4.1 History of Novel – 50 MCQs with answers

 History of Novel – MCQs

1. What is the origin of the word 'novel'?

a) Latin
b) Greek
c) Italian
d) French
Answer: c) Italian

2. Who is credited with writing the first novel in English?

a) Samuel Richardson
b) Daniel Defoe
c) Geoffrey Chaucer
d) John Bunyan
Answer: b) Daniel Defoe

3. Which novel is considered the first English novel?

a) Robinson Crusoe
b) Pamela
c) Don Quixote
d) Gulliver's Travels
Answer: a) Robinson Crusoe

4. Who wrote 'Pamela', an early English novel?

a) Samuel Richardson
b) Henry Fielding
c) Tobias Smollett
d) Laurence Sterne
Answer: a) Samuel Richardson

5. Which of the following is a picaresque novel?

a) Tom Jones
b) Pride and Prejudice
c) War and Peace
d) The Great Gatsby
Answer: a) Tom Jones

6. What is the primary characteristic of a Gothic novel?

a) Focus on science fiction
b) Emphasis on horror and mystery
c) Exploration of psychological depth
d) Depiction of realistic social issues
Answer: b) Emphasis on horror and mystery

7. 'Frankenstein' is an example of which type of novel?

a) Gothic novel
b) Historical novel
c) Realistic novel
d) Allegorical novel
Answer: a) Gothic novel

8. Who wrote 'Frankenstein'?

a) Mary Shelley
b) Jane Austen
c) Emily Brontë
d) Charlotte Brontë
Answer: a) Mary Shelley

9. Which novel is considered a Bildungsroman?

a) Oliver Twist
b) Jane Eyre
c) Wuthering Heights
d) Great Expectations
Answer: d) Great Expectations

10. Who is the author of 'Great Expectations'?

a) Charles Dickens
b) William Thackeray
c) Thomas Hardy
d) George Eliot
Answer: a) Charles Dickens

11. What is the main feature of a stream of consciousness novel?

a) Linear narrative
b) Detailed character analysis
c) Representation of a character's inner thoughts
d) Use of multiple narrators
Answer: c) Representation of a character's inner thoughts

12. 'Ulysses' by James Joyce is an example of which type of novel?

a) Stream of consciousness novel
b) Historical novel
c) Epistolary novel
d) Allegorical novel
Answer: a) Stream of consciousness novel

13. Which novel is considered the first modern novel in English?

a) Robinson Crusoe
b) Pamela
c) Tom Jones
d) Gulliver's Travels
Answer: a) Robinson Crusoe

14. Who wrote 'Don Quixote', often regarded as the first modern European novel?

a) Miguel de Cervantes
b) Geoffrey Chaucer
c) William Shakespeare
d) John Bunyan
Answer: a) Miguel de Cervantes

15. In which century did the novel emerge as a distinct literary form?

a) 16th century
b) 17th century
c) 18th century
d) 19th century
Answer: c) 18th century

16. Who wrote 'The Tale of Genji', considered the world's first novel?

a) Murasaki Shikibu
b) Geoffrey Chaucer
c) Homer
d) William Shakespeare
Answer: a) Murasaki Shikibu

17. 'The Canterbury Tales' is a work by which author?

a) Geoffrey Chaucer
b) William Shakespeare
c) John Milton
d) John Bunyan
Answer: a) Geoffrey Chaucer

18. Which of the following is an example of an epistolary novel?

a) Pamela
b) Wuthering Heights
c) Moby-Dick
d) Crime and Punishment
Answer: a) Pamela

19. Who wrote 'Pamela', the first epistolary novel in English?

a) Samuel Richardson
b) Henry Fielding
c) Tobias Smollett
d) Laurence Sterne
Answer: a) Samuel Richardson

20. What is the primary focus of a historical novel?

a) Future events
b) Realistic portrayal of contemporary life
c) Events and characters from the past
d) Psychological exploration
Answer: c) Events and characters from the past

21. Who wrote 'War and Peace', a historical novel set during the Napoleonic Wars?

a) Leo Tolstoy
b) Fyodor Dostoevsky
c) Anton Chekhov
d) Ivan Turgenev
Answer: a) Leo Tolstoy

22. Which of the following is a characteristic of a psychological novel?

a) Focus on external events
b) Exploration of characters' inner thoughts and emotions
c) Emphasis on action and adventure
d) Use of supernatural elements
Answer: b) Exploration of characters' inner thoughts and emotions

23. Who wrote 'Crime and Punishment', a psychological novel?

a) Fyodor Dostoevsky
b) Leo Tolstoy
c) Anton Chekhov
d) Ivan Turgenev
Answer: a) Fyodor Dostoevsky

24. What is the main feature of an allegorical novel?

a) Use of symbolism to convey deeper meanings
b) Focus on historical events
c) Detailed character development
d) Representation of realistic social issues
Answer: a) Use of symbolism to convey deeper meanings

25. Who wrote 'Animal Farm', an allegorical novel?

a) George Orwell
b) Aldous Huxley
c) Franz Kafka
d) William Golding
Answer: a) George Orwell

26. 'The Great Gatsby' is an example of which type of novel?

a) Allegorical novel
b) Realistic novel
c) Psychological novel
d) Gothic novel
Answer: b) Realistic novel

27. Who wrote 'The Great Gatsby'?

a) F. Scott Fitzgerald
b) Ernest Hemingway
c) John Steinbeck
d) William Faulkner
Answer: a) F. Scott Fitzgerald

28. What is the primary characteristic of a realistic novel?

a) Focus on supernatural events
b) Depiction of everyday life and ordinary characters
c) Emphasis on action and adventure
d) Exploration of psychological depth
Answer: b) Depiction of everyday life and ordinary characters

29. Who wrote 'Middlemarch', a realistic novel?

a) George Eliot
b) Jane Austen
c) Thomas Hardy
d) Emily Brontë
Answer: a) George Eliot

30. Which 18th-century novelist is known for 'Tristram Shandy'?

a) Henry Fielding
b) Tobias Smollett
c) Laurence Sterne
d) Daniel Defoe
Answer: c) Laurence Sterne

31. What is a key feature of a picaresque novel?

a) Supernatural elements
b) A rogue hero in a series of adventures
c) Narration through letters
d) Romantic idealism
Answer: b) A rogue hero in a series of adventures

32. Who wrote 'The Adventures of Roderick Random'?

a) Henry Fielding
b) Tobias Smollett
c) Laurence Sterne
d) Samuel Richardson
Answer: b) Tobias Smollett

33. The term “Bildungsroman” refers to a novel about:

a) War and politics
b) A young person’s growth
c) Mysterious crimes
d) Future societies
Answer: b) A young person’s growth

34. Which of these novels is an example of a dystopian novel?

a) Pride and Prejudice
b) 1984
c) Vanity Fair
d) Wuthering Heights
Answer: b) 1984

35. Who wrote the Indian English novel 'Rajmohan’s Wife'?

a) R.K. Narayan
b) Mulk Raj Anand
c) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
d) Raja Rao
Answer: c) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

36. Which Indian author is known for 'The Guide'?

a) Vikram Seth
b) R.K. Narayan
c) Arundhati Roy
d) Chetan Bhagat
Answer: b) R.K. Narayan

37. 'The God of Small Things' was written by:

a) Anita Desai
b) Arundhati Roy
c) Jhumpa Lahiri
d) Kamala Markandaya
Answer: b) Arundhati Roy

38. The novel as a popular genre grew rapidly in the:

a) 12th century
b) 16th century
c) 18th century
d) 20th century
Answer: c) 18th century

39. What distinguishes a novel from other forms of literature?

a) It uses rhyme
b) It is written in verse
c) It is long and fictional
d) It must be about love
Answer: c) It is long and fictional

40. 'Clarissa' is a novel written in which narrative style?

a) Third-person omniscient
b) Stream of consciousness
c) Epistolary
d) Diary format
Answer: c) Epistolary

41. What is the main purpose of a utopian novel?

a) To predict future inventions
b) To describe an ideal society
c) To retell historical events
d) To entertain with horror
Answer: b) To describe an ideal society

42. Which novel features a shipwrecked man on a deserted island?

a) Tom Jones
b) Pamela
c) Robinson Crusoe
d) Don Quixote
Answer: c) Robinson Crusoe

43. What kind of novel is 'Pride and Prejudice'?

a) Gothic
b) Historical
c) Realistic
d) Science Fiction
Answer: c) Realistic

44. What does an epistolary novel mainly use to tell its story?

a) Newspaper articles
b) Dialogue only
c) Letters or diary entries
d) Stage directions
Answer: c) Letters or diary entries

45. Which type of novel focuses heavily on atmosphere and suspense?

a) Romance
b) Gothic
c) Realistic
d) Satirical
Answer: b) Gothic

46. 'A Suitable Boy' is written by which Indian author?

a) Chetan Bhagat
b) R.K. Narayan
c) Arvind Adiga
d) Vikram Seth
Answer: d) Vikram Seth

47. Which novel features the character Elizabeth Bennet?

a) Emma
b) Persuasion
c) Pride and Prejudice
d) Sense and Sensibility
Answer: c) Pride and Prejudice

48. Who is considered the pioneer of the stream-of-consciousness technique?

a) George Eliot
b) Virginia Woolf
c) Jane Austen
d) Thomas Hardy
Answer: b) Virginia Woolf

49. Which novel deals with issues of caste and oppression in Indian society?

a) The Guide
b) Untouchable
c) The Inheritance of Loss
d) The Namesake
Answer: b) Untouchable

50. Which 20th-century novel features a dystopian society under total surveillance?

a) Brave New World
b) Fahrenheit 451
c) 1984
d) Animal Farm
Answer: c) 1984