Historical and Cultural Context of a Novel

Why is it necessary to understand the historical and cultural context of the novel?
It allows us to understand the novel better and we can also put ourselves in the shoes of the characters in the story.

How does it help to understand the author's background? Is it necessary to learn more about the author's background?
By understanding the author's background, we can draw links from the novel to his personal life, and thus we can understand the novel better. We can also put ourselves in the shoes of the author. We can understand his emotions when he was writing the novel.

Is it possible to appreciate the text without pre-reading about the historical and cultural context of the novel/background of the novel?
It depends on how much we want to learn from the novel and what novel it is. It is still possible to understand and appreciate the text if we simply want to read the book for leisure. However, reading the historical and cultural context of the novel would help us understand the deep meaning of the novel and make it easier to analyse the novel.