History

(a) The Novel and Nation Making :
Imagining a heroic past was one way in which the novel helped in popularizing the sense of belonging to a common nation. Another way was to include various classes in the novel so that they could be seen to belong to a shared world.
Premchand's novels are filled with all kinds of powerful characters drawn from all levels of society. Unlike many of his contemporaries. Premchand rejected the nostalgic obsession with ancient history. Instead, his novels look towards the future without forgetting the importance of the past. Drawn from various strata of society, Premchand's characters create a community based on democratic values. The central character of his novel Rangbhoomi (The Arena), Surdas, is a visually impaired beggar from a so-called 'untouchable' caste. The very act of choosing such a person as the 'hero' of a novel is significant. As we read the story we wonder about industrialization and its impact on society and people. The story of Surdas was inspired by Gandhiji's personality and ideas. Godan (The Gift of Cow), published in 1936, remains Premchand's best-known work. It is an epic of the Indian peasantry. The novel tells the moving story of Hori and his wife Dhania, a peasant couple and the problems faced by them in retaining their dignity.
(b) Conclusion :
(i) Over the course of its history in both the West and in India, the novel became part of the lives of different sections of people. Developments in print technologies allowed the novel to break out of its small circle of readers and introduced fresh ways of reading. But through their stories, novels have also shown a capacity to include and focus on the lives of those who were not often known to literate and middle-class circles.
(ii) Bringing together people from varied backgrounds produces a sense of shared community by bringing in both the powerful and the marginal peoples and cultures, the novel throws up many questions about the nature of these communities. Novels produce a sense of sharing, and promote an understanding of different values and different communities. At the same time they explore how different groups begin to questions or reflect upon their own identities.