What was the importance of novels ?
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In what ways was the novel in colonial India useful for both the colonisers as well as the nationalists ? [CBSE 2009 (O), Sept. 2010, 2011, 2012]
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"Novels were useful for both the colonial administrators and Indians in colonial India."Support the statement with example. [CBSE 2010 (O)]
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What Were the various uses of novels from the Indian point of view ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]
(i) Source of Information : Colonial administrators found the ‘vernacular' novels a valuable source of information on native life and customs. Such information was useful for them in governing Indian society, with its large and a variety of communities and castes.
As outsiders, the British knew little about life inside Indian households. The novels in Indian languages often had descriptions of domestic life.
(ii) Novels and colonialism : The novel originated in Europe at a time when it was colonizing the rest of the world. The early novel contributed to colonialism by marking the readers feel they were part of a superior community of fellow colonialists.
(iii) The novel and nation making : The history written by colonial historians tended to depict Indians as weak, divided, and dependent on the British. These histories could not satisfy the tastes of the new Indian administrators and intellectuals. Nor did the traditional Puranic stories of the past- peopled by gods and demons, filled with the fantastic and the supernatural- seem convincing to those educated and working under the English system. Such minds wanted a new view of the past that would show that Indians could be independent minded and had been so in history. The novel provided a solution. In it, the nation could be imagined in a past that also featured historical characters, places, events and dates.
(iv) Novels and struggle for freedom : The imagined nation of the novel was so powerful that it could inspire actual political movements. Banking's Anandamath (1882) is-a novel about a secret Hindu militia that fights Muslims to establish a Hindu Kingdom. It was a novel that inspired many kinds of freedom fighters.
(v) Novels and common sharing novelists included : Various classes in the novel in such a way that they could be seen to belong to a shared world. 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, middle level peasants and landless labourers, middle class professionals and people from the margins of society. The women characters are strong individuals, especially those who come from the lower classes and are not modernised.
Discuss some of the social changes in nineteenth-century Britain which Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens wrote about.
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.
Describe the ways in which the novel in India attempted to create a sense of pan-Indian belonging
How did novels promote colonialism ? Explain with an example of a novel. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
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What kind of novels were written for young boys in the 19th century ? Explain. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
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How did novels make themselves relevant to young boys ? [CBSE Sept. 2011]
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Explain any five features of novels written for the young in the last stage of 19 th century. [CBSE 2012]
Mention some important characteristics of novels which increased their popularity among the readers.
Name a novelist who wrote about traditional rural communities of England that were vanishing.
Explain the role of novelists in the field of social reforms in India with the help of any three examples. [CBSE Sept. 2010]
Which novel supplied the adventurous text for the young English population ? [CBSE 2014]
Name any two novelists of South India. Also mention the names of the novels written by them.
Who is the author of the novel Sewasadan'? What is the importance of the novel for the Hindi literature ?
In many novels written during the colonial period, the ideal person successfully deals with one of the central dilemmas faced by colonial subject'. What was the dilemma ?
The novel revolves around Surdas who is visually impaired and belongs to an untouchable caste. Identify the novel.
Which of the following novel was written by Potheri Kunjambu and deals with the caste oppression ? [CBSE. Sept. 2011,12]
Explain the role of novelists in the field of social reforms in India with the help of any three examples. [CBSE 2014]
Which social issues were included in the novels in India? Explain by giving examples. [CBSE 2014]
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Novels helped in creating a sense of social awareness in India.' Explain. [CBSE 2012]
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]
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"Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe made the readers feel that they were part of a superior community". Support the statement. [CBSE 2013]
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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.
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How does the novel Pariksha Guru reflect the inner and outer world of the newly emerging middle classes ? [CBSE Sept. 2010]
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]
In what ways was the novel In colonial India useful for both the colonisers as well as the nationalists?
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.
Summarise the concern in both nineteenth-century Europe and India about women reading novels. What does this suggest about how women were viewed?
In what ways was the novel in colonial India useful for both the colonisers as well as the nationalists?
"Novels were useful to different sectors of the society."Support your answer with suitable examples.
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Highlight any three contributions of novel to modern society. [CBSE 2014]
How did novel become a popular medium of entertainment among the middle class in India? Explain. [CBSE 2012]
Mention some important reasons for the popularity of the novels. [CBSE Sept. 2010, 2011]
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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]
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Why were the novels widely read and become popular very quickly ? [CBSE Sept. 2011, 2012]
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How did novels become popular among masses ? (CBSE 2013)
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Assess the reasons for the popularity of the novel in Europe ? [CBSE 2012]
Explain the history of growth of novels in India. [CBSE 2014]
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Explain briefly the history of Hindi novel from starting to excellence. [CBSE 2011 ]
Why did the readership of novel begin to include poorer people? Give any three reasons. [CBSE 2013]
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"For a long time the publishing market excluded the poor."Give reasons for such an exclusion. [CBSE 2015]
"Social changes in Britain led to an increase in women readers". Explain.
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Explain the factors that led to women writing novels in Europe. [CBSE 2012]
Explain any three features of early Bengali novels . [CBSE 2010 (D)]
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Describe two kinds of novels that came to be written in Bengali in the 19th century. Name any two famous novelists of Bengal. [CBSE Sept. 2010]