NOVEL, SOCIETY AND HISTORY
LESSON-1
THE RISE OF NOVEL
Q1. Discuss the difference between the writing in ancient time and in modern period .
Ans. In ancient times manuscript were made, which were handwritten and circulated among very few people.
In contrast , after evolution of printing, the novel –a modern form of literature is born.
Novels are widely read and become popular very quickly.
Q2. How did printing bring changes in the society ?
` Or
Discuss the importance of Novels in modern period/new emerging towns ?
Ans. Because of being printed, novels were widely read and became popular very quickly.
2. Big cities like London which were growing rapidly , got connected with small towns
and rural areas through print and improved communications.
3. Novels produced a number of common interest among their scattered and varied readers.
Q3. Discuss the effects of novels on Reader ?
Ans. 1. Novels produced a number of common interests among their scattered and varied readers.
2. Through novels , readers were drawn into the story and identified with the lives of fictitious characters, they could think about issues such as the relationship between love and marriage, the proper conduct for men and women
Q4. What were manuscripts ?
Ans. manuscripts were handwritten books.
Q5. When and where novels took their firm root ?
Ans. The novels took firm root in England and France .
Novels began to be written from the 17th century, but really flowered from the 18th century.
Q6. How did new readership help the authors ?
Ans. 1. As readership grew and the market for books expanded , the earnings of authors increased.
2. Authors freed them from financial dependence on the patronage of aristocrats.
3. Now they were independent to experiment with different literary styles.
Q7. Who claimed himself ‘the founder of a new province of writing’ ?
Ans. Henry Fielding , a novelist of the early 18th century, claimed he was ‘the founder of a new province of writing’ where he could make his own laws. The novels allowed flexibility in the form of writing.
Q8. Who was Walter Scott ?
Ans. Walter Scott was the novel writer, who remembered and collected popular Scottish ballad
Which he used in his historical novels about the wars between Scottish clan.
Q9. What was the epistolary novel ?
Ans. Novels which were written in the form of a series of letter (personal and private)
To tell the story were called the epistolary novels.
e.g- Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, written in the 18th century, told much of its story through an exchange of letters between two lovers.
Q10. Why was the publishing market excluded the poor for a long time ?
Ans. For a long time the publishing market excluded the poor because initially . novels did not come cheap.
e.g- Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones (1749) was issued in six volumes priced at three shillings each- which was more than what a labourer earned in a week.
Q11. How did people have easier access to book ?
Ans. a. Introduction of Circulating libraries.
b. Technological improvements in printing brought down the price of books and innovations in marketing led to expanded sales.
c. By hiring out novels by the hour .
Q12. Give reasons for the popularity of novels .
Ans. Novels became popular due to following reasons –
- The world created by novels were absorbing and believable, and seemingly real.
- While reading novels, the reader was transported to another’s person’s world, and began looking at life at it was experienced by the characters of the novels.
- Novels allowed individuals the pleasure of reading in private as well as the joy of public reading or discussing stories with friends and or relatives.
- In rural areas people would collect to hear one of them reading a novel aloud..
Q13. What is ‘Serialised”
Ans. It is a format in which the story is published in instalments, each part in a new issue of journal.
e.g- Charles Dicken’s Pickwick Papers was a serialized in a magazine.
Serialisation allowed readers to relish the suspense, discuss the characters of a novel and live for weeks with their stories- Like viewers of television soaps today .
Q14. Discuss the condition of workers/ ordinary people in the industrial age .
Or
Write about a novel in which Dicken wrote about the effects of industrialization .
Or
On what themes and issues did Dickens write on ? Give Examples.
Ans. a. During the industrial age, workers faced problem.
b. Cities expanded in an unregulated way and were filled with overworked and underpaid workers.
c. The unemployed poor roamed the streets for jobs, and the homeless were forced to seek shelter in workhouses.
d. Business profit increased with industrialization but they undervalued the lives of workers.
Or
Charles Dickens wrote about the terrible effects of industrialization on people’s
lives and characters in his novels –
- His novel ‘Hard Times’ (1854) describes Coketown, a fictitious industrial town, it was full of machinery, smoking chimneys, river polluted purple and buildings that all looked the same.
- Here the workers are known as ‘hands’, as if they had no identity other than as operators or machines.
- Dickens criticized not just the greed for profit but also the ideas that reduced human beings into simple instruments of production.
Q15. Describe a novel in which Dicken focused on the terrible urban life under industrial capitalism ?
Ans. OLIVER TWIST (1838)
1. It is the tale of a poor orphan who lived in a world of petty criminals and beggars.
2. He was brought up in a cruel workhouse.
3. Finally, Oliver was adopted by a wealthy man and lived happily ever after.
4. But not all novels about the lives of the poor gave readers the comfort of a happy ending.
Q16. Write a brief note on novel which ends on a not of despair .
Ans. EMILE ZOLA’S GERMINAL (1885)
a. It was written on the life of a young miner in France
b. He lived in grim conditions of mine.
c. This novel ends on a not of despair : The strike the hero leads fails, his co-workers turn against him and hopes are shattered.
Q17. How did the novelist establish the link between the urban and the rural communities ?
Ans. a. The most of readers of the novels lived in the city but the novel created in them a feeling of connection with the fate of rural communities.
b. e.g- The 19th –Century British novelist ‘Thomas Hardy , wrote about traditional rural
communities of England that were fast vanishing.
c. Because now large farmers have fenced off land, brought machines and employed labourers to produce for the market.
d. The old rural culture, where farmers owned their own farms were dying out.
Q18. Write a note on Hardy’s –‘Mayor of Casterbridge (1886)’.
Ans. 1. It is about Michael Henchanard, a successful grain merchant, who becomes the mayor
Of the farming town of Casterbridge.
2. He is an independent – minded man who follows his own style in conducting business.
3. He was both unpredictable generous and cruel with his employees.
4. On the other hand, his manager –Donald Farfrae , runs his business on efficient managerial lines and is well regarded for smooth and even tempered with everyone.
5. Hardy mourns the loss of the more personalized world that is disappearing.
Q19. What is meant by Vernacular ?
Or
‘The novel bring together many cultures’ Explain.
Or
How did the novel produce the sense of a shared world ?
Ans. 1. The novels uses the vernacular , the language that is spoken by common people.
2. It brings people closer to each other either they spoke different language.
3. Vernacular novels produces the sense of a shared world between diverse people in a nation.
4. Novels also draw from different style of language like a novel can take a classical language and combine it with the language of the streets and make them all a part of the vernacular that it uses.
5. Like the nation the novel brings together many cultures.
Q20. Describe the condition of women in the 18th century .
Or
How did women get involved in reading novels ?
Or
Discuss the role of novels in presenting social changes occurring in England ?
Ans. 1. In the 18th Century, the middle classes become more prosperous.
2. Women got more leisure to read as well as write novels.
3. Novels began exploring the world of women-their emotions and identities, their experiences and problems.
4. Many novels were about domestic life- a theme about which women were allowed
to speak with authority.
5. Women drew upon their experience, wrote about family life and earned public recognition.
Q21. Write as note on Jane Austen’s portrayal of women in his novel.
Or
What is the theme of Jame Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice’ ?
Ans. 1. The novel of Jane Austen give us a glimpse of the world of women in genteel rural
Society in early 19th century Britain.
2. It gives a picture of society which encouraged women to look for ‘good’ marriages and find wealthy or propertied husbands.
3. The characters of the novel are pre-occupied with money and marriage
Q22. Did women novelists simply popularize the domestic role of women >
Ans. 1. No, they did not simply popularize the domestic role or women, they often dealt with women who broke established norms of society
2. Such stories allowed women readers to sympathise with rebellious actions.
3. E.g- Charlotte Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’ (1874)- In this novel young Jane is shown as an
independent and assertive. While girl of her time were expected to be quiet and well
behaved.
4. On the other hand , Jane at the age of ten protest against the hypocrisy of her elders with bluntness.
5. She calls her aunt who was unkind to her, deceitful and refuses to address her as aunt ever again.
Q23. Discuss the role of Novels for young boys ?
Or
What type of fiction appealed to the young people in the 19 th century ? Explain with examples.
Ans. 1. Novels were written for young readers too. These novels for young boys idealized a new type of men: someone who was powerful, assertive, independent and daring.
2. Stories for boys were full of adventure set in places far away from Europe.
3. Stories about white-men colonizing the natives and adapting to the strange surroundings
appealed to the young boys.
4. E.g- R.L. Stevenson’s Treasure Island, R. Kipling’s Jungle book. Stories for boys involved great historical events , battles etc.
Q24. What did GA Henty write about in his novels ?
Ans. 1. G.A. Henty’s historical adventure novels for boys were wildly popular during the heights of the british Empire.
2. They created excitement and adventure of conquering strange land.
3. His stories were set up in Mexico, Alexanderia and Siberia.
4. He wrote about young boys who witness grand historical events get involved in
in military actions and show ‘English courage’ in face of danger.
Q25. Name two love stories became popular in this period.
OR
Name the novels that catered to interest of young and adolescent girls.
Ans. 1. Ramona (1884) by Helen Hunt Jackson
2. What Katy did (1872) by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey (Wrote under the Pen-name Susan Coolidge)
Q26. Give an example of a novel that promoted colonialism and how ?
Ans. Early novels promoted colonialism by making the readers feel that they were superior.
- Heroes of Daniel Dafoe’s Robinson Crusoe is an adventurer and slave trader.
- He get ship wrecked on an island.
- He treats native not as equals but an inferior creatures.
- He takes native as slaves, doesn’t even ask for his name but gives him a new name ‘Friday’.
- Readers do not find Crusoe’s behaviour as unacceptable or odd as white people saw
Colonialism as natural and necessary to civilize barbaric natives.
Q27. Give example of a writer that showed the darker side of colonial occupation.
Ans. Joseph Conard (1857-1924) wrote novels that showed the darker side of colonial occupation.
THE NOVEL COMES TO INDIA
LESSON-2
Q1. Give examples of prose writings done in ancient and medieval India.
Ans. a. Banabhatta’s Kadambari was written in Sanskrit in 7th century .
b. Panchatantra stories.
c. Dastan in Persian and Urdu prose tales of adventures and heroism.
Q2. In which languages were the earliest Indian novels written in the 19th century ?
Ans. a. Marathi, e.g. Baba Padmanji’s Yamuna Paryatan that talks of plight of widows and
Lakshman Moreshwar Halbe’s Muktamala.
b. Bengali
Q3. Give an opinion of the colonial ruler about the colonial culture of India.
Ans. a. Colonial rulers regarded the contemporary culture of India as inferior.
b. On the other hand , Indian novelist wrote to develop a modern literature of the country that could produce a sense of national belonging and cultural equality with their colonial masters.
NOVELS IN SOUTH INDIA
Q4.. Give a brief history of novels in South India.
Or
Why did south Indian authors give up the effort to translate English novels into Telugu/
Malayalam ?
Ans. O.Chandu Menon and Kandukuri Virasalingam
a. Novels began appearing in South Indian Languages during the period of colonial rule.
b. Early novels were English novels translated into a south Indian language.
c. e.g- O.Chandu Menon tried to translate an English novel called Henrietta Temple (Written by Benjamin Disraeli) into Malayalam.
d. Kandukuri Virasalingam (1848-1919) began translating Oliver Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield’ into Telugu.
e. But quickly O.Chandu and Virasalingam realized that their readers in were not familiar with the way in which the characters in English novels lived : their clothes, ways of speaking and manners were unknown to them.
f. Then they gave up their idea because direct translation of an English novel make them boring.
Q5. Name the original Telugu novel written by Virasalingam .
Ans. Rajasekhara Caritamu in 1878.
Q5. Give the name of the novel written by Chandu Menon.
Ans. Indulekha- Published in 1889, the first modern novel in Malayalam.
Q6. Write a note on characters of Chandu Menon’s Indulekha.
Ans. a. Chandu Menon portrayed Indulekha as a woman of breathtaking beauty, high intellectual abilities,artistic talent with an education in English & Sanskrit.
b. Madhavan , the hero of the novel , was also presented in ideal colours. He was a member of the newly English – Educated calss of Nayars from the university of Madras. He was a first-rate Sanskrit Scholar. He dressed in western clothes. At the same , he kept a long hair according to the Nayar custom.
c. Characters like Indulekha and Madhavan showed readers how Indian and foreign lifestyles could be brought together in an ideal combination.
Q7. What were the issues raised by novel Indulekha written in Malayalam .
Or
How does Chandu Menon seek to solve the following dilemma of young persons of the colonial India: How to be modern without rejecting tradition ?
Ans. a. India was facing the onslaught of the western culture, western ideas, life style appealed to the English educated class in India but they faced the dilemma of losing their own traditional values. Characters like Indulekha and Madhavan showed the reader how the two lifestyles could be brought together.
b. An important issue is the marriage practices of upper-caste Hindus in Kerala, especially Nambuthiri Brahmins and Nayars. Caste seems to be an important factor while forming marriage alliances.
c. Suri Nambuthiri, a foolish landlord comes to marry Injdulekha who is intelligent . She exercise her choice, rejects him and marries madhavan, an educated civil servant. It shows the that education began to be valued as as asset.
d. The novel is critical of alliances based on caste , ignorance and immortality among high caste.
e. Suri Nambuthiri , who was desperate to find a partner for himself finally marries a poorer relation from the same family and goes away pretending that he has married Indulekha.
NOVELS IN HINDI
Q8. Name the pioneer of modern literature in the north ?
Ans. Bharatendu Harishchandra was the pioneer of modern Hindi literature , he encouraged many members of his circle of poets and writers to recreate and translate novel from other languages.
Q9. Who wrote the first proper modern novel in Hindi ? Name the novel and theme.
Ans. The first proper modern novel was written by Srinivas Das of Delhi.
It was published in 1882, was titled ‘Pariksha – Guru’ ( The Master Exminer)
PARIKSHA-GURU
a. Theme :- It cautioned young men of well to do families against the dangerous influences of bad
Company and consequent loose morals.
b. This novel reflects the inner and outer world of the newly emerging middle classes.
c. The characters in the novel are caught in the difficulty of adapting to colonized society and at the same time preserving their own cultural identity.
d. The world of colonial modernity seems to be both frightening and irresistible to the characters.
e. The novel tries to teach the reader the ‘right way’ to live and expect all ‘sensible men’ to be worldly wise and practical, to remain rooted in the values of their own tradition and culture , and to live with dignity and honour.
Q10. How did the characters of Pariksha-Guru attempt to bridge between two different worlds through their actions ?
Ans. 1. They take to new agricultural technology, modernize trading practices, change the use of Indian languages, make them capable of transmitting both Western Sciences and Indian wisdom.
2. The young are urged to cultivate the ‘healthy habit’ of reading the newspapers.
3. Novels also emphasized that all this must be achieved without sacrificing the traditional values of the middle class household.
Q11. Why was Pariksha-Guru not win many readers ?
Ans. Pariksha-Gurau could not win many readers because it was too moralizing in its style.
Q12. Whose writings created a novel reading public in Hindi. Name his novel and interesting fact about the novels.
Ans. a. The writings of Devaki Nandan Khatri created a novel reading public in Hindi.
b. His best seller novel was Chandrakanta- a romance with dazzling elements of fantasy.
c. It was written purely for the pleasure of reading.
d. This novel gives some interesting insights into the fears and desires of its reading public.
Q13. Describe the aspects of Premchand’s writings which make them special .
Ans. Premchand emerged as a powerful writer in Urdu and Hindi. His writings were special because-
a. They do not simply give moral lessons or purely entertain the reader but show that he seriously thought about the lives of the ordinary people.
b. He dealt with social issues specially the condition of women in Indian society e.g- Sewasadan.
c. Issues like child marriage and dowry system are woven in into the story of the novel-Sewasadan’. It also tells us about the ways in which the Indian upper classes used whatever opportunities they got from colonial authorities to govern themselves.
d. He drew on the traditional art of Kissa-goi (story telling).
NOVELS IN BENGAL
Q14. Describe two kinds of novels that came to be written in the 19th century .
Or
How did the early Bengali novels live in two worlds ?
Ans. a. Many of Bengali novels were located in the past, their characters, events and love stories based
On historical events.
b. Another group depicted the inner world of domestic life in the contemporary settings. Domestic novels frequently dealt with the social problems anf romantic relationships between men and women.
Q15. How do you classify the readers of the Bengali novels ?
Or
Describe the ways in which literary works became part of public entertainment.
Ans. a. The old merchants elite of Calcutta patronized public forms of entertainments such as ‘Kabirlarai (poetry contest), musical stories and dance performances.
b. The new bhadralok found himself at home in the more private world of reading novels. Novels were read individually. They could also be read in select groups.
Q16. Give an example of readers belong to Bhadralok .
Ans. a. The great Bangla novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhya host a ‘Jatra’ in the courtyard, where members of the family would be gathered.
b. In Bankim’s room, a group of literary friends would collect to read, discuss and judge literary works.
c. Bankim read out ‘Durgesbhandini (1865)- His first novels\, to such a gathering of people who stunned to realize that the Bengali novel had achieved excellence so quickly.
Q17. Discuss different style s of novels beceame popular in Bengal.
Ans. a. The prose style- It became a new object of entertainment.
b. In the earlier Bengali novel , a colloquial style of language was used. It was associated with urban life.
c. Earlier they also used ‘Meyeli’ , the language associated with women’s speech.
d. In the later period , it was quickly replaced by Bankim’s prose which was sanskritised but also contained a more vernacular style.
Q18. Name the most popular novelist of Bengal . How did he become popular ?
Ans. a. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay (1876-1938) was the most popular novelist in Bengal and probably in the rest of India.
b. He became popular with his power of telling stories in simple language.
Q19. Write a note on the History of ‘Oriya Novel’.
Ans. a. The first oriya novel- Saudamani by Ramashankar Ray (1877-78)
b. Fakir Mohon Senapati (1843-1918) wrote a novel-Chaa Mana Atha Guntha- It was a new kind of novel that will deal with the question of land and its possession. It is the story of Ramchandra Mangaraj, a landlord’s manager who cheats his idle and drunken master and then eyes the plot of fertile land owned by Bhagia and Shariya, a childless weaver couple. Mangaraj fool this couple and puts them into his debt so that he can take over their land. This novels dealt with rural issues.
LESSON-3
NOVELS IN THE COLONIAL WORLD
Q1. How did colonial rulers make use of novel in their administration ?
Or
In what ways was the novels in colonial India useful for colonizers ?
Ans. a. Colonial administrators found ‘vernacular’ novels a valuable source of information on native life and customs.
b. Knowledge about the native life and customs was useful for them in governing Indian society, with its large variety of communities and castes.
c. The new novels in Indian languages often had descriptions of domestic life, they showed how people dressed, their forms of religious worship, their beliefs and practices and so on.
d. Some of the Indian novels were translated into English by British administrators or Christian missionaries.
Q2. Describe different uses of Novels for Indian during the Colonial period .
Or
In what ways was the novels in colonial India useful for the Indian Nationalists ?
Ans. a. Indian used the novel as a powerful medium to criticize what they considered defects in their society and to suggest remedies.
b. Writers like Virasalingam used the novel mainly to propagate their ideas about society among a wider readership.
c. Novels also helped in establishing a relationship with the past.
d. Many novels told thrilling stories of adventures and intrigues set in the past.
e. Glorified account of the past in these novels helped in creating a sense of national pride among their readers.
f. 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.
g. The people living in different regions speak the same language in different ways, sometimes they use different words for the same thing, sometimes the same word is pronounced differently. With the coming of novels-the way characters spoke in a novel began to indicate their region, class or caste. Thus novels made their readers familiar with the ways in which people in other pars of their land spoke their language.
Q3. How did novels give ‘pleasure of reading’ ?
Ans. Novels gave ‘Pleasure of reading like-
a. Among the middle class , the novels became a popular medium of entertainment .
b. The circulation of printed books allowed people to amuse themselves in ways.
c. Picture books, translations from other languages, popular songs, sometimes composed on contemporary events, stories in newspapers and magazines- all these offered new forms of entertainment.
d. Within this new culture of print, novels soon became immensely popular.
e. In Tamil- Detective and mystery novels often had to be printed again and again to meet the demand of readers.
f. The novels also assisted in the spread of silent reading, individual sitting at home or traveling in trains enjoyed novel reading.
g. Even in crowded room, the novel offered a special world of imagination.
h. Reading a novel was like daydreaming.
LESSON-4
WOMEN AND THE NOVEL
Q1. Why were people worried about the ill effects of novels on young people and women ?
Or
List the effects of novel on readers.
Ans. People got worried about the effects of the novel on readers because-
a. Novels took away the readers from their real surrounding into an imaginary world where anything could happen.
b. People wrote in newspapers and magazines, advising people to stay away from the immoral influences of novels.
c. Women and children were often singled out for such advice as they were seen as easily corruptible.
d. Parents kept novels in the lofts in their houses, out of their children’s reach .
e. Young people often read them in secret, even older women who could not read- listened with attention to popular novels by their grandchildren.
Q2. Discuss the role of women in Novel writing.
Ans. Women did not remain mere readers of stories written by men , they also began to write like men.
a. The early creations of women were poems, essays or autobiographical pieces.
b. Women in South India began writing novels and short stories .
c. Rokeya Hossein , a reformer, wrote a satiric fantasy in English called ‘Sultana’s Dream’.
Q3. Why were novels became popular among women ?
Ans. a. Novels became popular among women because it allowed for a new conception of womanhood, b. Stories of love-which was staple theme of many novels- showed women who could choose or refuses their partners and relationships.
d. Novels showed women, who could control their lives.
e. Some women authors wrote about women who changed the world of both men and women.
f. E.g- Rokeya Hossein – She was a reformers, after she was widowed, started a girl’s school in Calcutta. She wrote a Satiric ( A form of representation through writing, drawing, painting etc, that provides a criticism of society in a manner that is witty and clever) fantasy in English called “Sultana’s Dream- Which shows a world in which women take the place of men. Her novel ‘Padmarag’ also showed the need for women to reform their condition by their own actions.
Q4. Give two examples to show that many men were suspicious of women writing novels or reading them.
Ans. 1. Hannah Mullens, a Christian missionary ,the author of ‘Karuna o Phulmonir Bibaran (the first novel in Bengali) , tells her reader that she wrote in secret.
2. Sailabala Ghosh Jaya, a popular novelist, could only write because her husband protected her.
3. In South- women and girls were often discouraged from reading novels.
Q5. In what ways was the novels included the issue of caste practices /minorities.
Ans. INDULEKHA
ISSUE :-
An issue that was hotly debated in the novel was the marriage practices of upper caste Hindus in Kerala especially the Nambuthiri Brahmins and the Nayars.
a. The Nambuthiri were major landlords in Kerala at that time; and a large section of the Nayars were their tenants.
b. In the late 19th century Kerala, a younger generation of English educated Nayar men, who had acquired property and wealth on their won, began arguing strongly against Nambuthiri alliances with Nayar women.
c. Nayar wanted new laws regarding marriage and property.
STORY :-
a. Suri Nambuthiri, the foolish landlord who comes to marry Indulekha, the intelligent heroine rejects him and chooses Madhavan, the educated and handsome Nayar as her husband, and the young couple move to Madras, where Madhavan joins the civil service.
b. Suri Nambuthiri, desperate to find a partner for himself, finally marries a poorer relation from the same family and goes away pretending that he has married Indulekh.
c. Chandu Menon clearly wanted his readers to appreciate the new values of his hero and heroine and criticize the ignorance and immortality of Suri Nambuthiri.
SARASWATIVIJAYAM
a. Potheri Kunjambu, a lower caste writer from north Kerala . wrote this novel, in 1892,
b. It mounted a strong attack on caste oppression..
c. This novel shows a you man from an ‘untouchable caste, leaving his village to escape the cruelty of his Brahmin landlord.
d. He converts to christianity, obtain modern education, and return as the judge in the local court.
e. Meanwhile , the villagers, thinking that the landlord’s men and killed him, file a case.
f. At the conclusion of the trial, the judge reveal his true identity, and the Nambuthiri repents and reforms his ways.
g. Saraswativijayam stresses the importance of education for the upliftment of the lower castes.
TITASH EKTI NADIR NAAM (1956)
a. It was written by Advaita Malla Burman.
b. It is an epic about the Mallas, a community of fisherfolk who life off fishing in the river Titash.
c. The Novel is about three generations of the Mallas, about their recurring tragedies and the story of Ananta, a child born of parent who were tragically separated after their wedding night.
d. Ananta leaves the community to get educated in the city .
e. The novel describes the community life of the Mallas like their Holi and Kali Puja festivals, boat races, bhatiali songs, their relationship of friendship and the oppression of the upper caste.
f. Slowly the community breaks up and the Mallas start fighting amongst themselves as new cultural influences from the city start penetrating their lives.
Q6. ‘Novel become room for thr experiences of communities’ explain with example.
Ans. a. The medium of the novel made room for the experiences of communities that had not received much space in the literary scene earlier.
b. e.g; Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer-one of the early Muslim writer gained wide renowned as novelist in Malayalam.
Q7. Evaluate the contribution made by Basheer to Malayalam literature.
Ans. a. Basheer had little formal education.
b. His works were based on his own rich personal experience rather than on books from the past.
c. When he was in class five at school, he left home to take part in Salt Satyagraha.
d. He spent years, wandering in different parts of India and traveling even to Arabia, working in a ship, living with Sufis and Hindu Sanyasis, and training as a wrestler.
e. He wrote short novels and stories in the ordinary language of conversation.
f. With wonderful humour, Basheer’s novels spoke about details from the everyday life of Muslim households.
g. He wrote about poverty, insanity and life in prison.
LESSON-5
THE NATION AND ITS HISTORY
Q1. In what ways writing in the recent times differ from works written by British & Puranic writing.
Ans. a. Colonial historians :- The history written by colonial historians tended to depict Indians as wek, divided and dependent on the British. These histories could satisfy the tastes of the new Indian administrators and intellectuals.
b. Puranic Stories :- In traditional puranic stories , people were described as gods and demons, filled with the fantastic and supernatural did not satisfy education people.
c. Recent Time :- Educated and those working under English system wanted a new view of the past that would show that Indians could be independent minded and had been so in history.
Q2. How did Novels produce a ‘Sense of Pan-Indian belonging’ ?
Ans. Bengal :- In Bengal , many historical novels were about Marathas and Rajputs. These novels produced a sense of a pan-Indian belonging. They imagined the nation to be full of adventure, heroism, romance and sacrifice- qualities that could not be found in the offices and streets of the 19th Century.
E.g(1)
a. Bhudeb Mukhopadhyay’s ‘Anguriya Binimoy’ was the first historical novel written in Bengal.
b. Its hero Shivaji engages in many battle against a clever Auragzeb.
c. Man Singh persuaded Shivaji to make peace with Aurangzeb. Realising that Aurangzeb intended to confine him as a house prisoner, Shivaji escapes and return to battle.
d. What gives him courage and tenacity is his belief that he is a nationalist fighting for the freedom of Hindus.
E.g(2)
a. Inclusion of various classes in the novel also brought a feeling of belonging to a shared world.
b. Premchand’s novels are filled with all kinds of powerful characters drawn from all levels of society.
c. In Premchand’s novel, you meet aristocrats and landlords, middle level peasants and landless labourers, middle class professionals and people from the margins of society. E.g- Rangbhoomi , Godan.
d. Premchand’s novels look towards the future without forgetting the importance of the past.
E.g(3)
a. Bankim’s ‘Anandmath (1882) is a novel about a secret Hindu militia that fights Muslims to establish a Hindu Kingdom.
b. It was a novel that inspired many kinds of freedom fighters.
Q3. Write a note on :-
a. Rangbhoomi
b. Godan
Ans. Rangbhoomi :-
a. The central character of this novel- Surdas- is visually impaired beggar from a so-called untouchable caste.
b. This novel shows the lives of the most oppressed section of society with the hero like ‘Surdas’.
c. We see Surdas struggling against the forcible takeover of his land for establishing a tobacco factory.
d. The story of Surdas was inspired by Gandhi’s personality and ideas.
Godan :-
a. It was published in 1936.
b. It is an epic of the Indian peasantry.
c. The novel tells the moving story of Hori and his wife Dhania, a peasant couple.
d. Landlords, moneylenders, priests and colonial bureaucrats- all those who hold power in society- form a network of oppression, rob their land and make them into landless labourers.
e. Yet Hori and Dhania retain their dignity to the end.
Q4. Discuss the importance of Novels in the history of both west and India.
Ans. a. The novels became part of the lives of different sections of people.
c. Development in print technology allowed the novel to break out of its small circle of readers and introduced fresh ways of reading.
d. Through stories, novels have also shown a lives of those who were not often known to literate and middle class circles.
e. Bringing together people from varied background produces a sense of shared community.
f. By bringing in both the powerful and the marginal people and cultures, the novel throws up many questions about the nature of these communities.
g. Novels produce a sense of sharing and promotes an understanding of different people, different communities.
EUROPE
S.NO AUTHOR BOOK THEME
1. Samuel Richardson Pamela Letter Writing
2. Charles Dicken` 1. Pickwick Papers Serialised
2. Hard Times Effects of Industrialization
3. Oliver Twist Tale of Poor Orphan
3. Emile Zola Germinal Life of young miner
4. Thomas Hardy Mayor of Casterbridge Traditional rural communities in England
5. Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice World of Women in rural society
6. Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre quite and well behaved girls
7. R.L.Stevenson Treasure Island Colonizer as heroic and honourable
8. Rudyard Kipling Jungle Book Full of adventure
9. G.A.Henry Under Drake’s Flag Adventure Novel for boys
10 Helen-Hunt Jackson Ramona Love story –For Adolescents
11. Sarah Chauncey Woolsey What Katy did Under the Pen-name-Adolescent girl
12. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe Adventure and slave trader (Colonialism)
INDIA
1. Banabhatta Kadambari Sanskrit
2. Panchatantra Vishnu Sharma Prose
3. Dastan Adventure and Heroism (Persian,Urdu)
4. Baba Padmanji Yamuna Paryatan Plight of Widow (Marathi)
5. Lakshman Moreshwar Muktamala Imaginary Romance
SOUTH INDIA
1. O.Chandu Menon Tried to translate English novel into Malyalam (Henrietta Temple by
Disraeli)
2. O.Chandu Menon Indulekha First modern Novel in alayalam
3. Kanduri Viresalingam Tried to translate English novel(Oliver Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield)
4. K.Viresalingam Rajasekhara Caritamu Orinial Telugu Novel
NOVEL IN HINDI
1. Bharatendu Harishchandra The Pioneer of Modern Hindi Literature
2. Sirinivas Das Pariksha Guru Cautioned young men of well to do families
against the dangerous influences of bad company and consequent loose moral.
3. Devki Nandan Khatri Chandrakanta A romance with element of Fantasy
(Best Seller) ‘For Pleasure of Reading
4. Premchand Sewasadan Poor condition of women in society
NOVELS IN BENGAL
1. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Durgeshnandini Public form of entertainment
NOVEL IN ORIYA
1. Ramashankar Ray Saudamani
2. Fakir Mohon Senapati Chaa Mana Atha Guntha Deal with question of land and its possession.
NOVELS IN THE COLONIAL WORLD
1. Gulavadi Venkata Rao Indirabai Life of Widow (women’s education)
(Kannada-1899)
WOMEN AND NOVELS
1. Rokeya Hossein Sultana’s Dream(1905) Through writing, drawing & painting
Padmarag Need for women to reform their condition by their own actions.
2. Hannah Mullens Karuna Phulmonir Bibaran Wrote in secret
3. Sailabala Ghosh `wrote because her husband protected her.
4. Potheri Kunjambu Saraswativijayam(1892) Attack on caste oppression (Judge)
Importance of education
5. Advaita Malla Burman Titash Ekti Nadir Naam The community life of the Mallas
6. Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer Renown Novelist in Malayalam
NOVELS & SENSE OF BELONGING
1. Bhudeb Mukhopadyay Anguriya Binimoy (1857) Shivaji, Mansingh against Aurangzeb
(Fist historic novel in Bengal)
2. Bankim Anandamath(1882) Secret Hindu militia that fight Muslims
to establish a Hindu Kingdom
3. Premchand Godan(1936) Indian Peasantry
Rangbhoomi Life of most oppreseed section of society (Surdas)
