Unusual literary task reveals painful truth (5,7)

I believe the answer is:

stark reality

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'painful truth' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'unusual literary task' is the wordplay.
'unusual' indicates an anagram.
'literary'+'task'='literarytask'
'literarytask' is an anagram of 'STARK REALITY'.

'reveals' is the link.

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