Genre story is one of the most popular inliterature. He was approached and addressed by many writers. After reading this article, you will learn what are the features of the genre story, examples of the most famous works, as well as popular mistakes that authors make.
The story is one of the smallest literary forms. It is a small narrative work with a small number of heroes. This depicts short-term events.
Brief history of the genre story
V.G.Belinsky (his portrait is presented above), as early as 1840, distinguished the essay and story as small prose genres from the story and the novel as the larger ones. Already at that time, the prevalence of prose over poetry was fully indicated in Russian literature.
A little later, in the 2nd half of the 19th century, essayreceived the broadest development in the democratic literature of our country. At this time, it was felt that it was documentary that distinguished this genre. The story, as it was believed then, is created using creative imagination. According to another opinion, the genre we are interested in differs from the essay by the conflict of the plot. After all, the essay is characterized by the fact that it is basically a descriptive work.
Unity of time
In order to more fully characterize the genrestory, it is necessary to highlight the patterns inherent in it. The first is the unity of time. In the story, the time of action is always limited. However, not necessarily only one day, as in the works of classicists. Although this rule is not always respected, stories are rarely found in which the plot covers the entire life of the main character. Even less often, works are created in this genre, whose action lasts for centuries. Usually the author depicts some episode from the life of his hero. Among the stories in which the whole fate of the character is revealed, it is possible to mention the Death of Ivan Ilyich (by Leo Tolstoy) and Chekhov's Dusy. It also happens that not the whole life is represented, but its long period. For example, in Chekhov's "Jumping" depicts a number of significant events in the fate of the characters, their environment, the difficult development of the relationship between them. However, it is given very tightly compressed. It is the conciseness of the content, more than in the story, is a common feature of the story and, perhaps, the only one.
Unity of action and place
There are other features of the story genre,which should be noted. The unity of time is closely connected and conditioned by another unity — action. The story is a genre of literature, which should be limited to the description of a single event. Sometimes the main, meaningful, culminating in it become one or two events. Hence the unity of the place. Usually the action takes place in one place. There may be more than one, but several, but their number is strictly limited. For example, there may be 2-3 places, but 5 are already rare (they can only be mentioned).
Character unity
Another feature of the story - the unitycharacter. As a rule, there is one main character in the space of this genre. Occasionally there may be two, and very rarely - several. As for the minor characters, they can be quite a lot, but they are purely functional. A story is a genre of literature in which the task of secondary characters is limited to creating a background. They can interfere or help the protagonist, but no more. In the story "Chelkash" Gorky, for example, only two characters. And in Chekhov's “I want to sleep,” it’s all alone, which is impossible neither in the story nor in the novel.
Unity center
The signs of the story as a genre, listed above,somehow reduced to the unity of the center. Indeed, the story can not be imagined without a definitive, central sign, "tightening" all others. It does not matter at all whether this center will be some sort of static descriptive image, a climax event, the very development of the action or a significant gesture of the character. The main image should be in any story. It is due to him keeps the whole composition. He sets the theme of the work, determines the meaning of the story being told.
The basic principle of the story
The conclusion of the reflections on the "unity" to donot difficult. The very idea suggests that the main principle of constructing the composition of the story is the expediency and economy of motives. Tomashevsky called the motive the smallest element of the structure of the text. This can be an action, character or event. This structure can no longer be decomposed into components. It means that the author’s biggest sin is excessive detailing, glutting of the text, piling up of details that can be omitted when developing this genre of the work. The story should not dwell on the details.
It is necessary to describe only the most significant toavoid common mistakes. It is very characteristic, oddly enough, for people who are very conscientious about their works. They have a desire to speak to the maximum in each text. Young directors do the same when they put diploma films and performances. This is especially true of films, since the author’s fantasy in this case is not limited to the text of the play.
Authors with advanced imaginations lovefill the literary story with descriptive motifs. For example, they depict how the main character of the work is being pursued by a pack of cannibal wolves. However, if dawn begins, they necessarily stop on the description of long shadows, clouded stars, reddened clouds. The author seemed to admire nature and only then decided to continue the pursuit. The fantastic story genre gives maximum imagination, so avoiding this error is not easy at all.
The role of motives in the story
It must be emphasized that in our interestgenre all the motives must disclose the topic, work for meaning. For example, the gun described at the beginning of a work must necessarily shoot in the final. Motives that lead away, should not be included in the story. Or you need to look for images that outline the situation, but do not overly detail it.
Features of the composition
Note that it is not necessary to adheretraditional methods of constructing artistic text. Their violation can be spectacular. The story can be created almost on the same descriptions. But you can’t do without action. The hero simply has to at least raise his hand, take a step (in other words, make a meaningful gesture). Otherwise, it’s not a story, but a miniature, sketch, prose poem. Another important feature of the genre of interest to us is a significant ending. For example, a novel can last forever, but the story is built differently.
Very often the ending is paradoxical andunexpected. With this, Lev Vygotsky attributed the appearance of catharsis to the reader. Modern researchers (in particular, Patrice Pavi) consider catharsis as an emotional pulsation that appears as you read. Nevertheless, the significance of the ending is unchanged. The ending can drastically change the meaning of the story, pushing to rethink what is stated in it. This must be remembered.
The place of the story in the world literature
Рассказ - эпический жанр, который занимает важное place in the world literature. Gorky and Tolstoy appealed to him both in the early and in the mature period of creativity. The story of Chekhov is the main and favorite genre. Many stories became classical and along with major epic works (novellas and novels) entered the treasury of literature. Such, for example, are the stories of Tolstoy "Three Deaths" and "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", Turgenev's "Hunter's Notes", the works of Chekhov "Darling" and "The Man in the Case", the stories of Gorky "The Old Woman Izergil", "Chelkash", etc.
The advantages of the story before other genres
The genre we are interested in makes it possible to distinguish especiallyThis or that typical case, this or that side of our life, is convex. He gives the opportunity to portray them so that the reader's attention was fully focused on them. For example, Chekhov, describing Vanka Zhukov with a letter "to the village of the grandfather", full of childish despair, dwells in detail on the content of this letter. It will not come to its intended purpose and because of this it becomes especially strong in terms of diatribe. In the story “The Birth of a Man” by M. Gorky, an episode with the birth of a child that occurs on the road helps the author in revealing the main idea - the statement of the value of life.
