Mo2men wrote: Could choice D be eliminated based on '' an examination about' is not parallel "a skillfully navigated exploration of".
should we either 'of' or 'about' to claim parallelism in both sentences?
Could the following be correct:

The was caused not only an increase in prices but also attack on our culture .

Be careful - prepositions do not have to be the same in order to be parallel! You're over-applying parallelism where you don't need it.
For example, I could say:
I jumped both OVER the rocks and INTO the lake.
As long as both prepositional phrases fit (grammatically, idiomatically, and logically) with the root phrase "I jumped," then they do not have to be the same preposition.

In your example sentence, prepositional phrases are irrelevant to the parallel structure. Because "... also a skillfully navigated exploration" is not underlined, the parallel structure must be:
1. not only an examination...
2. but also an exploration...

The prepositional phrases that describe the examination and the exploration don't matter to the parallel structure, because the NOUNS are already parallel.

The issue with D is that "an examination ABOUT" is not idiomatic. "Examination" only likes to take the preposition "of" (or perhaps "into").

Here's a complete breakdown of the answer choices:

A. an examination not only of how difficult it is to reconcile reason, will, and passion together in any art form, but
- "not only of x... but also y" ---> not parallel. If would have to be "not only of x but also of y"

B. an examination not only about the difficulty of reconciling reason, will, and passion in any art form, and
- "examination about" --> not idiomatic
- "not only... and also..." --> not idiomatic

C. not only an examination of how difficult it is to reconcile reason, will, and passion in any art form, and
- "not only... and also..." --> not idiomatic

D. not only an examination about the difficulty with reconciling reason, will, and passion together in any art form, but
- "examination about" --> not idiomatic

E. not only an examination of the difficulty of reconciling reason, will, and passion in any art form, but
- correct!

The answer is E.

This two-part parallelism - also known as CLOSED PARALLELISM - is very common on the GMAT.
Any time you see the following:
BOTH ____ AND ____
EITHER ____ OR ______
NOT ONLY _____BUT ALSO _______
NOT ________ BUT _________
etc,
... you need to make sure that what comes right after the first part structurally matches what comes after the 2nd part.

For more, see:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/parellelism ... tml#796027
https://www.beatthegmat.com/help-manhatt ... tml#713882
https://www.beatthegmat.com/sc-question- ... tml#769597
https://www.beatthegmat.com/spanish-arma ... tml#775935
https://www.beatthegmat.com/og-pg-725-81 ... tml#767953
https://www.beatthegmat.com/think-of-x-a ... tml#575578
https://www.beatthegmat.com/most-expendi ... tml#716319
https://www.beatthegmat.com/as-even-mos ... tml#825825