Question

Read this excerpt from the passage.

I believe it is difficult for those who publish their own memoirs to escape the imputation of vanity; nor is this the only disadvantage under which they labour: it is also their misfortune, that what is uncommon is rarely, if ever, believed, and what is obvious we are apt to turn from with disgust, and to charge the writer with impertinence.

What is the author's viewpoint about how people perceive memoirs?

People will admire the author's memoir because it is does not have the common pitfalls.

People judge memoirs harshly no matter what the memoir is about.

People form opinions about memoirs without reading the memoirs.

People respect memoirs that are neither too vain nor too commonplace.

Answer 1

I'll try to re-write the passage in easier to understand language

I believe it is difficult for those who publish their own memoirs to escape the imputation of vanity; --> "I think it's hard for people who publish their own memoirs to avoid people accusing them of being vain/writing the memoir for the sake of vanity"

nor is this the only disadvantage under which they labour --> "this is not the only disadvantage they're working under"

it is also their misfortune, that what is uncommon is rarely, if ever, believed --> "they also suffer because people won't believe them if what they're writing is uncommon"

"and what is obvious we are apt to turn from with disgust, and to charge the writer with impertinence." ---> "if the author writes about something common/obvious, people will be disgusted and accuse the writer of being rude"

Answer 2

and with that being said I'll try to go through the answer choices one by one

People will admire the author's memoir because it is does not have the common pitfalls. --> not necessarily, the author doesn't say anything about their own memoir/or the memoirs of authors specifically, just about memoirs in general

People judge memoirs harshly no matter what the memoir is about. --> this is not implied, it just says people will judge if the memoir has the characteristics mentioned in the passage

People form opinions about memoirs without reading the memoirs. --> maybe, it does suggest that some people think the idea of writing a memoir automatically makes the author kind of vain/self-obsessed

People respect memoirs that are neither too vain nor too commonplace. --> not supported by the passage, it doesn't say that people will automatically respect a memoir if it doesn't have those flaws, they might find something else to gripe about

anyway with that said I think the best choice is the third option,
People form opinions about memoirs without reading the memoirs.

Answer 3

@SmokeyBrown @shadow can you double check this, I don't feel 100% confident about my analysis

Answer 4

I actually thought the second option was the best one on my first reading. The author says that if memoirs are too "uncommon" people will judge them harshly and if they are too "obvious" people will judge them harshly.
It seemed like they were talking about the "subject matter" and it's difficult to write an attractive memoir no matter what the subject is.