单选题 The author mentions that English literature "was not part of any academic curriculum" in the early 19^th century in order to______.

A、 emphasize the need for Jane Austin to create ordinary, everyday characters in her novels
B、 give support to those religious and political groups that had attacked fiction
C、 suggest the superiority of an informal and unsystematized approach to the study of literature
D、 give one reason why Jane Austin' s novels received little critical attention in the early 19^th century

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】由第二段第一句These attitudes toward novels help explain why Austin received little attention from early 19-century literary critics可推知，作者第一段主要是解释Jane Austin’s novels received little critical attention的原因。