Q 1. What was impact of serialization of a novel?
It allowed readers to relish the suspense, discuss the character of a novel and live for weeks with its story.
Q 2. Name any two countries where the novel first took firm roots.
The novel first took firm roots in England and France.
Q 3. Who was the author of pick wick papers which was serialized in 1836?
Charles Dickens.
Q 4. Who was Leo Tolstoy?
He was a famous Russian novelist who wrote extensively on rural life and community.
Q 5. Who is known as the pioneer of modern Hindi literature?
Bharatendu Harish Chandra.
Q 6. What was the theme of the novel Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Bronte.?
He has shown the main charter, i.e., Jane as independent and assertive while girls of her time were expected to be quiet and well-behaved.
Q 7. Which was the first proper modern Hindi novel? Who was its author?
The first proper modern Hindi novel was pariksha Guru. It was Witten by Srinivas Das in 1882.
Q 8. What is satire? Give one example?
A form of representation through writing, drawing, painting, etc., that provides a criticism of society in a manner that is witty and clever. For example, Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Hussein.
Q 9. Name the novelist who wrote for lower castes. ?
Potheri kunjambu.
Q 10. ‘In many novels written during then colonial period the ideal person successfully deals with one of the central dilemmas faced by colonial subject,. What was the dilemma?
How to be modern without rejecting traditions, how to accept ideas coming from the West without losing one’s identity.
Q 11. Which was the first historical novel written in Bengal ?
Bhadeb Mukhopadhyay’s Anguriya Binimay.
Q 12. Name any two novelists who have written about caste practices. ?
(i) Potheri Kunjambu – Saraswativijayam.
(ii) Advaita Malla Burman’s –Titash Ekti Nadir Naam.
Q 13. Which novel supplied the adventurous text for the young English Population?
Under Drake’s Flag by G.A. Henty.
Q 14. Who is the author of the novel Sewasadan? What is the importance of the novel for Hindi Literature?
Sewasadan was written by Munshi premchand. The novel lifted the Hindi novel from the realm of fantasy, moralizing, and simple entertainment to a Serious reflection on the lives of ordinary people and social issues.
Q 15. How were the sources of entertainment of the old merchant elite of Calcutta different from the new bhadralok?
The old merchant elite of Calcutta patronized the Public from entertainment such as Kabirlarai, musical soirees, and dance performances whereas new bhadraloks found themselves at home in the more private world of reading novels.
Q 16. What was the theme of Saraswativijayam?
Saraswativijayam stresses the importance of education for the upliftment of the lower caste.
Q 17. Who wrote Anandmath?
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Q 18. What is a novel?
A novel is a modern form of literature. It is born from print, a mechanical invention.
Q 19. Which novel was serialized in a magazine in 1836?
Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers.
Q 20. Why the novels were widely read and became popular very quickly?
The novels were being printed and therefore these were widely read and became popular very quickly.
Q 21. ‘Novels produced a number of common interests among their scattered and varied readers.’ State any one common interest?
By identifying with the lives of the fictitious characters, the readers could think about issues such as the relationship between love and marriage, the proper conduct for men and women.
Q 22. What do you understand by gentlemanly classes in the 18th century Europe?
Gentlemanly classes were people who claimed noble birth and high social position. They were supposed to set the standard for proper behavior.
Q 23. Who was the author of Tom Jones (1749) how was it published and what was its price?
Tom Jones was written by Henry Fielding. It was published in six volumes priced at three shillings each.
Q 24. Who was George Eliot? What was her main idea about novels?
George George Eliot (1819-1880) was the pen-name of Mary Ann Evans. She believed that novels gave women a special opportunity to express themselves freely.
Q 25. Which was the earliest novel in Marathi?
The earliest novel in Marathi was Baba Padmanji’s Yamuna Paryatan (1857), which used a simple style of storytelling to speak about the plight of widows.
Q 26. What was the object of novels written by the Indian novelists in the 19th century?
Indian novelists wrote to develop modern literature of the country that could produce a sense of national belonging and cultural equality with their colonial masters.
Q 27. Who wrote the first proper modern novel?
Srinivas Das of Delhi worte Pariksha-Guru (The Master Examiner) was published in 1882. It was the first proper modem novel.
Q 28. Which was the first novel of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay? What is its place in a Bengali novel?
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s first novel was Durgeshnandini (1865) and people realized that with this the Bengali novel had achieved excellence so quickly.
Q 29. How Indulekha was portrayed by Chandu Menon in his novel?
Chandu Menon portrayed Indulekha as a woman of breathtaking beauty, high intellec¬tual abilities, artistic talent, and education in English and Sanskrit.
Q 30. Who wrote Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1956)? What was its subject matter?
Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1956) was written by Advaita Malla Burman. It is an epic about the Mallas, a community of fisherfolk who live off fishing in the river Titash.
Q 31. Which is Premchand’s best-known work and what is it about?
Godan (The Gift of Cow) published in 1936, is Premchand’s best-known work. It is an epic of the Indian peasantry and tells us the moving story of Hori and his wife Dhania.
Q 32. “Premchand’s novels are filled with all kinds of powerful characters from all levels of society.” Support the statement by giving suitable examples.
The above statement is true .
- His characters are drawn from all levels of society.
- His characters include aristocrats and landlords, middle level peasants, landless labourers, middle class professionals and people from margins of society.
- The women characters are strong individuals, especially those who come from the lower classes and- are not modernised.
- His characters create a community based on democratic values. In his Rangbhoomi, Surdas, an ‘untouchable’ is hero who struggles against the forcible take over of his land for establishing a tobacco factory. This reflects the impact of industrialisation on society and people.
- The story of Surdas was inspired by Gandhi’s personality and ideas. Thus, novel played significant role in the nation making.
- His novel Sewasadan deals with the poor condition of women in society as well as tells us how the upper classes used the opportunities they got to govern themselves.
- Godan (the Gift of Cow), published in 1936 is Premchand’s best known work. It is an epic of the Indian peasantry. It is about the story of Hori and his wife Dhania, a peasant couple and landlords, moneylenders, priests and colonial bureaucrats.’These people rob their land and make them into landless labourers but they retain their dignity to the end.
Q 33. Describe any three features of novels written by the Malayalam writer Vaikkom Muhammad Basheer.
In his early years as a writer, Basheer had great difficulty earning a living from his books. He often sold them himself, carrying copies personally to houses and shops. In some of his stories, Basheer wrote about his days as a vendor of his own books.
- Most of his works based on his own experience rather than on books from the past.
- His short novels and stories were written in the ordinary language of conversation.
- His novels give details from the everyday life of Muslim households.
- He wrote about poverty, insanity and life in prisons.
Q 34. Who was the author of the novel ‘Titash Ekti Nadir Naam’? Describe the theme of the novel.
(1) The author of the novel ‘Titash Ekti Nadir Naam’ was Advaita Malla Burman.
(2) Theme :
- The novel is about three generations of the Mallas, about their recurring tragedies and the story of Ananta.
- The novel describes the community life of the Mallas in great detail, their Holi and Kali Puja festivals, boat races, bhatiali songs, their relationships of friendship and animosity with the peasants and the oppression of the upper castes.
- In the end as the river dries up, the community dies too.
- Titash is special because the author is himself from a ‘low caste’, fisher folk community.
Q 35. Describe the social issues raised by the novel ‘Indulekha’ written in Malayalam.
Or
What were the issues raised by the novel Indulekha written in Malayalam?
Indulekha is a love story. It is concerned with the marriage practices of upper-caste Hindus in Kerala, especially the Nambuthiri Brahmins and the Nayars. Nambuthiris were also major landlords in Kerala at that time and a large section of Nayar’s were their tenants. The younger generation of English-educated Nayar wanted new laws regarding marriage and property. In the novel, Indulekha refuses to marry the foolish landlord and marries an educated Nayar.
Q 36. Describe two kinds of novels that came to be written in Bengali in the 19th century. Name any two famous novelists of Bengal.
Or
Describe the development of novels in Bengal.
- Two types of novels : In the nineteenth century, early Bengali novels were categorised into two types – one based on historical events and second dealt with domestic life, social problems and romantic relationships between men and women.
- Two famous novelists are Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.
- Two types of people in society : There were two types of people in Calcutta. The old merchant elite patronised public forms of entertainment e.g., kabirlarai, musical soirees and dance performances. On the other hand, new bhadralok read novels at home individually. They could also be read in select groups.
- Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s contribution : Bankim would host a jatra in his courtyard where members of the family would be gathered. In Bankim’s room, his literary friends would collect to read, discuss and judge literary works. Bankim read out Durgeshnandini (1865) to such a group of friends. They were surprised to realise that the Bengali novel had achieved excellence so quickly. Thus, the contribution of Bankim was significant in the
development of novels in Bengal.
(a) Style : (a) The prose style was enjoyed by the readers.
(b) Initially the Bengali novel used a colloquial style associated with urban life. It also used meyeli. It was replaced by Bankim’s prose which was Sanskritised but also contained a more vernacular style.Thus, novel became popular in Bengal. It was enjoyed due to ingenious twists, and turns of the plot and the suspense and its language. In the twentieth century, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay told stories in simple language and became most popular novelist in Bengal and probably in the rest of India.