Magister contest topics from different universities

Hello,

Here are some topics I've tried to gather from some friends. If you find any other topics please post them here to be beneficial for our mates.


African literature:

1- realism is a recurrent mode of writing in modern African literature. Discuss, focusing on two novels which, in your view, qualify as realistic works.


2- Irony and satire are formal elements often resorted to by Africain writers to provide a moral basis to their social criticism. Discuss, with reference to two relevent works in any
genre.

American Literature:

1-" although realism became the dominant mode in American writing after the Civil War, there were romantics and escape artists too in the closing decades of the nineteenth century". Discuss and illustrate with two works of your choice.


2- Social and moral decline in the modernist American literature. Discuss, with reference to two works of your choice.

English Literature:


1- A number of fictional works refer to the phenomena of industrialization and urbanization in Britain since the latter half of the nineteenth century. Study two novels which bear on these societietal issues.

2- Modernism as form of representation linked with important historical and political turning points. Discuss, with reference to two works of fiction.


African Literature:

1- lewis Nkosi states that" what is sometimes seen [in the African novel] as the embarrassing mixtures of styles and traditions is often a source of strength and variety". Would you agree with this viewpoint? Discuss with reference to at least two African novels.

2- Discuss the relationship between social/ political commitment and the artistic claims of literature in any two African literary works.


American Literature:

1- The individual and society in the American realistic novel . Discuss with reference to two novels of your choice.

2- Modernism and interiority. Discuss with relation to two American works of your choice in terms of content and techniques.

English Literature:

1- the WW1 is generally regarded as the period of transition between Realism and Modernism in English literature. Discuss with reference to two representative works.


2- Polish critic Ian Kott calls Shakespeare ' our contemporary'. Do you agree? Justify your answer by reference to three major plays.

Civilization topics:

American Civilization:

1- the impact of ethnicity on American foreign policy. Discuss with reference
to specific ethnic groups and events.

2- To what extent can it be said that Reconstruction was a form of internal colonization?


British Civilization:

1- discuss the contribution of ethnic minorities to British social and political life after the WW11.

2- Can the Irish question be viewed as a colonial problem?


Good luck for all.

Hi, I could bring the Magister Admission test of 2008-09, here are three civilisation topics that may help you:

Scholars in Africa tend presently to establish links between Pharonic Egypt and civilisation in tropical and equatorial Africa.
How far is this connection tenable?



" The yearning to see American-style democracy duplicated throughout the world has been a persistent theme in American foreign policy". (Neil Lawis, The New York Times).
Discuss with refrence to specific examples.


'New' Britain and the 'New' Labour Party are said to be a by-product of eighteen years of the Conservative Party 'rule'.
Discuss.

Hi, well I think it's a great idea you've just proposed... It'll be helpful for us to share our information and try to get answers to these topics. Personally speaking I didn't understand some of them, and I do want to read about other students' suggestions and opinions; for example the works we choose to discuss.

Thanks for this brilliant idea and I'm looking forward to start our discussion.

they are good subjects thx

University of Algiers'Magister Entrance Examination

Literature and Civilisation option:

Civilisations Topics:

1-African Civilisation

a- Discuss the contribution of Islam to the rise and development of the Great Empires of sub-Sahara of Africa.
b-The role of the Negro in the development of Pharaonic civilisation. Discuss

2-American Civilisation:

a- Despite its fairness to the Negro cause, the Reconstruction was nevertheless a decisive step in the growth of Negro consciousness. Discuss and illustrate.
b-Being a non-WASP: problems and challenges in post WWII America. Discuss.

3-British Civilisation :

a-Interventionism and British foreign policy since WWII
b-The Irish question in the twentieth century.




1-African Literature:

a-How far can it be said that history is a constitutive element in African fiction?. Discuss with reference to two works by different writers in any genre.
b-Influence and originality in African literature. Discuss by reference to two specific works by two different writers.

2-American Literature:

a-Escapism as a form of dissent in American literature. Discuss with reference to two works in any genre.
b-Modernism and the critique of the American Dream. Discuss with reference to two works.

3-English Literature:

a-To what extent can it be said that Shakespeare's theatre reflects its age exclusively? Discuss with reference to at least two works.
b-Discuss two novels-one from the 19th century and one from the 20th century- which you think to be representative of their contexts in terms of both form and content.

thanks for the topics but we look for some correct answers just to be able to answer next exams .thank you again.eto

I think that the idea of hush is brilliant we have to try to see to what extent we can answer this questions although they seem difficult.

thank you very much .

ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 1999
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

1) How do the treatment of political problems and the realist mode of writing interact in African prose fiction?
Discuss focusing on at least three African novels.

2) The place of folk culture and orality in African literature.
Discuss with reference to three specific works.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

1)”The temptation to run away to the West seems to trouble each generation of Americans… The promise of the West has always been the promise of escape the chance to “light out” and start life all over, to be reborn”.
Comment with reference to both form and content in the three representative works.

2) The search for individual fulfilment in 19th and 20th century American literature.
Discuss with reference to works of different genres.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

1) Topicality and universality in Shakespeare’s drama.
Discuss with reference to three specific plays.

2) “The Fist World War is the major event which accounts for the shift from realism to modernism in English creative writing.”
Comment and illustrate with reference to specific works.

ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2002
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN CIVILIZATIONS.

Choose one question in one of the following civilization questions:

A) AFRICAN CIVILIZATION

1) Africa was a dark continent, lit only by the flashes for foreign penetration. This is no longer so. The changes in political power have corrected this vision of a European-centred world. And research itself has excavated civilizations that had been beyond Europe’s reach and so beyond her recognition.”
(Roland Oliver & J.D Togo)
Discuss and illustrate.

2) Discuss the penetration of Islam into sub-Saharan Africa and its influence on social and cultural aspects of African life.

B) AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

1) The impact of ethnicity on American foreign policy. Discuss with references to specific ethnic groups and events.

2) To what extent can it be said that the Reconstruction was a form of internal colonization?

C) BRITISH CIVILIZATION

1) Discuss the contribution of ethnic minorities to British social and political life after the Second World War.

2) Can the Irish question be viewed as a colonial problem?



Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

1) Lewis Nkosi states that “What is sometimes seen (in the African novel) as the embarrassing mixtures of styles and traditions is often a source of strength and variety.
Would you agree with this viewpoint? Discuss with reference to at least two African novels.

2) Discuss the relationship between social/ political commitment and the artistic claims of literature in any between two African literary works.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

1) The individual and society in the American realistic novel.
Discuss with reference to two novels of your choice.

2) Modernism and interiority. Discuss with relation to two American works of your choice in terms of content and techniques.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

1) The First World War is generally regarded as the period of transition between Realism and Modernism in English Literature. Discuss with reference to two representative works.

2) Polish critic Ian Kolt calls Shakespeare ‘our contemporary’. Do you agree?
Justify your answer by reference to three major plays.

N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.

ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2003
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

The relationship between orality and the written form is an issue currently debated among African writers and critics. The forms of discourse adopted not only determine the styles, but reflect the writer’s relative interest in tradition and culture as well.

Discuss with reference to two or three major pieces of African literature in any genre.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

Modernism and the end of tradition.
Discuss, with reference to two works of your choice.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

Fact and fiction in the English realistic novel.
Discuss, with reference to two or three specific works.

N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.

ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2004
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

African writers are indebted both to indigerrous and Western sources but they remain essentially African.

Discuss this statement with reference to two works by two writers of your choice.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

Realism as an aesthetic and social movement in American literature.
Discuss with reference to two works in any genre.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

Jan Kott calls Shakespeare ‘Our contemporary”.
To what extent is this true? Illustrate by reference to two plays at least.

ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2005
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

1) Realism is a recurrent mode of writing in modern African literature.
Discuss, focusing on two novels which, in your view, qualify as realistic works.

2) Irony and satire are formal elements often resorted to by African writers to provide a moral basis to their social criticism. Discuss, with reference to two relevant works in any genre.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

1)”Although realism became the dominant mode in American writing after the Civil War, there were romantics and escape artists too in the closing decades of the nineteenth century”. Discuss and illustrate with two works of your choice.

2) Social and moral decline in modernist American literature. Discuss, with reference to two works of your choice.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

1) A number of fictional works refer to the phenomena of industrialisation and urbanisation in Britain since the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Study two novels which bear on these societal issues.

2) Modernism as form of representation linked with important historical and political turning point. Discuss, with reference to two works of fiction.



Choose one question in one of the following civilization questions:

A) AFRICAN CIVILIZATION

1) Study the influence of Muslim civilisation on African and socio-political organisation. Refer to one region of Africa where Islam is widespread.

2) How far can one consider Africa as the cradle of civilisation? Discuss and illustrate with both Western and African sources.

B) BRITISH CIVILIZATION

1) Write an essay on the impact of the Falklands war on the present-day social and political set-up in the United Kingdom? Both in terms of home affairs and of foreign policy.

2) The place of the United Kingdom in the world today where loyalties are concerned: NATO, the Commonwealth and the European Union.

C) AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

1) American foreign policy: from isolationism to interventionism. Discuss and illustrate.

2) Comment on the following statement:

“ At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one.
One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.
The second way of life is based upon the will of the minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms. I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure”.

N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.

Choose one question in one of the following civilization questions:

A) AFRICAN CIVILIZATION

1) How central is the Black contribution to the Pharaonic civilization?
2) Which periods or achievements in African civilizations have impressed you the most? Argue and illustrate.

B) AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

1) One American to a white man: “Yes, you are a people of reasons…”.
Discuss with reference specificities of American history and/or culture.
2) New forms of power in the Gilded Age. Discuss and illustrate.

C) BRITISH CIVILIZATION

1) Comment on the importance of trade-unions in British social and political life in the recent past.
2) How far is the press free in Britain and how far does it influence politics? Discuss and illustrate.

EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

1) “Modern African Literature should be seen in isolation from the prevailing economic and socio-political conditions and from dominant ideologies of the word from which it is produced. Equally important is the need to study African literature in its historical and intellectual context” (Emmanuel Ngara).

- Write an essay relating to the above statement discussing its aspects by reference to two relevant African works.

2) “In African literature, Africa is more important than literature” Discuss, with close reference to at least two works.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

1) The individual and his environment- natural man-made-in American literature. Discuss with reference to at least two works of the 19th and/or 20th century.
2) Continuity and change in American literature of the twenties. Discuss in relationship to the themes and forms of two works.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

1) Give a thematic and stylistic appreciation of three representative works in English literature. (Preferably belonging to the same genre), with particular emphasis on continuity and change.
2) The dramatist as enlightener. Discuss with reference to three Shakespearean plays.

N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.

ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2007
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN CIVILIZATIONS.

Choose one question in one of the following civilization questions:

A) AFRICAN CIVILIZATION

Is the opinion held by Walter Rodney that “Europe underdeveloped Africa” a calid one? Argue and illustrate.

B) AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

“The average American, like the average man of any country, has little but imagination. People who speak a different language, or worship some other god, or wear clothing unlike his own, are beyond the horizon of his sympathy.”
Comment and illustrate with examples from different historical periods.

EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

“Fiction is more than a passive reflection of society and history. It is also an active influence, reinforcing or refashioning values, beliefs, ideas, perceptions and aspirations” (Larry Diamond).

Discuss the validity of this formulation, with reference to two African novels published by different authors.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

American realism and nationalism. To what extent can it be said that realism aimed at securing unity after the Civil War? Discuss with reference to two works.

Magister Entrance Examination
Bouzareah 2008
Option: Linguistics/Didactics

1- Linguistics :

Some scholars regard written languages as secondary to spoken languages. Do you agree with this view? Discuss fully.

The human languages involve both written and spoken languages, scholars argue that written languages are trivial and they are dependent on the spoken languages which emerged earlier in the past.
In fact, language first appeared as a number of sounds used as feelings such as means of expression about hunger, anger and happiness. These sounds do not develop in isolation but in a collective group that share the same culture and have the same background.
Since language doesn’t develop by only one person and since every group of people has a particular language that reflects its culture and way of thinking, so communication between people needed more efforts from groups to be contacted.

Therefore, written languages were supposed to lift the fog and facilitate the process of originating the human languages then begin to write languages in the age of Sumerians 4000 BC

In a nutshell; within linguistics spoken languages are principle concern whereas written languages are put in the fringes of the study.


2- Didactics:

L.Van Lier stated that theorising, researching and practicing are inseparable ingredients in the professional conduct of an educator. Do you agree with this statement? Give reasons


Traditionally, the teacher was regarded as the main source of knowledge for his learners thus teaching was based upon a succession process step by step building structures, each one built upon the one before, in this respect the teacher’s role was no more than instructor.


In contrast, the contemporary view of teaching has evolved a better understanding of how languages are learnt. In fact, language learning depends on research findings in both linguistics and psychology so the traditional approaches were moved to the fringes of practice. Today and within the field of applied linguistics, it is up to the teacher to learn more about linguistic which is closely related to language to form an autonomous theorising for better mastering the teaching methods then choose the appropriate one.

However, the teacher’s role is full of performances, he has not to follow the syllabus blindly, he must be a creative researcher to provide his learners by different kinds of knowledge to brush their language by mastering the grammatical competence and act the communicative situations. The traditional teaching methods were based on the teacher whose role was to teach the grammar directly, and the vocabulary lists by rote, but today its up to the learner to product and develop autonomy for solving problems in the class which is alike to those of real life, learners transfer information through enjoyable social games played by groups and do project work as a final product of his action oriented process which is said to be practiced by the teacher who acts as a guider.

In short, theorising, researching and practicing are the main steps followed by the teacher in the learning teaching process

N.B: Both A and B are but models and NOT the typical answers, therefore they should be disregarded.

here are some topics from "the FORUM OF DJELFA"

UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH

EXAMINATION IN CIVILIZATION

Choose one question in one of the following civilization questions:

A) AFRICAN CIVILIZATION

1) How central is the Black contribution to the Pharaonic civilization?
2) Which periods or achievements in African civilizations have impressed you the most? Argue and illustrate.

B) AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

1) One American to a white man: “Yes, you are a people of reasons…”.
Discuss with reference specificities of American history and/or culture.
2) New forms of power in the Gilded Age. Discuss and illustrate.

C) BRITISH CIVILIZATION

1) Comment on the importance of trade-unions in British social and political life in the recent past.
2) How far is the press free in Britain and how far does it influence politics? Discuss and illustrate.


N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.

UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

1) “Modern African Literature should be seen in isolation from the prevailing economic and socio-political conditions and from dominant ideologies of the word from which it is produced. Equally important is the need to study African literature in its historical and intellectual context” (Emmanuel Ngara).

- Write an essay relating to the above statement discussing its aspects by reference to two relevant African works.

2) “In African literature, Africa is more important than literature” Discuss, with close reference to at least two works.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

1) The individual and his environment- natural man-made-in American literature. Discuss with reference to at least two works of the 19th and/or 20th century.
2) Continuity and change in American literature of the twenties. Discuss in relationship to the themes and forms of two works.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

1) Give a thematic and stylistic appreciation of three representative works in English literature. (Preferably belonging to the same genre), with particular emphasis on continuity and change.
2) The dramatist as enlightener. Discuss with reference to three Shakespearean plays.


N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.





ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2004
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

African writers are indebted both to indigerrous and Western sources but they remain essentially African.

Discuss this statement with reference to two works by two writers of your choice.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

Realism as an aesthetic and social movement in American literature.
Discuss with reference to two works in any genre.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

Jan Kott calls Shakespeare ‘Our contemporary”.
To what extent is this true? Illustrate by reference to two plays at least.





N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.















UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH



ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2003
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

The relationship between orality and the written form is an issue currently debated among African writers and critics. The forms of discourse adopted not only determine the styles, but reflect the writer’s relative interest in tradition and culture as well.

Discuss with reference to two or three major pieces of African literature in any genre.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

Modernism and the end of tradition.
Discuss, with reference to two works of your choice.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

Fact and fiction in the English realistic novel.
Discuss, with reference to two or three specific works.





N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.














UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH



ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2005
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

1) Realism is a recurrent mode of writing in modern African literature.
Discuss, focusing on two novels which, in your view, qualify as realistic works.

2) Irony and satire are formal elements often resorted to by African writers to provide a moral basis to their social criticism. Discuss, with reference to two relevant works in any genre.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

1)”Although realism became the dominant mode in American writing after the Civil War, there were romantics and escape artists too in the closing decades of the nineteenth century”. Discuss and illustrate with two works of your choice.

2) Social and moral decline in modernist American literature. Discuss, with reference to two works of your choice.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

1) A number of fictional works refer to the phenomena of industrialisation and urbanisation in Britain since the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Study two novels which bear on these societal issues.

2) Modernism as form of representation linked with important historical and political turning point. Discuss, with reference to two works of fiction.


N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.








UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH



ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2005
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN CIVILIZATIONS.

Choose one question in one of the following civilization questions:

A) AFRICAN CIVILIZATION

1) Study the influence of Muslim civilisation on African and socio-political organisation. Refer to one region of Africa where Islam is widespread.

2) How far can one consider Africa as the cradle of civilisation? Discuss and illustrate with both Western and African sources.

B) BRITISH CIVILIZATION

1) Write an essay on the impact of the Falklands war on the present-day social and political set-up in the United Kingdom? Both in terms of home affairs and of foreign policy.

2) The place of the United Kingdom in the world today where loyalties are concerned: NATO, the Commonwealth and the European Union.

C) AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

1) American foreign policy: from isolationism to interventionism. Discuss and illustrate.

2) Comment on the following statement:

“ At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one.
One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.
The second way of life is based upon the will of the minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms. I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure”.



N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.

UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH



ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 1999
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

1) How do the treatment of political problems and the realist mode of writing interact in African prose fiction?
Discuss focusing on at least three African novels.

2) The place of folk culture and orality in African literature.
Discuss with reference to three specific works.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

1)”The temptation to run away to the West seems to trouble each generation of Americans… The promise of the West has always been the promise of escape the chance to “light out” and start life all over, to be reborn”.
Comment with reference to both form and ******* in the three representative works.

2) The search for individual fulfilment in 19th and 20th century American literature.
Discuss with reference to works of different genres.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

1) Topicality and universality in Shakespeare’s drama.
Discuss with reference to three specific plays.

2) “The Fist World War is the major event which accounts for the shift from realism to modernism in English creative writing.”
Comment and illustrate with reference to specific works.





N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.




UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH



ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2002
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN CIVILIZATIONS.

Choose one question in one of the following civilization questions:

A) AFRICAN CIVILIZATION

1) Africa was a dark continent, lit only by the flashes for foreign penetration. This is no longer so. The changes in political power have corrected this vision of a European-centred world. And research itself has excavated civilizations that had been beyond Europe’s reach and so beyond her recognition.”
(Roland Oliver & J.D Togo)
Discuss and illustrate.

2) Discuss the penetration of Islam into sub-Saharan Africa and its influence on social and cultural aspects of African life.

B) AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

1) The impact of ethnicity on American foreign policy. Discuss with references to specific ethnic groups and events.

2) To what extent can it be said that the Reconstruction was a form of internal colonization?

C) BRITISH CIVILIZATION

1) Discuss the contribution of ethnic minorities to British social and political life after the Second World War.

2) Can the Irish question be viewed as a colonial problem?










N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.

UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH



ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2002
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)

EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.

Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

1) Lewis Nkosi states that “What is sometimes seen (in the African novel) as the embarrassing mixtures of styles and traditions is often a source of strength and variety.
Would you agree with this viewpoint? Discuss with reference to at least two African novels.

2) Discuss the relationship between social/ political commitment and the artistic claims of literature in any between two African literary works.

B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

1) The individual and society in the American realistic novel.
Discuss with reference to two novels of your choice.

2) Modernism and interiority. Discuss with relation to two American works of your choice in terms of ******* and techniques.

C) ENGLISH LITERATURE

1) The First World War is generally regarded as the period of transition between Realism and Modernism in English Literature. Discuss with reference to two representative works.

2) Polish critic Ian Kolt calls Shakespeare ‘our contemporary’. Do you agree?
Justify your answer by reference to three major plays.





N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.






UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH



ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2007
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)




EXAMINATION IN CIVILIZATIONS.




Choose one question in one of the following civilization questions:

A) AFRICAN CIVILIZATION

Is the opinion held by Walter Rodney that “Europe underdeveloped Africa” a calid one? Argue and illustrate.

B) AMERICAN CIVILIZATION

“The average American, like the average man of any country, has little but imagination. People who speak a different ********, or worship some other god, or wear clothing unlike his own, are beyond the horizon of his sympathy.”
Comment and illustrate with examples from different historical periods.

















N.B. Candidates are expected to demonstrate not only knowledge or basic facts, but an ability to argue on the basis of these facts and of their general culture.


UNIVERSITY OF ALGIERS
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
MAGISTER IN ENGLISH



ENTRANCE EXAMINATION 2007
(LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION OPTION)
(3 HOURS)



EXAMINATION IN LITERATURES.



Choose one question in one of the following literature questions:

A) AFRICAN LITERATURE

“Fiction is more than a passive reflection of society and history. It is also an active influence, reinforcing or refashioning values, beliefs, ideas, perceptions and aspirations” (Larry Diamond).

Discuss the validity of this formulation, with reference to two African novels published by different authors.



B) AMERICAN LITERATURE

American realism and nationalism. To what extent can it be said that realism aimed at securing unity after the Civil War? Discuss with reference to two works.


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please give me a work that represent the british society after WWI

eg. Charles Dickens: victorian age
Joseph Conrad : imperialism
E.M.Forster: imperialism

please give me some hints especially : shift from realism to modernism and works after WWI

Hello Haku,

It is not possible to label a writer this way. Every writer has a bulk of themes he tackled and it depends on the criticism more than on the writer himself.

Anyway, here you may find the writers of the age and you'll find links to their themes and works.

thank you very much......thank you