History

Novels, Society and History

Question:

How were the modem Indian novels useful for the Indians in day to day life. [CBSE 2013]
Or
"Indian novelists used the novel as a powerful medium to criticize the defects of the society."Justify the statement with the suitable examples. [CBSE 2013]
Or
Explain any three reasons for making the novel popular in India. [CBSE 2014]

Answer:

(i) Indians used the novel as a powerful medium to criticise what they considered defects in their society and to suggest remedies. Writers like Viresalingam used the novel mainly to propagate their ideas about society among a wider readership.
(ii) Novels also helped in establishing a relationship with the past. Many of them told thrilling stories of adventures and intrigues set in the past. Through glorified accounts of the past, these novels helped in creating a sense of national pride among their readers. At the same time, people from all walks of life could read novels so long as they shared a common language. This helped in creating a sense of collective belonging on the basis of one's language.
(iii) Novels made their readers familiar with the ways in which people in other parts of their land spoke their language.
(iv) As elsewhere in the world, in India too, the novel became a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class. The circulation of printed books allowed people to amuse themselves in new ways.
(v) A reason for the popularity of novels among women was that it allowed for a new conception of womanhood. Stories of love
which was a staple theme of many novels showed women who could choose or . refuse their partners and relationships.
(vi) From the 1920s, in Bengal too a new kind of novel emerged that depicted the lives of peasants and ‘low' castes. Advaita Malla
Burman's (1914-51) Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1956) is an epic about the Mallas, a community of fisherfolk who live off fishing in the river Titash.
(vii) Basheer's short novels and stories were written in the ordinary language of conversation. With wonderful humour, Basheer's novels spoke about details from the everyday life of Muslim households.
(viii) Premchand's novels, for instance, are filled with all kinds of powerful characters drawn from all levels of society. In his novels you meet aristocrats and landlords, middlelevel peasants and landless labourers, middle-class professionals and people from the margins of society.

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Novels, Society and History

Q 1.

Mention some important characteristics of novels which increased their popularity among the readers.

Q 2.

Which was the first historical novel written in Bengal ?

Q 3.

Who wrote Anandmath ? [CBSE 2014]

Q 4.

Explain the following:
a) Social changes in Britain which led to an increase in women readers
b) What actions of Robinson Crusoe make us see him as a typical coloniser.
c) After 1740, the readership of novels began to include poorer people.
d) Novelists in colonial India wrote for a political cause.

Q 5.

Discuss some of the social changes in nineteenth-century Britain which Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens wrote about.

Q 6.

How did novels promote colonialism ? Explain with an example of a novel. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Or
What kind of novels were written for young boys in the 19th century ? Explain. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Or
How did novels make themselves relevant to young boys ? [CBSE Sept. 2011]
Or
Explain any five features of novels written for the young in the last stage of 19 th century. [CBSE 2012]

Q 7.

Who was another of Pamela a novel based on exchange of letters between two lovers.

Q 8.

How most of the novels of the 19th century represented the true picture of the community and the society ?

Q 9.

Outline the changes in technology and society which led to an increase in the readers of the novel in the eighteenth century Europe. [CBSE Sept. 2013]

Q 10.

What was the reason for the popularity of the novel?

Q 11.

Why did the readership of novel begin to include poorer people? Give any three reasons. [CBSE 2013]
Or
"For a long time the publishing market excluded the poor."Give reasons for such an exclusion. [CBSE 2015]

Q 12.

"Social changes in Britain led to an increase in women readers". Explain.
Or
Explain the factors that led to women writing novels in Europe. [CBSE 2012]

Q 13.

Who is the writer of the Novel Germinal ? What was the theme of the novel ?

Q 14.

Name a novelist who wrote about traditional rural communities of England that were vanishing.

Q 15.

Which novel supplied the adventurous text for the young English population ? [CBSE 2014]

Q 16.

Who wrote Saraswativijayam ? [CBSE 2014]

Q 17.

Which social issues were included in the novels in India? Explain by giving examples. [CBSE 2014]
Or
Novels helped in creating a sense of social awareness in India.' Explain. [CBSE 2012]

Q 18.

In what ways was the novel in colonial India useful for both the colonisers as well as the nationalists?

Q 19.

Describe the ways in which the novel in India attempted to create a sense of pan-Indian belonging

Q 20.

How did novel become a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class in India? Explain. [CBSE 2012]

Q 21.

Mention any three features of Pickwick Papers.

Q 22.

Who is the author of the novel ‘Robinson Crusoe' ? [CBSE. Sept.2011, 12]

Q 23.

Outline the changes in technology and society which led to an increase in readers of the novel in eighteenth-century Europe.

Q 24.

Mention some important reasons for the popularity of the novels. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]
Or
Explain, how did novels become a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class during the late nineteenth century in India. [CBSE 2010 (D), Sept. 2013]
Or
Why were the novels widely read and become popular very quickly ? [CBSE Sept. 2011, 2012]
Or
How did novels become popular among masses ? (CBSE 2013)
Or
Assess the reasons for the popularity of the novel in Europe ? [CBSE 2012]

Q 25.

How had the different novelists of the colonial period taken up the task of modernisation of the Indians ? Explain

Q 26.

Explain the themes and issues of the novels of Thomas Hardy. [CBSE 2011]

Q 27.

What do you mean by epistolary novel ? Give One example.
Or
State the meaning of epistolary novel. Give one example for this type of novel. [CBSE 2013]

Q 28.

How did the early novels contribute to colonialism ?
Or
With the help of an example show how the early novels in Europe contributed to colonialism? [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]

Q 29.

What is a novel ?

Q 30.

What are major differences between a novel and a manuscript ?

Q 31.

Who was the author of Pickwick Papers which was serialised in 1836 ? [CBSE 2014]

Q 32.

Name any two famous Hindi novelists. Also mention the names of the novels written by them.

Q 33.

The Novel is about an epic about the Mallas, a community of fisherfolk who live off fishing in the river Titash. Identify the novel and the author.

Q 34.

Which was the first novel of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay ?

Q 35.

What is satire ? Give one example. [CBSE 2014]

Q 36.

Who was the English author who showed the darker side of colonialism in his novels ? [CBSE. Sept.2011]

Q 37.

The novel revolves around Surdas who is visually impaired and belongs to an untouchable caste. Identify the novel.

Q 38.

Explain the role of novelists in the field of social reforms in India with the help of any three examples. [CBSE 2014]

Q 39.

Explain the following :
(a) Social changes in Britain which led to an increase in women readers.
(b) What actions of Robinson Crusoe make us see him as a typical coloniser ? [CBSE Sept. 2011]
Or
"Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe made the readers feel that they were part of a superior community". Support the statement. [CBSE 2013]
Or
What actions of Robinson Crusoe made him as a typical coloniser ? Explain. [CBSE 2013]
(c) After 1740, the readership of novels began to include poorer people.
(d) Novelists in colonial India wrote for a political cause.
Or
How does the novel Pariksha Guru reflect the inner and outer world of the newly emerging middle classes ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]

Q 40.

Discuss some of the social changes in the nineteenth century Britain which Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens wrote about.

Q 41.

Write a note on:
a) The Oriya novel
b) Jane Austen's portrayal of women
c) The picture of the new middle class which the novel Pariksha-Guru portrays.

Q 42.

What is Epistolary?

Q 43.

Describe the earliest novels written in Bengali and Marathi. [CBSE 2013]

Q 44.

How did the novels play a significant role in awareness about the India's glorious past. [CBSE 2013]
Or
How did novels inspire the freedom fighters? Explain with two examples. [CBSE 2011]

Q 45.

Describe the reasons of the popularity of novels among the women. [CBSE 2013, 2014]

Q 46.

Explain the contribution of Premchand in Hindi novels. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011, 2013]
Or
Which is the most popular novel written by Premchand ? When was it published ? Write its theme. [CBSE 2008 (O)]
Or
"It was with the writings of Premchand that Hindi novel achieved excellence."Justify the statement. [CBSE 2013]

Q 47.

What Is a novel ? Mention any two features of novel.

Q 48.

How most of the novels of the 19th century represented the true picture of the community and the society ?

Q 49.

"It is a truth universally accepted acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". Name the novel and the author.

Q 50.

Which was the first modern novel in Nalayalam ? [CBSE 2014]