Question

Today is such a time, when the project of interpretation is largely reactionary, stifling. Like the fumes of the automobile and of heavy industry which befoul the urban atmosphere, the effusion of interpretations of art today poisons our sensibilities. In a culture whose already classical dilemma is the hypertrophy of the intellect at the expense of energy and sensual capability, interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art. Even more. It is the revenge of the intellect upon the world. To interpret is to impoverish, to deplete the world – in order to set up a shadow world of “meanings.” It is to turn the world into this world. ("This world"! As if there were any other.) The world, our world is depleted, impoverished enough. Away with all duplicates of it, until we again experience more immediately what we have. In most modern instances, interpretation amounts to the philistine refusal to leave the work of art alone. Real Art has the capacity to make us nervous. By reducing the work of art to its content and then interpreting that, one tames the work of art. Interpretation makes art manageable, conformable. This philistinism of interpretation is more rife in literature than in any other art. For decades now, literary critics have understood it to be their task to translate the elements of the poem or play or novel or story into something else. Sometimes a writer will be so uneasy before the naked power of his art that he will install within the work itself - albeit with a little shyness, a touch of the good taste of irony - the clear and explicit interpretation of it. Thomas Mann is an example of such an over cooperative author. In the case of more stubborn authors, the critic is only too happy to perform the job.
What does the author mean by, ‘In a culture whose already classical dilemma is the hypertrophy of the intellect at the expense of energy and sensual capability…?’

• A. Intellectual capabilities have diminished while sensual capabilities have increased.
• B. Exaggerated development of the intellect has come at the expense of dynamic qualities and worldly appreciation.
• C. Intellectual inclinations have declined while physical efforts and worldly pleasures have increased.
• D. Dynamism and sensory pleasures have increased exponentially while intellectual faculties have declined.
• E. The problem between choosing intellectual aspirations or sensory pleasures remains in our culture.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Passage Summary-In the passage the author is very much against interpretation, especially in art and literature. The author feels that art is interpreted because it makes us nervous and therefore interpretation can make art more conformist.

Hypertrophy is an exaggerated growth or excessive development of something. Therefore, hypertrophy of the intellect would imply excessive intellectual abilities. Eliminate options A, C and D which state that intellectual abilities have diminished or declined.

Option E distorts the meaning of the quote. The problem between intellectual aspirations and sensory pleasures is not a choice at all.

The quote can be interpreted as, ‘Exaggerated development of the intellect has come at the expense of dynamic qualities and worldly appreciation.’ Here, dynamic qualities stand for energy and worldly pleasure for sensual capability.

Hence, the correct Answer is option B.