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
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 type of epic genre goes back to 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 of "large forms" and the story of "small forms", but this distinction is often arbitrary.
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 sample literary genre, the short story originated in the Renaissance - the most famous example is Boccaccio's Decameron. 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
For the full disclosure of the writer's intention and for a complete understanding of the meaning of a literary work, an 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 the important role of the 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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Often the short story is identified with the story and even the story. In the 19th century, these genres were difficult to distinguish.
The story is distinguished by the fact 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.
Novella in Russian literature
In Russian literature, the short story is a rare genre.
Classic short stories were the works that make up the “Tales of Belkin” by A. S. Pushkin.
E This is a short narrative, usually with one event and with a minimum number of characters. The genre was born in the 14th-15th centuries. The brightest writer's figure of that time among the novelists was D. Boccaccio. A novella is essentially a story, but with one obligatory final feature: it has an unexpected ending. It is, of course, logical, but most often the reader waits for a different resolution of the action. This imposes on the short story the character of artistic intrigue and generally makes the whole story very exciting. This is especially true for adventure stories, for all sorts of mysterious stories.
Story- a small epic prose form, a small work with a limited number of characters (most often it tells about one or two heroes). In the story, as a rule, one problem is posed and one event is described. For example, in Turgenev's story "Mumu" the main event is the story of the acquisition and loss of a dog by Gerasim. Novella differs from the story only in that it always has an unexpected ending, although in general the boundaries between these two genres are very arbitrary.
The story, like the story, is also a type of narrative prose and belongs to the epic genres. If the story is called small prose, then the story is small, “miniature” prose. The size of an average story varies from 2 to 50-70 printed pages. Actually, this is the topic of another major literary dispute - 70 pages - is it a story, a novella, or maybe already a story? There is no single answer, it all depends solely on the content. In our opinion, for the average reader, this is not at all important, so you can consider a story that is less than this volume. A story is a work of art that is traditionally dedicated to one event in a person's life. In the story, you will not be able to find a description of the childhood of the main character, as detailed as the story, the author introduces the reader to the hero just enough so that the reader can understand how the situation described at the present moment has developed. Many literary critics believe that writing in the genre of a story is much more difficult than, say, in the genre of a story. Why? - you ask. The fact is that in a short moment of the action described in the story, the author reveals the essential, typical features of the hero's life. The story is easy to read and digest, so most of the classic stories are included in the school curriculum on world and Russian literature. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is considered the master of the story in Russian literature. It can rightfully be placed at the origins of the "new literature". His stories seemed unusual and wonderful to many readers, they have written a great many professional literary criticism. Chekhov's stories are so vital because his main creative method is realism. In fact, there are also quite a few genres of the story: Fantasy story (Ray Bradbry, Isaac Asimov) Fantasy story Humorous story Adventure story
P Compared to the short story, the short story is considered a more "quiet" genre. Historically, it precedes the short story (appeared during the time of Ancient Egypt).
A story is a work of small volume, containing a small number of characters, and also, most often, having one storyline.
For the story, primarily due to the volume, the presence of one main problem is characteristic, in contrast to the story or novel, which can describe many conflicts and a wide range of problems.
Stories interspersed in the "Dialogue about Pope Gregory", apologists from the "Lives of the Church Fathers", fables, folk tales. In 13th-century Occitan, the term nova. Hence the Italian novella(in the most popular collection of the end of the 13th century, Novellino, also known as the Hundred Ancient Novels), which has been distributed throughout Europe since the 15th century.
The genre was established after the appearance of the book Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (c.), the plot of which was that several people, fleeing the plague outside the city, tell each other short stories. Boccaccio in his book created the classic type of Italian short story, which was developed by his many followers in Italy itself and in other countries. In France, under the influence of the translation of the Decameron, around 1462, the collection One Hundred New Novels appeared (however, the material was more indebted to the facets of Poggio Bracciolini), and Margarita Navarskaya, modeled on The Decameron, wrote the book Heptameron ().
Description of the novel
The short story is characterized by several important features: extreme brevity, a sharp, even paradoxical plot, a neutral style of presentation, a lack of psychologism and descriptiveness, and an unexpected denouement. The action of the novel takes place in the author's modern world. The plot structure of the novel is similar to the dramatic one, but usually simpler.
Goethe spoke about the action-packed nature of the novel, giving it the following definition: “an unheard-of event that has taken place”.
The story emphasizes the meaning of the denouement, which contains an unexpected turn (pointe, "falcon turn"). According to the French researcher, "ultimately, one can even say that the whole short story is conceived as a denouement". Viktor Shklovsky wrote that the description of a happy mutual love does not create a short story; a short story needs love with obstacles: “A loves B, B does not love A; when B loves A, then A no longer loves B. He singled out a special type of denouement, which he called "false ending": it is usually made from a description of nature or weather.
Among the predecessors of Boccaccio, the short story had a moralizing attitude. Boccaccio retained this motif, but his morality followed from the short story not logically, but psychologically, and often was only a pretext and a device. The later short story convinces the reader of the relativity of moral criteria.
novella, short story, short story
Quite often the short story is identified with the story and even the story. In the 19th century, these genres were difficult to distinguish: for example, A. S. Pushkin's Belkin's Tale is, rather, five short stories.
The story is similar to the short story in volume, but differs in structure: the emphasis on the figurative and verbal texture of the narrative and the inclination towards detailed psychological characteristics.
The story is distinguished by the fact 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.
Novella and novel
The collection of short stories was the forerunner of the novel.
Novella in Chinese literature
China is a classic country of the novel, which developed here on the basis of the constant interaction of literature and folklore from the 3rd to the 19th century: in the 3rd-6th centuries. mythological bylichki were widespread, mixed with excerpts from historical prose and partly designed according to its canons (later, in the 16th century, they were called the term "zhiguai xiaosho", that is, stories about miracles). They were the most important source of the classical literary novel of the Tang and Song era (8th-13th centuries), the so-called "chuanqi", written in the classical literary language. Since the Song era, information has appeared about the folk tale "huaben" (literally, "the basis of the story"), which widely used both the heritage of the classical Tang Chuanqi and the folklore sources proper, democratizing the genre of the short story both in language and in subject matter. Huaben gradually moved completely from folklore to literature and reached higher development in writing ("imitative huaben") at the end XVI-early XVII century
Thomas Hardy is considered to be the oldest of the English novelists (although he was neither the very first nor the oldest). Hardy was closely associated with the realist tradition of the Dickensian school. Another great English novelist - Oscar Wilde - was more of an aesthete, denied realism. His short stories were alien to the problems of sociology, politics, social struggle, etc. A separate place in English short stories is occupied by such a trend as naturalism. A characteristic trend of naturalism was the so-called "slum literature" (a collection of short stories by Arthur Morrison "Slum Tales", 1894; a short story by George Moore "Theater in the Wilderness", etc.). Another trend in English literature that opposed itself to aesthetes and naturalists is considered "neo-romanticism". The English novelists of the "late romantics" were Robert Stevenson, and later Joseph Conrad and Conan Doyle. At the beginning of the 20th century, the English short story becomes more "psychological". It is worth noting here Katherine Mansfield, whose novels were often almost "plotless". All attention in them was riveted to the inner experiences of a person, his feelings, thoughts, mood. In the first half of the 20th century, the English short story was characterized by psychologism, aestheticism and "stream of consciousness". The brightest representatives English Literature era
Novella and short story - these two literary concepts are almost the same. However, this is only at first glance. Indeed, in the European tradition, the concept of a short story is often used as a synonym for a story. However, in Russian literary criticism, the short story and the short story, although they have common features, 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 the unity of an artistic 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, the main place in the story is occupied by the author's narrative, various descriptions, ranging from landscape sketches to 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 can be given a 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 addressed to the contemplative side of human existence, then the short story - to the active.
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 story is a narrative epic genre with an emphasis on a small volume and on the unity of an artistic event.
The story, as a rule, is dedicated to a specific fate, speaks of a separate event in a person's life, and is grouped around a specific episode. This is its difference from the story, as a more detailed form, which usually describes several episodes, a segment of the hero's life. Chekhov’s short story “I want to sleep” tells about a girl who, through sleepless nights, is driven to a crime: she strangles a baby that prevents her from falling asleep. About what happened to this girl before, the reader learns only from her dream, about what will happen to her after the crime is committed, it is generally unknown. All the characters, except for the girl Varka, are outlined very briefly. All the described events prepare the central one - the murder of a baby. The story is short.
But the point is not in the number of pages (there are short stories and relatively long stories), and not even in the number of plot events, but in the author's attitude to the utmost brevity. So, Chekhov's story "Ionych" in content is close not even to the story, but to the novel (almost the entire life of the hero is traced). But all the episodes are presented as briefly as possible, the author's goal is the same - to show the spiritual degradation of Dr. Startsev. In the words of Jack London, "a story is ... a unity of mood, situation, action."
The small volume of the story also determines its stylistic unity. The story is usually told from one person. It can be the author, and the narrator, and the hero. But in the story, much more often than in the "major" genres, the pen is, as it were, transferred to the hero, who himself tells his story. Often we have before us - a tale: a story of some fictional person with his own, pronounced speech style (the stories of Leskov, in the 20th century - Remizov, Zoshchenko, Bazhov, etc.).
Novella (Italian novella - news) is a narrative prose genre, which is characterized by brevity, a sharp plot, a neutral style of presentation, a lack of psychologism, and an unexpected denouement. Sometimes it is used as a synonym for a story, sometimes it is called a kind of story.
The genetic origins of the novel are in a fairy tale, a fable, an anecdote. What distinguishes it from an anecdote is the possibility not of a comic, but of a tragic or sentimental plot. From the fable - the absence of allegories and edification. From a fairy tale - the absence of a magical element. If magic still takes place (mainly in an oriental short story), then it is perceived as something amazing.
The classic novella originated in the Renaissance. It was then that her specific features were fully determined, such as a sharp, dramatic conflict, unusual incidents and turns of events, and in the life of the hero - unexpected twists of fate. Goethe wrote: "The novella is nothing but an unheard-of incident." These are Boccaccio's short stories from the Deccameron collection.
Each literary era left its mark on the genre of the short story. So, in the era of romanticism, the content of the short story often becomes mystical, the line between real events and their refraction in the mind of the hero is blurred (“Sandman” by Hoffmann).
Up to the establishment of realism in the literature, the short story avoided psychologism and philosophy, inner world the hero was transmitted through his actions and deeds. She was alien to any kind of descriptiveness, the author did not interfere in the narrative, did not express his assessments.
With the development of realism, the short story, as it was in its classical models, almost disappears. Realism 19th century unthinkable without descriptiveness, psychologism. The short story is supplanted by other types of short story, among which the first place, especially in Russia, is taken by the story, which for a long time existed as a kind of short story (by A. Marlinsky, Odoevsky, Pushkin, Gogol, etc.).
The story is a broad, vague genre term that does not lend itself to a single definition.
In their historical development, both the very term "story" and the material embraced by it have traveled a long historical path; talk about the story as a single genre in ancient and new literature absolutely impossible. The uncertainty of this term is complicated by two more specific circumstances.
Firstly, for our term there are no exactly corresponding terms in Western European languages: German "Erzählung", French "conte", partly "nouvelle", English "tale", "story", etc. and "story", part "fairy tale". The term story in its definite opposition to the terms "story" and "novel" is a specifically Russian term.
Secondly, the story is one of the oldest literary terms, which changed its meaning at different historical moments. It is also necessary to distinguish between the change in the meaning of the term story and the change in the corresponding phenomena themselves. The historical development of the term reflects, of course, 19 (with only some delay) the movement of the genre forms themselves. It is no coincidence that the terms “story” and “novel” appear in our country later than the story, just as it is no coincidence that certain stage this latter applies to such works which are essentially stories.
