Which statement is the author most likely to support?
A biographer who admires the subject faces a temptation to leave out what does not fit: the cruelty, the debts, the sulks. A biographer who dislikes the subject faces the opposite. Neither is serving the reader. Yet the ideal of simply 'telling it all' is also not available, since no life can be told in full, and selection is unavoidable. What can be asked is that the selection should be made honestly: that the evidence is represented fairly, that doubts are acknowledged and that the biographer does not hide facts that would change the reader's judgement. A biography which shows its reasoning invites the reader to disagree. In that respect, trust is earned less by claims of objectivity than by visible workings.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: E. Trust in a biography depends more on openness about method than on claims of objectivity
- Step 1: The last sentence says trust is earned less by claims of objectivity than by visible workings.
- Step 2: The only choice consistent with this is "Trust in a biography depends more on openness about method than on claims of objectivity".
Answer
Trust in a biography depends more on openness about method than on claims of objectivity.
Why not the others: Trust is said to rest on openness about method; acquaintance with the subject, length, praise and omitted facts are not offered as its basis.
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