[mcq] Which of the following best explains why novels became so central to nineteenth-century print culture i…

Question

[mcq] Which of the following best explains why novels became so central to nineteenth-century print culture in Europe?
((A)) Novels were the only genre that could be serialised in newspapers, making them cheaper to produce than poetry or essays.
((B)) The novel's focus on private, individual lives resonated with a growing urban middle class that consumed print for leisure and self-reflection.
((C)) Governments actively promoted novel-reading because it kept citizens away from politically dangerous pamphlets.
((D)) Novels required no prior literary education, so they replaced all earlier forms of print among working-class readers.

Accepted Answer

## Model Answer **Answer: B** Novels reflected readers' own lives, experiences, emotions and relationships, catering to the desires of a growing literate public. *Source: Chapter 5, Section 3.1 / Further Innovations* --- ## Explanation The passage states that as print spread, a new **reading public** emerged — particularly urban, literate consumers. Nineteenth-century periodicals serialised novels, indicating novels met the demand of this growing readership for leisure and personal reflection. Option B is correct because the NCERT text emphasises that print reached "wider sections of people" seeking connection to individual experience. Options A and D overstate exclusivity (other genres were also serialised/cheap), and Option C contradicts the passage (governments feared print, not promoted it).

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