Table of Contents
Question-1
What was the reason for the popularity of the novel?
Solution:
There were several reasons for the popularity of the novel. The worlds created by novels were absorbing and believable. The reader was transported to another world he enjoyed. The reader began looking at life as it was experienced by the characters of the novel. Novels allowed individuals the pleasure of reading in private and they enjoyed discussing stories they had read with friends or relatives.
Question-2
Solution:
A Novel is a long work of written fiction. Most novels involve many characters and tell a complex story by placing the characters in a number of different situations. Novels are long—generally 200 pages or more, so novelists can tell more richly detailed tales than authors of briefer literary forms such as the short story.
Question-3
Write a brief note on Rabindranath Tagore .
Solution:
Rabindranath Tagore was a famous Bengali writer. His early novels were historical , but he later started writing stories about domestic relationships. He wrote about the condition of women and nationalism.
One of his famous novels was Ghare Baire (1916). This was translated in 1919 as ‘The Home and the World’.
Question-4
Write about Thomas Hardy’s Mayor of Casterbridge.
Solution:
Thomas Hardy, was a famous British novelist, of the 19th century. He wrote about the rural communities of England. One of Hardy’s very famous novels was Mayor of Casterbridge. It was written in 1886.
The hero of the novel was Michael Henchard, a successful grain merchant, who eventually became the mayor of the farming town of Casterbridge. He is an independent-minded man who follows his own style in conducting business. He was portrayed as being unpredictably generous and cruel with his employees. The hero’s rival is projected as being even-tempered. From these characterisations we see that Hardy mourns the loss of the more personalised world that is disappearing, even as he is aware of its problems and the advantages of the new order.
The novel, Mayor of Casterbridge is written in the language that is spoken by the common people. The novel produces the sense of a shared world between diverse people in a nation, by using different spoken languages.
Question-5
Write a short note on novels for the young.
Solution:
Novels for young boys idealised a new type of man. The heroes of these novels were powerful, assertive, independent and daring. These novels were full of adventure set in places remote from Europe.
Some of the novels, written for young boys, became very popular.
• R.L. Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1883)
• Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book (1894)
• G.A. Henry’s historical adventure novels for boys.
These novels aroused the excitement and adventure of conquering strange lands. They were set in Mexico, Alexandria, Siberia and many other countries. Young boys were heroes of thee novels and they were portrayed as witnesses to grand historical events.
These novels also instigated ‘English’ courage in the minds of the young boys who read these novels.
Love stories written for adolescent girls became popular especially in the US
• Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona (1884)
• Sarah Chauncey Woolsey’s What Katy Did (1872) .
Question-6
Write an account on the popular regional writers in colonial India.
Solution:
Novels were different in the different regions of India. Chandu Menon, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Premchand were some of the popular regional writers.
The new novels in Indian languages had descriptions of domestic life of the people. They portrayed the culture, dress code, habits , religious beliefs and practises of the people of that particular region. Some of these books were translated into English, by British administrators or Christian missionaries.
Novels began appearing in south Indian languages during the period of colonial rule. Quite a few early novels came out of attempts to translate English novels into Indian languages.
Novels in Malayalam
O. Chandu Menon, translated an English novel called Henrietta Temple written by Benjamin Disraeli into Malayalam. The Indian readers did not relish the translated novel as they were not able to identify with the characters.
So, O. Chandu Menon, wrote Indulekha, which was published in 1889. It was the first modern novel in Malayalam.
Novels in Telugu
Kandukuri Veeresalingam (1848-1919) translated Oliver Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield into Telugu. His translation was not successful. So he wrote an original Telugu novel called Rajasekhara Caritamu in 1878.
Novels in Hindi
Bharatendu Harishchandra, was the pioneer of modern Hindi literature. He was encouraged by poets and writers to recreate and translate novels from other languages.
Srinivas Das’s novel, Pariksha-Guru was published in 1882.The novel cautioned young men of well-to-do families against the dangerous influences of bad company and consequent loose morals.
Novels in Bengali
The early Bengali novels lived in two worlds.
Novels based on historical events.
Novels based on domestic life in contemporary settings.
Domestic novels dealt with the social problems and romantic relationships between men and women.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali novelist. His novels had ingenious twists and turns of the plot. There was suspense and the language was relished. The prose style of his novels became a new object of enjoyment. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s first novel was Durgeshnandini.
Question-7
Solution:
The novel is a modern form of literature. The invention of printing made this form of literature possible. In ancient times manuscripts were handwritten and circulated among very few people. With the advent of printing novels were widely read and became popular very quickly.
Novels produced a number of common interests among the fast growing population of the cities in western countries. The readers were drawn into the story and identified themselves with the lives of fictitious characters in the novels.
Novels became popular in England and France, initially. Novels were first written in the seventeenth century but flourished only from the eighteenth century.
Novel were read by a wide variety of people. Shopkeepers and clerks also started reading novels which were hitherto read only buy the aristocratic and gentlemanly classes in England and France.
The earnings of authors increased as readership grew and the market for books expanded. This gave the writers independence to experiment with different literary styles.
Henry Fielding, a novelist of the early eighteenth century, claimed he was ‘the founder of a new province of writing’ where he could make his own laws.
The novel allowed flexibility in the form of writing.
Question-8
What is Epistolary?
Solution:
It is a novel written in the form of a series of letters.
Question-10
What is a satire?
Solution:
A attire is a form of representation through writing that provides a criticism of the society in a manner that is both witty and clever.
Question-11
Name any three novels by Premchand.
Solution:
Godan, Sevasadan and Rangbhoomi are the novels written by Premchand.
Question-12
What is meant by vernacular as a language?
Solution:
It is the normal form of spoken language as different from the literary form.
Question-13
Write a short note on novels for the young.
Solution:
These novels aroused the excitement and adventure of conquering strange lands. They were set in Mexico, Alexandria, Siberia and many other countries. Young boys were heroes of these novels and they were portrayed as witnesses to grand historical events.
These novels also instigated ‘English’ courage in the minds of the young boys who read these novels.
The heroes of these novels were powerful, assertive, independent and daring. These novels were full of adventure set in places remote from Europe.
Love stories written for adolescent girls became popular especially in the US
Question-14
Write about Thomas Hardy’s Mayor of Casterbridge.
Solution:
Thomas Hardy, was a famous British novelist, of the 19th century. He wrote about the rural communities of England. One of Hardy’s very famous novels was Mayor of Casterbridge. It was written in 1886.
The hero of the novel was Michael Henchard, a successful grain merchant, who eventually became the mayor of the farming town of Casterbridge.
The novel, Mayor of Casterbridge is written in the language that is spoken by the common people. The novel produces the sense of a shared world between diverse people in a nation, by using different spoken languages.
Question-15
Write about the early Bengali novels.
Solution:
The early Bengali novels lived in two worlds
Novels based on historical events. Novels based on domestic life in contemporary settings.
Domestic novels dealt with the social problems and romantic relationships between men and women.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay was a famous Bengali novelist. His novels had ingenious twists and turns of the plot. There was suspense and the language was relished. The prose style of his novels became a new object of enjoyment. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s first novel was Durgeshnan
Question-16
What was the reason for the popularity of the novel?
Solution:
There were several reasons for the popularity of the novel. The worlds created by novels were absorbing and believable. The reader was transported to another world he enjoyed. The reader began looking at life as it was experienced by the characters of the novel. Novels allowed individuals the pleasure of reading in private and they enjoyed discussing stories they had read with friends or relatives.
