Novel Reading Benefits: Exploring the Deep Uses and Destructive Abuses of Fiction
Notes: What a novel is-benefits of novel-reading ; imparts knowledge about a society in a particular age-rouses public conscience against injustices (novels of Dickens). Evil effect-a craze like cinema-going. ]
The novel is the most popular of all the forms of literature. The benefits of novel-reading are many. The novel mirrors a contemporary or past society. While reading a novel we come to know the very web and texture of a society in a particular age-the manner the people lived their life, the customs they followed and the beliefs they held to. The novels of Saratchandra give us a peep into socio-economic conditions of the early twentieth century Bengal.
The novel exercises a far-reaching influence on man's life. It enkindles public conscience against the wrongs and injustices done to man by man. The novels of Charles Dickens opened the eyes of the English people to the insanitary conditions of the then warehouses and factories, the exploitation of child-labour. Bankim Chandra's Anandamath and Debichaudhurani ignited the freedom movement in India. The novel-reading has its dark side too. The picture of human life full of romance and love, depicted in some novels casts an irresistible spell upon the youth. They go on dreaming of the romantic life led by the heroes and heroines of these novels. Sometimes novel-reading develops into a craze like gambling or drinking. There are many novels which deal openly with sex and other obscence subjects. These pornographic novels shatter the fabric of social morality to pieces.
Care should, therefore, be taken to select the novels one should read. Only the best novels should be read.
