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Verbal·Information and Ideas·Central Ideas and Details

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The following text is from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1830 short story “Sir William Phips.”

The knowledge, communicated by the historian and biographer, is analogous to that which we acquire of a country by the map,—minute, perhaps, and accurate, and available for all necessary purposes, but cold and naked, and wholly destitute of the mimic charm produced by landscape painting.

These defects are partly remediable, and even without an absolute violation of literal truth, although by methods rightfully interdicted to professors of biographical exactness.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A

Paintings may be more beautiful than maps, but maps are more useful than paintings.

B

The more famous a person is, the more likely that person is to attract the attention of a historian.

C

Historians’ fidelity to the truth often results in work that is less engaging than it could be.

D

Biographers are more-skilled writers than other kinds of historians.