Print Culture and the Modern World..................Part II

Q 10. What were the features of Gutenberg Printing Press?

• Gutenberg was the son of a merchant and grew up on a large agricultural estate. 
• From his childhood he had seen wine and olive presses. 
• He learnt the art of polishing stones and became a master goldsmith acquired the expertise to create lead moulds.
• These moulds were used for making trinkets. 
• Drawing on this knowledge Gutenberg adapted technology to design his innovation.
• The olive press provided the model for the printing press,and moulds were used for casting the metal types for the letters of the alphabet.
• By 1448 Gutenberg perfected the system. 
• The first book he printed was the Bible. 
• About 180 copies were printed and it took three years to produce them. 
• By the standards of the time this was fast production.

Print Culture and the Modern World...........Part I

SUMMARY OF THE TOPICS

The First Printed Books

Print Comes to Europe

The Print Revolution and Its Impact

The Reading Mania

The Nineteenth Century

India and the World of Print

Religious Reform and Public Debates

New Forms of Publication

Print and Censorship

Novels, Society and History........Part II

Q 18. By whom was ‘Godan’ written ? What does the novel narrate?
‘Godan’ Published in 1936 is considered to be the best known work of Munshi Premchand

• It is an Outstanding novel depicting the life of the Indian Peasantry. 
• The novel tells the moving story of Hori and his wife Dhania, a Peasant couple. 
• Landlords, money lenders priests and colonial bureaucrats—all those who hold power in society-form a network of oppression, rob their land and turn them into landless laborers.
• Yet Hori and Dhania retain their dignity till the end.

Novels, Society and History........ Part I

Summary of the Topics 

The Rise of the Novel
The Novel Comes to India
Novels in the Colonial World
Women and the Novel
The Nation and its History