work> well written > fully realized > fulfill goal. I just don’t see how political links in here.
MemberSabrina (LSAT Hacks) says
Hi Hern,
The trick with this question is that in paragraph three, the author demonstrates that Dostoyevsky believed that only a well written work can fulfill its goals. If the goal of any piece of work was then to serve a political point of view, it would have to be well written to achieve that goal The link to a political view is not explicit, but can be inferred from the text.
Hope that helps!