based on the x th grade (cbse) chapter novels , society and history .

2. • The middle classes
became more prosperous
during the 18th century.
• Women obtained the
comfort to read as well as
the freedom to write
novels
• As a result of this Girl Reading - Painting by Jean Renoir (1841-1919)
, experiences and By the nineteenth century , images of women
problems of women were reading silently , in the privacy of the room ,
became common in European paintings .
made public.

3. • As women began to write novels , it was also feared that
that they would neglect their traditional duties as wives and
mothers , and their homes would be in disarray .
The home of a Woman
author , by George
Cruikshank .
When women began
writing many people
feared that they would
neglect their role as
wives and mothers
novels and homes would
be in disorder

4. • Novels written by female authors were
mostly about domestic lives – the only
subject women could speak about freely at
the time . they drew upon their experience,
wrote about family life and earned public
recognition
• Another popular theme among female
novelists was ‘rebellion’ – breaking
established societal rules and regulations.
• Such novels portrayed women as
independent and assertive , while they were
expected to be submissive and quiet . In Jane Eyre (1874) by Charlotte Bronte
charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre (1874) , young
Jane is shown as independent and assertive
while the girls of her time were expected to
be quiet and well behaved .

5. Charlotte Bronte
•
George Eliot was the pen name of
Mary Ann Evans who was a very
popular novelist , she believed that
novels gave women a special
opportunity to express their views .

6. Jane Austen
• Novels written by Jane Austen give a
perspective of the rural British society in the
early 19oos.
• In Austen’s society , women were
encouraged to settle down quickly , marrying
rich or propertied husbands. Her novels are
thus a portrayal of such a society.
• Austen's plots are fundamentally about
education; her heroines come to see
themselves and their conduct more clearly,
and become better, more moral people.

7. • Her novels highlight how some female
characters take charge of their own
worlds while others are confined,
physically and spiritually.
• Almost all of her works explore the
precarious economic situation in which
women of the late 18th and early 19th
centuries found themselves.
Pride and Prejudice
(1813)
Pride and Prejudice

8. Novels for young boys idealised a
new type of man: someone who
was powerful, assertive,
independent and daring. Most of
these novels were full of adventure
set in places remote from Europe.
The colonisers appear heroic and
honourable – confronting ‘native’
peoples and strange surroundings,
adapting to native life as well as
changing it, colonising territories and
Robert Louis Stevenson
then developing nations there. (1850-1894)
Books like R.L. Stevenson’s Treasure Rudyard Kipling
Treasure Book (1894)
Jungle Island (1883)
Island (1883) or Rudyard Kipling’s (1865-1936)
By Rudyard Kipling
By Robert Louis Stevenson
Jungle Book (1894) became great (1865-1936)
(1850-1894)
hits.

9. G.A. Henty’s historical adventure novels for boys were also wildly popular
during the height of the British empire. They aroused the excitement and
adventure of conquering strange lands. They were set in Mexico,
Alexandria, Siberia and many other countries. They were always about
young boys who witness grand historical events, get involved in some
military action and show what they called ‘English’ courage.
G.A Henty (1832-1902)
Novels by G.A Henty

10. Love stories written for adolescent girls also first became popular in this
period, especially in the US, notably Ramona (1884) by Helen Hunt
Jackson and a series entitled What Katy Did (1872) by Sarah Chauncey
Woolsey, who wrote under the pen-name Susan Coolidge.
Ramona (1884)
by Helen Hunt
Jackson What Katy Did (1872)
Sarah Chauncey
Helen Hunt Jackson
Woolsey, who wrote
under the pen-name
Susan Coolidge.

11. The novel originated in Europe at a time when it was colonising the rest of the
world. The early novel contributed to colonialism by making the readers feel
they were part of a superior community of fellow colonialists. The hero of
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) is an adventurer and slave trader.
Shipwrecked on an island, Crusoe treats coloured people not as human beings
equal to him, but as inferior creatures. He rescues a ‘native’ and makes him
his slave. He does not ask for his name but arrogantly gives him the name
Friday. But at the time, Crusoe’s behaviour was not seen as unacceptable or
odd, for most writers of the time saw colonialism as natural .
Robinson Crusoe
(1719)
By Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe

12. Colonised people were seen as primitive and barbaric, less than human; and
colonial rule was considered necessary to civilise them, to make them fully
human. It was only later, in the twentieth century, that writers like Joseph
Conrad (1857-1924) wrote novels that showed the darker side of colonial
occupation.
Joseph Conrad Novels by Joseph Conrad

13. In India, stories were recited in form of
prose. Banabhatta’s Kadambari (written
in Sanskrit in the 17th century) ,
Panchtantra , and Dastan (a prose tales of
adventures & heroism in Persian & Urdu)
are examples
The modern novel form developed in
India as Indians became familiar with the
western novel . The development of the
vernaculars , print and a reading public
helped in this process . The Panchatantra
( original Sanskrit work, which is
believed to be composed in the
3rd century BC is attributed to
Vishnu Sharma)

14. Some of the earliest novels were
written in Bengali & Marathi. The
earliest novel in Marathi was Baba
Padmanji’s ‘ Yamuna Paryatan’(1857) ,
which used a simple style of story
telling to speak about the plight of
widows. This was followed by
Lakshman Moreshwar Halbe’s
‘Muktamala’ (1861) presenting an
imaginary romance with a moral Kadambari by
banabhatta
purpose. (7th century)
Translations of novels into different
regional languages helped to spread
the popularity of the novel and
stimulated the growth of novels in
new areas

15. Novels in South Indian languages started
appearing during the period of colonial
rule . Most of these early novels came
out of attempts to translate English
novels into Indian languages.
For example O.Chandu menon , a sub
judge from Malabar , tried to translate
an English novel ‘Henrietta Temple’ by
Benjamin Disraeli into Malayalam .But
he quickly realized that the readers were
not familiar with the English lifestyle :
their clothes , ways of speaking ,
manners e.t.c , thus they would find the
direct translation of an english novel
dreadfully boring .

16. So he gave up this idea and instead wrote a
novel in malayalam in the manner of english
novels . This novel called the ‘Indulekha’ Indulekha (1889) was the
first modern novel in
, published in 1889 , was the first modern
Malayalam
novel in Malayalam
O. Chandu Menon Indulekha in
(sub judge in Malabar and malayalam
author of ‘Indulekha’)

17. The case in Andhra Pradesh was similar to Kandukuri
that in Kerala . viresalingam
Kandukuri Viresalingam (1848-1919) tried
translating Oliver Goldsmith ‘s Vicar of
Wakefield into Telugu . He abandoned this
plan due to reasons similar to that
prevailing in Kerala and instead wrote an
original Telugu novel called ‘rajasekhara
caritamu’ in the year 1878
Kandukuri Viresalingam
(1848-1919)

18. Prepared By :
Shyma Thanzy
Surbhi Pradhan
& FOR
WATCHING
Fatma Rahman