Prose- oral or written speech without division into commensurable segments - poetry; in contrast to poetry, its rhythm is based on the approximate correlation of syntactic constructions (periods, sentences, columns). The term is sometimes used as a contrast fiction scientific or journalistic literature in general, that is, not related to art.
Literary genres in prose
Despite the fact that the concept of genre determines the content of the work, and not its form, most genres gravitate towards either poetic writing (poems, plays) or prose (novels, short stories). Such a division, however, cannot be taken literally, since there are many examples when works of various genres were written in an unusual form for them. Examples of this are the novels and short stories of Russian poets, written in poetic form: "Count Nulin", "House in Kolomna", "Eugene Onegin" by Pushkin, "Treasurer", "Sashka" by Lermontov. In addition, there are genres that are equally often written both in prose and in verse (fairy tale).
in number literary genres, traditionally attributed to prose, include:
Novel- a large narrative work with a complex and developed plot. The novel assumes a detailed narrative about the life and development of the personality of the protagonist (heroes) in a crisis, non-standard period of life.
epic- an epic work of monumental form, distinguished by nationwide problems. Epic is a generic term for large epic and similar works:
1) An extensive narrative in verse or prose about prominent national historical events.
2) A complex, long history of something, including a number of major events.
The appearance of the epic was preceded by the circulation of past songs of a semi-lyrical, semi-narrative nature, caused by the military exploits of the clan, tribe and dedicated to the heroes around whom they grouped. These songs formed into large poetic units - epics - imprinted with the integrity of personal design and construction, but only nominally timed to one or another author.
Tale- genus epic work, close to the novel, depicts some episode from life; differs from the novel in less completeness and breadth of pictures of everyday life, mores. This genre does not have a stable volume and occupies an intermediate position between the novel, on the one hand, and the short story or short story, on the other hand, tends to newsreel reproducing the natural course of life. In foreign literary criticism, the specifically Russian concept of “story” is correlated with a “short novel” (English short novel or novella).
First in Russia thirds of XIX century, the term "story" corresponded to what is now called "story". The concept of a story or a short story was not known at that time, and the term “story” denoted everything that did not reach the novel in volume. A story was also called a short story about one incident, sometimes anecdotal (“Carriage” by Gogol, “Shot” by Pushkin).
The plot of a classic story (as it developed in the second half of the 19th century) is usually centered around the protagonist, whose personality and fate are revealed within a few events. Side storylines in the story (unlike the novel) are usually absent, the narrative chronotope is concentrated on a narrow period of time and space.
Sometimes the author himself characterizes the same work in different genre categories. So, Turgenev first called "Rudin" a story, and then a novel. The titles of the stories are often associated with the image of the protagonist (" Poor Lisa"N. M. Karamzin, "Rene" R. Chateaubriand, "Netochka Nezvanov" by F. M. Dostoevsky) or with a key element of the plot ("The Hound of the Baskervilles" by A. Conan-Doyle, "The Steppe" by A. P. Chekhov, " County” E. I. Zamyatina and others).
Novella(Italian novella - "news") - literary fellow narrative genre, comparable in volume to the story (which sometimes gives a reason for their identification), but differing from it in genesis, history and structure. It is customary to call the author of stories a novelist, and the totality of stories - short stories.
Novella - more short form fiction than a short story or a novel. Goes back to folklore genres oral retelling in the form of legends or instructive allegory and parable. Compared to more detailed narrative forms, there are few characters in the stories and one plot line (rarely several) with the characteristic presence of some one problem.
The relationship between the terms "story" and "short story" has not received an unambiguous interpretation in Russian, and earlier in Soviet literary criticism. Most languages do not know the difference between these concepts. B. V. Tomashevsky calls the story a specifically Russian synonym for the international term "novella". Another representative of the school of formalism, B. M. Eikhenbaum, proposed dividing these concepts on the grounds that the short story has a plot, while the story is more psychological and reflective, closer to a plotless essay. The action-packed nature of the novel was also pointed out by Goethe, who considered it to be the subject of "an unheard-of event." With this interpretation, the short story and the essay are two opposite hypostases of the story.
On the example of the work of O. Henry, Eichenbaum singled out the following features of the novel in its purest, “uncomplicated” form: brevity, sharp plot, neutral style of presentation, lack of psychologism, unexpected denouement. The story, in Eikhenbaum's understanding, does not differ from the short story in volume, but differs in structure: characters or events are given detailed psychological characteristics, the figurative-verbal texture comes to the fore.
Eikhenbaum's distinction between the novella and the short story received some, though not universal, support in Soviet literary criticism. The authors of stories are still called novelists, and "a set of small epic genres" - short stories. The distinction of terms, unknown to foreign literary criticism, in addition, loses its meaning in relation to the experimental prose of the 20th century (for example, to short prose Gertrude Stein or Samuel Beckett).
The typical structure of a classic short story: plot, climax, denouement. The exhibition is optional. More romance early XIX centuries have appreciated in the short story an unexpected "falcon" turn (the so-called pointe), which corresponds in Aristotle's poetics to the moment of recognition, or ups and downs. In this regard, Viktor Shklovsky noted that the description of a happy mutual love does not create a novel, love with obstacles is necessary for a novel: “A loves B, B does not love A; when B loves A, then A no longer loves B.
Story- a small epic genre form of fiction - small in terms of the volume of the depicted phenomena of life, and hence in terms of the volume of its text.
The stories of one author are characterized by cyclization. In the traditional writer-reader relationship model, a story is typically published in periodical; accumulated for certain period the works are then published as a separate book as a collection of short stories.
Short story/novella and short story/novel
Before mid-nineteenth centuries, the concepts of a story and a story in Russia did not really differ. Any small narrative form was called a story, any large form was called a novel. Later, the idea prevailed that the story differs from the story in that in it the plot focuses not on one central event, but on a whole series of events covering a significant part of the hero’s life, and often several heroes. The story is more calm and unhurried than a short story or short story.
It is generally accepted that wealth is not characteristic of a separate short story as a whole. artistic paints, an abundance of intrigue and interweaving in events - unlike a story or a novel, which can describe many conflicts and wide circle variety of issues and activities. At the same time, H. L. Borges pointed out that after the short story revolution turn of XIX and XX centuries. the story is able to convey everything the same as the novel, while not requiring the reader to spend too much time and attention.
For Edgar Allan Poe, the novella is fictional story, which can be read in one sitting; for H. G. Wells, less than an hour. Nevertheless, the distinction between the story and other "small forms" from the novel in terms of volume is largely arbitrary. So, for example, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is usually defined as a story (a day in the life of one hero), although this text is closer in length to a novel. On the other hand, small-scale works by René Chateaubriand or Paolo Coelho with love weaves and intrigues are considered novels.
Some of Chekhov's short stories are a kind of mini-novels. For example, in the textbook story "Ionych", the author "managed without loss to thicken the grandiose volume of all human life, in all its tragicomic fullness on 18 pages of text." In terms of compressing the material, Leo Tolstoy advanced almost further than all the classics: in the short story "Alyosha Gorshok" a whole human life covered in just a few pages.
Essay- prose writing small volume and free composition, expressing individual impressions and thoughts on a specific occasion or issue and obviously does not claim to be a defining or exhaustive interpretation of the subject.
In terms of volume and function, it borders, on the one hand, on scientific article and a literary essay (with which an essay is often confused), on the other hand, with a philosophical treatise. The essayistic style is characterized by figurativeness, mobility of associations, aphoristic, often antithetical thinking, an attitude towards intimate frankness and colloquial intonation. Some theorists consider it as the fourth, along with the epic, lyrics and drama, kind of fiction.
For Russian literature, the essay genre was not typical. Examples of the essayistic style are found in A. N. Radishchev (“Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”), A. I. Herzen (“From the Other Shore”), F. M. Dostoevsky (“A Writer's Diary”). At the beginning of the 20th century, V. I. Ivanov, D. S. Merezhkovsky, Andrey Bely, Lev Shestov, V. V. Rozanov turned to the essay genre, later - Ilya Erenburg, Yuri Olesha, Viktor Shklovsky, Konstantin Paustovsky, Joseph Brodsky. Literary-critical evaluations contemporary critics, as a rule, are embodied in a variety of the essay genre.
Biography- an essay that tells the story of the life and work of a person. a description of a person's life made by other people or by himself (autobiography). A biography is a source of primary sociological information that makes it possible to identify psychological type personality in its historical, national and social conditionality.
Biography recreates the history of a person in connection with social reality, culture and life of his era. Biography can be scientific, artistic, popular, etc.
The story is a large literary form of written information in literary and artistic design. When recording oral retellings, the story stood apart as an independent genre in written literature.
The story as an epic genre
Distinctive features of the story are a small number of characters, little content, one storyline. The story does not have interweaving in events and it cannot contain the diversity of artistic colors.
Thus, the story is a narrative work, which is characterized by a small volume, a small number of characters and the short duration of the events depicted. This kind epic genre goes back to the folklore genres of oral retelling, to allegories and parables.
In the 18th century, the difference between essays and stories was not yet defined, but over time, the story began to be distinguished from the essay by the conflict of the plot. There is a difference between the story large forms" and the story of "small forms", but often this distinction is conditional.
There are stories that show character traits novel, and there are also small-scale works with one storyline, which are still called a novel, and not a story, despite the fact that all signs point to this type of genre.
The novel as an epic genre
Many people think that a short story is a certain kind of short story. But still, the definition of a short story sounds like a kind of small prose work. The short story differs from the story in the plot, which is often sharp and centripetal, in the severity of the composition and volume.
The novel most often reveals an acute problem or question through one event. As an example of a literary genre, the short story arose in the Renaissance - the most famous example is the Decameron by Boccaccio. Over time, the short story began to depict paradoxical and unusual incidents.
The heyday of the short story, as a genre, is considered the period of romanticism. famous writers P. Merimee, E.T.A. Hoffman, Gogol wrote short stories, the central line of which was to destroy the impression of familiar everyday life.
Novels that depicted fateful events and the game of fate with a person appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. Such writers as O. Henry, S. Zweig, A. Chekhov, I. Bunin paid considerable attention to the short story genre in their work.
The story as an epic genre
Such a prose genre as a story is an intermediate place between a short story and a novel. Initially, the story was a source of narration about any real, historical events ("The Tale of Bygone Years", "The Tale of the Battle of Kalka"), but later it became a separate genre for reproducing the natural course of life.
A feature of the story is that at the center of its plot is always main character and his life is a revelation of his personality and the path of his destiny. The story is characterized by a sequence of events in which the harsh reality is revealed.
And such a theme is extremely relevant for such an epic genre. Famous stories are Stationmaster" A. Pushkin, "Poor Liza" N. Karamzin, "The Life of Arseniev" I. Bunin, "Steppe" A. Chekhov.
The value of artistic detail in the story
To fully reveal the writer's intention and to fully understand the meaning literary work artistic detail is very important. It can be a detail of an interior, landscape or portrait, the key here is that the writer emphasizes this detail, thereby drawing the attention of readers to it.
This serves as a way to highlight some psychological trait the main character or mood that is characteristic of the work. Notably, the important role artistic detail lies in the fact that it alone can replace many narrative details. Thus, the author of the work emphasizes his attitude to the situation or to the person.
Need help with your studies?
Previous topic: O'Henry's The Last Leaf: Reflections on the Purpose of the Artist and ArtNext topic: Krylov's fables: "Crow and Fox", "Cuckoo and Rooster", "Wolf and Lamb", etc.
Given all the features of a short story, it can sometimes be very difficult to tell the difference between a novella, a short story, and a sketch (a short sketch, an outline). Everyone knows what at least a story is exactly: either narrative prose, defined as "shorter than a novella" or, in the words of the first deep researcher of the small form, Edgar Allan Poe, "no longer than what can be read in one sitting."
In addition to this definition, according to Western educators, only two things can be distinguished that characterize short story. First, the story is about something that happened to someone. Secondly, a well-composed story demonstrates the harmony of all principles more fully than any other literary form, with the exception, perhaps, of poetry, that is, it is comprehensive and "ideal". “And this is quite enough,” says the Canadian educator Rust Hills, “the first statement distinguishes a short story from a sketch, and the second from a novel.”
So, a story differs from a sketch in that it is about something that happened to someone. A sketch is just a brief and static description of a human character, place, time, etc. In sketches describing a person, his life path, - the hero, so to speak, is constant. That is, for example, if it contains a description of some period of time, and we are shown a sequence of actions of the hero - from morning to evening - it is assumed that this hero remains unchanged every morning, every day and every evening. And in this case, if there is any action in such a sketch, then it is called only to determine the character of the hero, and not to develop him: the hero does not receive anything new, does not learn from those situations that sent to him, does not change one iota. Any incident described in the sketch is regarded only as an example of the hero's behavior, and not as something that changed his life and inspired him to take any decisive actions and deeds, as happens in the story. It is assumed that after some time, the hero placed under the same circumstances will react and behave in exactly the same way, regardless of how many times this will be repeated. The story is dynamic, not static: the same things simply cannot happen again. The character of the hero must change and is changing, even if not drastically.
The novella differs from the story not only in length, but also in many other ways, although both genres involve changes in the character of the characters with the only difference that the novella has such space and time that contribute to a larger set of events and various effects. Edgar Allan Poe considered the story as a kind of conductor of one "strong and unique effect": "If the author's desire is not expressed in the search and creation of this effect on the audience, then he has already failed. In the whole structure of the story, this intention, explicit or implicit, should be seen. This famous saying By, of course, it should be taken into account, but on the other hand, we cannot assert with full confidence that in any well-developed history this degree of total unity of everything must necessarily be present - what we have defined as "harmony of all principles" - but in any case, in a good novel this is not required at all.
A good storyteller does not have to constantly develop and replenish the list of secondary characters and philosophize with off-plot lines, while a good novelist tends to change point of view, describe the same events under different angles, constantly pushing the reader to important details. The narrator tries to stick to one single point vision, in order to focus entirely on the problems of his story.
A good storyteller will never miss a thing. technical means narrative (plot, point of view, main theme, style of language, expressiveness, symbolism) that a novelist can do. Everything in the story is closely connected. main topic in a successful story, it is inextricably linked to the actions of the characters, but it is impossible to guess in all other aspects of the story, even in the language used. In terms of the importance of language and the ratio of sound and meaning, the story is comparable to poetry. For example, the poetic metaphor of light and death in Hemingway's short story "A Clean, Well-Lit Place" echoes Shakespeare's sonnets in richness of language and symbolism of the conflict between good and evil. In general, it should be noted that the language in the story is of paramount importance. Language creates the style of writing, is responsible for the author's tone, is used to create a certain atmosphere and mood, foreshadows some plot twists and, of course, depends on the point of view from which the story is written.
A good story must necessarily contain a seemingly imperceptible harmonious transition from the general to the particular, as well as an integral connection of all parts, each sentence with the previous one, which is rarely seen in a short story.
“Everything-everything must work and interact. The former must exaggerate the latter and be inseparable from it. - Emphasizes Rust Hills. “All of this saves the reader time and gets the point across.” javascript:void(1);
Based on the materials of the literary workshop of Anastasia Ponomareva
Foreign critics do not find any difference between such literary concepts as a story and a short story. In the West, these terms are called synonyms. However, in Russia, the short story and the short story are considered independent genres that have special features. Before defining the difference between a novella and a short story, each of these literary phenomena should be considered in detail.
What is a story?
The story, as a genre of literature, originates from ancient times, where its progenitors were works of folklore: fairy tales, parables, stories passed from mouth to mouth. Then, changing over time and on a par with others prose genres passing certain historical stages, the story began to take shape as short work about an event in a person's life.
Today the story is narrative literary genre characterized by brevity, richness artistic image, deep psychologism, short duration of the described event.
The plot of the story focuses on one important and interesting episode from the life of the protagonist. Your personal attitude and main idea the author, as a rule, shows through detailed and expressive description appearance and character of the main characters and the hero himself, their thoughts and mental anguish. The story is usually told in the first person. The narrator can be either the author himself or one of the characters in the story.
What is a novella?
The short story, as a literary genre, arose in the Renaissance after the writing of the book "The Decameron" Giovanni Boccaccio. Then the main features of the novel were considered: the presence of an acute conflict in the plot, unexpected turns that violated the peaceful life of the protagonist.
Over time, the genre of the short story has changed, acquiring new features. So the novels of the Romantic era, written by Edgar Allan Poe, Novalis and Hoffmann, had a fantastic, mystical, fabulous content. Later, under the influence of Guy de Maupassant and Prosper Mérimée, the short story began to be considered an exclusively realistic genre.
In Russia, the short story, as a literary genre, was able to form thanks to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. The first Russian novels are considered to be his work "". Although the title contains the word "tales", literary critics and critics are still convinced that "The Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin" refers specifically to short stories.
Later, the short story genre absorbed much of the physiological essay. So the short story became a short story. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol wrote wonderful short stories, such as " Nose”, “” and others, which in their content were far from the novel in the classical sense.
Only in the 20th century did they breathe into the genre of the short story new life. Iconic works of this time, the novels of Sigismund Krzhizhanovsky and Alexander Grin are considered.
Nowadays, the short story is a prose literary genre, which is characterized by: small volume, neutral style of depiction, action, surprise ending. The author's attention is focused not on the emotional experiences of the characters, but on the events taking place in the work. His goal is to show the situation objectively, without expressing his personal attitude, to achieve the maximum intensity of passions and lead to an unpredictable end. The novel has only one storyline, any deviations from the main action are unacceptable. The number of actors is also limited. The appearance of new characters, or the mention of them is allowed only on the condition that the scenes with their participation will enhance the overall dynamics of the plot.
So, having examined in detail the genres of the story and the short story, one can single out their common and distinctive features.
Common features of the novel and short story
- First of all, the novella and short story belong to the epic narrative genres.
- Works of both genres should be small and be presented as briefly as possible. Although sometimes the volume of the story can reach several tens of pages.
- The plots of the novel and the story are limited to certain time frames.
- The plots of the novel and the story have a clear structure, the main elements of which are the climax and denouement.
- The plots of the works of the novel and the story cover one specific event in the life of the protagonist.
The main difference between a novel and a short story
- In the story, the events are described with more artistic expressiveness than in the novel.
- The author of the story freely shows his personal attitude to what is happening in the work, the main actors, their thoughts and actions. For a novelist, this is unacceptable. Main feature short stories - this is the absence of any author's assessment.
- In the story, the author seeks to show the internal development of the main character, the motives of his actions. For the short story, the main thing is the dynamics of the plot and the sharpness of the conflict. The novel depicts the event without analyzing the psychology of the characters.
- The severity of the conflict in the short story is more pronounced than in the story.
- Very often the story carries a hidden subtext. No other interpretations of the main plot are allowed in the short story.
- A story may contain several storylines. The novel has only one storyline.
Although in Russian literary criticism the short story is distinguished as an independent literary genre, Russian writers it is seldom addressed, preferring the story. Many Russian critics are unanimous with their Western colleagues that the short story and the short story are so close, and their differences are not so significant as to be considered a short story. independent genre. They equate the short story with the story, or consider the short story one of the varieties of the story.
Novella and short story - these two literary concepts practically the same. However, this is only at first glance. Valid in European tradition the concept of a short story is often used as a synonym for a short story. However, in Russian literary criticism, the short story and the short story, although they have common features, however, are quite clearly separated. Let's look at the difference between the story and the novel in more detail.
So what is a story? This is a small form of epic prose, which is characterized by unity art event. What is a novella? This is also a small form of epic prose, it is characterized by an unpredictable, unexpected end. As we can see from the presented definitions, the story and the short story are united by a small volume. Some literary scholars classify the short story as a kind of short story. However, there are some differences between the short story and the novel.
First of all, in the story the main place is occupied by the author's narrative, various descriptions starting from landscape sketches and ending psychological state hero. In addition, the story, as a rule, clearly expresses the position of the author, his subjective assessment of the events described. The story describes an incident that can happen to anyone. The character of the story may be given detailed description. The story as a genre is more common in Russian literature.
How is a novella different from a short story? The novel is not characterized by psychologism. In the novel you will not find descriptions, ratings and other characteristics. The author of the novel puts an unusual, extraordinary plot at the forefront. And if the story is turned to the contemplative side human being, then the short story - to the active one.
So, the main difference between a story and a short story is the artistry of what is depicted. This is achieved not due to a tense plot and the unusual nature of what is happening (as in a short story), but through all sorts of descriptions.
Other articles in the literary diary:
- 23.11.2013. The difference between a short story and a novel
The daily audience of the Proza.ru portal is about 100 thousand visitors, who total amount view more than half a million pages according to the traffic counter, which is located to the right of this text. Each column contains two numbers: the number of views and the number of visitors.
