Correct Response: A. One traditional approach to literary criticism involves considering the biography of the author of a work. In the biographical approach, the work is assessed in a historical context and connections are made between the author, the work, and various actions and events unique to the author's personal history. Other critical approaches seek to evaluate a work in terms of its influence on other authors and works (B) or of its reflection of the culture and politics of its time (C). Still another approach is completely ahistorical, relying instead on the close reading of a work and on individual reader responses to or interpretations of the work (D).
