Similarities between short stories and novels. Characteristic features of the short story genre in Russian literature

The story and the short story belong to the narrative epic genre and have some common characteristics: a small volume, a clearly defined plot, a dynamism of the development of the action with a pronounced climax and denouement. However, the novel also has distinctive genre features allowing to distinguish it from a number of works modern prose into an independent literary form.

What is a novella and a story

Novella- a small prose work, which is characterized by a sharp plot with an unexpected denouement, brevity and a neutral style of presentation, as well as the absence of a pronounced author's position in relation to literary heroes.
Story- variety of works epic genre, which are characterized by a narration about events from the life of the protagonist, revealing psychological aspect his actions or state of mind.

Comparison of novella and short story

What is the difference between a novel and a short story?
The novel is notable for its underlined brevity of the narrative. It does not allow direct author's assessment action literary characters or conditions that determine the development of the described events.
In the story, such an assessment is indirectly expressed in portrait characteristic and copyright disclaimers. It is necessary to reveal the topic, which is often associated with the identification of psychological factors that are fundamentally important for understanding the state of mind of the protagonist. His behavior in unusual life situation forms the basis of the story. The plot action in this case is limited to a narrow time frame and is tied to a specific place of events.
There is no psychologism in the novel. The most important thing in it is an extraordinary event that sets the dynamic tension of the plot. The focus of the reader's attention is not so much the hero as what happens to him. The novelist does not seek to create deep subtext the main content of his short work. His task is to spice up the plot and achieve the ultimate intensity of the story at the climax.
With a limited number of characters in the story, an additional storyline can develop. In a short story, the plot cannot have a branched structure. Eventally, it is connected only with what happens to the main character. Other characters in the novel are extremely rare: as a rule, only if additional episode with their participation enhances the dynamics of action.

TheDifference.ru determined that the difference between a short story and a short story is as follows:

In the short story, the sharpness of the plot is expressed to a greater extent than in the story.
The novel is characterized by a neutral style of presentation, while the story uses the author's style. estimated characteristic characters or events.
In the story, the action reveals the motivation of the actions of the hero. The novel depicts the action itself and lacks techniques. psychological analysis character behavior.
The story may have a hidden subtext that is important for the realization of the author's intention. The short story does not allow ambiguous interpretations of the main theme.

The story and the short story belong to the narrative epic genre and have some common characteristics: a small volume, a clearly defined plot, a dynamism of the development of the action with a pronounced climax and denouement. However, the short story also has distinctive genre features that make it possible to distinguish it from a number of works of modern prose into an independent literary form.

Definition

Novella- a small prose work, which is characterized by a sharp plot with an unexpected denouement, brevity and a neutral style of presentation, as well as the absence of a pronounced author's position in relation to literary heroes.

Story- a kind of works of the epic genre, which are characterized by a narrative about events in the life of the protagonist, revealing the psychological aspect of his actions or state of mind.

Comparison

The novel is notable for its underlined brevity of the narrative. It does not allow a direct authorial assessment of the actions of literary characters or the conditions that determine the development of the events described.

In the story, such an assessment is indirectly expressed in the portrait description and author's digressions. It is necessary to reveal the topic, which is often associated with the identification of psychological factors that are fundamentally important for understanding the state of mind of the protagonist. His behavior in an unusual life situation forms the basis of the plot of the story. The plot action in this case is limited to a narrow time frame and is tied to a specific place of events.

There is no psychologism in the novel. The most important thing in it is an extraordinary event that sets the dynamic tension of the plot. The focus of the reader's attention is not so much the hero as what happens to him. The novelist does not seek to create a deep subtext of the main content of his short work. His task is to spice up the plot and achieve the ultimate intensity of the story at the climax.

With a limited number of characters in the story, an additional storyline can develop. In a short story, the plot cannot have a branched structure. Eventally, it is connected only with what happens to the main character. Other characters in the novel are extremely rare: as a rule, only if an additional episode with their participation enhances the dynamics of the action.

Findings site

1. In the short story, the sharpness of the plot is expressed to a greater extent than in the story.
2. The novel is characterized by a neutral style of presentation, while the story uses the author's assessment of characters or events.
3. In the story, the action reveals the motivation of the actions of the hero. The novel depicts the action itself and lacks the methods of psychological analysis of the behavior of the characters.
4. The story may have a hidden subtext that is important for the realization of the author's intention. The short story does not allow ambiguous interpretations of the main theme.

The story is great literary form written information in literary and artistic design. When recording oral retellings, the story stood apart as independent genre in written literature.

The story as an epic genre

The distinguishing features of the story are the small number actors, 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 of epic genre goes back to folklore genres 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 kind 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 prose genre, as a story, is an intermediate place between the story and the 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 Lisa" N. Karamzin, "The Life of Arsenyev" by I. Bunin, "The Steppe" by 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 kind of psychological trait of the protagonist or mood that is characteristic of the work. It is noteworthy that 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.

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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 critics 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

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A novella is a small narrative prose, a special literary genre, close to the story, essay, essay. Is different this work well-defined plot with a climax and an ending. Another difference between the novel and other genres is the limited number of characters. If in a novel or story there are usually up to two dozen characters, then in a short story there are only two or three. The art of the short story is precisely to convey to the reader the content of a fairly broad topic, presented in a concise manner.

Novella as a literary genre

Usually short stories are combined by the author into small cycles, as was customary with one of the most famous novelists, American writer O. Henry O'Henry's novels were divided into separate categories. "Noble Rogue" was made up of short novellas about two swindlers named Andy Tucker and Jeff Peters, and in the cycle " Business people"included several short stories on the theme of the adventures of criminal characters -" Leader of the Redskins "," Bolivar can not carry two ", and others.

Russian novels

Russian writers, unlike French ones, did not put the short story at the forefront of their work, but used a short story from case to case. The work of A. S. Pushkin "Tales of Belkin", written in 1830, is an example of this. However, a brief theme does not mean that the narrative is less significant than a voluminous novel or short story. Even such a fundamental writer as Dostoevsky, at the dawn of his work, wrote short stories ("The Mistress", "Double").

Russian novelists

Russian short stories in the classical sense of this genre came from the pen of Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, who in some cases wrote in full - "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka", and in others more concisely - "The Overcoat". In both cases, the plot was fully revealed, which means that artistic value works is undeniable.

Russian playwright Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote short stories in a manner peculiar only to him, which can be defined as "Chekhovian". The bottom line is that the writer was able to short story lay down the whole life of the character, sometimes quite long and eventful. Separate short stories by Chekhov, with a limited volume, look like mini-novels. In the story "Ionych" the writer managed to reflect human life in full, all its tragicomic content, on 15 pages. Similar examples of "compressed" creativity are also found in Leo Tolstoy, and one of them is short story"Alyosha Gorshok".

Novel and plot

Since the short story is one that suggests the sharpness of the plot, it can be used when writing unusual works. If the story describes a slow development of events with a predictable end, then the short story necessarily contains elements of tension, mystery and a spectacular final surprise. At the beginning and in the middle of the narrative, a neutral style dominates, a complete lack of psychologism, and then the ending follows, unexpected and often illogical. In a story or a short story, on the contrary, the author tries to reveal precisely the psychological nuances of the story, much attention is paid to the character of the character, his deep essence.

Writer and scholar Edgar Allan Poe

The novel is also a literary genre that is ideal for "dark" plots, detective and graveyard horrors. The American Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is deservedly recognized as an outstanding novelist. The genres in which the writer worked are unique and extremely unusual: literary hoax, horror literature. Edgar Poe was not only a writer. He also wrote a book-research "The First Book of the Conchiologist". This is the work of a mature scientist dedicated to the study of mollusk shells. Based on the study, a complete illustrated guide to conchiology was created.

Writer, poet, scientist Edgar Po wrote for his short life about a hundred short stories, each of which can be considered a masterpiece literary art, despite the unusual content. These are "Gold Bug", "Murder on the Rue Morgue", "Raven". Poetic works Edgar Allan Poe did not receive proper recognition during his lifetime. As the poet James Lowell figuratively noted, Poe skillfully hewn a pile of poetic stones, but they remained lying on the site, the foundation of them was not built.

Here are some short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, selected:

• Year 1832 - "Bon-bon", "Without breathing", "Merzengerstein", "On the walls of Jerusalem".
• Year 1833 - "Folio Club", "Buried Alive", "Manuscript in a Bottle", "Four Beasts in One".
• Year 1835 - "King Plague", "Shadow", "Morella", "Pages from the Life of a Celebrity", "Berenice".

A short story is a literary genre that combines almost all the possibilities of prose, which has great potential for expressing the writer's creative thoughts.