Main idea questions on a multi-example passage are best solved by finding the one sentence that fits all the examples equally well. Testing "all original work deserves unreserved acceptance" against the passage fails, because the passage never makes so absolute a claim, it only wishes for more tolerance. Testing "creativity must never be inhibited" also fails, since that is a broader claim about creativity in general, while the passage is specifically about delayed recognition.
Testing "many undeserving innovators have been honoured after their demise" fails outright, because the passage treats Semmelweis, Van Gogh, and Kafka as deserving figures whose worth is later confirmed, not as undeserving people. The only statement that fits all three stories equally, a genuine contribution rejected in life and appreciated only after death, is that numerous innovators found recognition posthumously.
Therefore, the correct answer is Numerous innovators have found recognition and appreciation of their works posthumously.
The key is sequencing the events exactly as the passage lays them out. First, Semmelweis shares his observations but "could not provide any concrete evidence." Second, he faces "vehement criticism" and depression as a result of this unsubstantiated theory. Third, years later, he is declared insane and confined to an asylum. Fourth, about twenty years after his death, Pasteur and Lister's germ theory gains acceptance.
Since the question asks why the theory was rejected in the first place, the answer has to be whatever came first in this chain, the lack of concrete evidence, rather than his later confinement or Pasteur and Lister's later work, both of which happened as a result of, or well after, the original rejection.
Therefore, the correct answer is He could not substantiate it.
Since this is a two-blank question, both words in each option must independently match the passage. The first word describes what the critics did to Van Gogh's work, and the passage says they "labeled" it "strange and amateur," which is negative judgement, immediately ruling out "applauded" and "acclaimed."
Between the two remaining options, "denounced, tolerant" and "censured, hypercritical," the second word decides it. "Tolerant" critics would not have left an artist selling almost no paintings in his lifetime over work now valued in the millions, that outcome instead points to critics who were excessively, unfairly harsh, which is what "hypercritical" means.
Therefore, the correct answer is Censured, hypercritical.
An inference about a person's attitude is best drawn from their action rather than any stated opinion, since the passage gives us no direct quote from Brod. His one described action is disobeying Kafka's explicit instruction to destroy the manuscripts and publishing them instead.
That single action rules out "decried Franz's writings," since belittling the work would not lead someone to go out of their way to publish it, and it is too specific to support a sweeping claim about manuscripts "in general," so the option about it being unsacred to destroy any manuscript overreaches what the passage shows. The passage also never connects Brod to any opinion about critics.
What the action does support is that Brod saw enough worth in these specific writings to preserve and publish them against his friend's own wishes, which is the definition of appreciating and valuing that work.
Therefore, the correct answer is Appreciated and valued Franz's works.
The context is Ignaz "striving" so intensely that people around him began to doubt his sanity, which tells us the word being replaced must carry a sense of unbroken, undiminished intensity. Checking the options against that sense: "irresolutely" means uncertain or hesitant, the reverse of what caused people to think he had lost his mind. "Recklessly" shifts the meaning toward carelessness about consequences, which is not what is being described, it's about the intensity of effort, not carelessness. "Unabashedly" is about a lack of shame, which is unrelated to how forcefully or continuously he pursued his goal.
"Unabatedly" is the one word that keeps the same sense as "relentlessly," a continuous effort at full intensity that does not let up.
Therefore, the correct answer is Unabatedly.