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The story of the study of the genre. The story as a literary genre

STORY

Medium (between short story and novel) epic genre, which presents a series of episodes from the life of the hero (heroes). In terms of volume, the novel depicts reality more than a story and more broadly, drawing a chain of episodes that make up a certain period in the life of the main character, it contains more events and characters, however, unlike a novel, as a rule, there is one storyline.

Dictionary of literary terms. 2012

epic genres

Fairy tale(literary) - a work in prose or poetic form, based on the folklore traditions of a folk tale (one storyline, fiction, depiction of the struggle between good and evil, antithesis and repetition as the leading principles of composition). For example, satirical tales by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.
Parable(from the Greek parabole - "located (placed) behind") - a small epic genre, a small narrative work of an instructive nature, containing moral or religious teaching, based on a broad generalization and use of allegories. Russian writers often used the parable as an interstitial episode in their works in order to fill the narrative with deep meaning. Let us recall the Kalmyk fairy tale told by Pugachev to Pyotr Grinev (A. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter") - in fact, this is the culmination in the disclosure of the image of Emelyan Pugachev: "Than eating carrion for three hundred years, it is better to drink living blood once, and then what God will give!". The plot of the parable about the resurrection of Lazarus, which Sonechka Marmeladova read to Rodion Raskolnikov, suggests to the reader the idea of a possible spiritual revival of the protagonist of the novel, F.M. Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment". In M. Gorky's play "At the Bottom", the wanderer Luka tells a parable "about the righteous land" to show how dangerous the truth can be for weak and desperate people.
Fable- a small genre of epic; plot-complete, having an allegorical meaning, the fable is an illustration of a well-known worldly or moral rule. A fable differs from a parable in the completeness of the plot; a fable is characterized by unity of action, brevity of presentation, the absence of detailed characteristics and other elements of a non-narrative nature that hinder the development of the plot. Usually a fable consists of 2 parts: 1) a story about an event, specific, but easily generalizable, 2) moralizing following or preceding the story.
Feature article- a genre, the hallmark of which is "writing from nature." In the essay, the role of the plot is weakened, because fiction is irrelevant here. The author of the essay, as a rule, narrates in the first person, which allows him to include his thoughts in the text, draw comparisons and analogies - i.e. use the means of journalism and science. An example of the use of the essay genre in literature is “Notes of a Hunter” by I.S. Turgenev.
Novella(Italian novella - news) is a kind of story, an epic action-packed work with an unexpected denouement, characterized by brevity, a neutral style of presentation, and a lack of psychologism. An important role in the development of the action of the novel is played by chance, the intervention of fate. A typical example of a Russian short story is the cycle of stories by I.A. Bunin "Dark Alleys": the author does not psychologically draw the characters of his heroes; a whim of fate, blind chance brings them together for a while and separates them forever.
Story- an epic genre of a small volume with a small number of heroes and the short duration of the events depicted. In the center of the narrative is an image of an event or life phenomenon. In Russian classical literature, the recognized masters of the story were A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol, I.S. Turgenev, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, I.A. Bunin, M. Gorky, A.I. Kuprin and others.
Tale- a prose genre that does not have a stable volume and occupies an intermediate position between the novel, on the one hand, and the short story and short story, on the other, gravitating towards a chronicle plot that reproduces the natural course of life. The story differs from the story and the novel in the volume of text, the number of characters and issues raised, the complexity of the conflict, etc. In the story, it is not so much the movement of the plot that is important, but the descriptions: the characters, the place of action, the psychological state of a person. For example: "The Enchanted Wanderer" by N.S. Leskov, "Steppe" by A.P. Chekhov, "Village" by I.A. Bunin. In the story, episodes often follow one after another according to the principle of a chronicle, there is no internal connection between them, or it is weakened, therefore the story is often built as a biography or autobiography: "Childhood", "Boyhood", "Youth" L.N. Tolstoy, "The Life of Arseniev" by I.A. Bunin, etc. (Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia / edited by Prof. A.P. Gorkin. - M.: Rosmen, 2006.)
Novel(French roman - a work written in one of the "living" Romance languages, and not in "dead" Latin) - an epic genre, the subject of which is a certain period or a person's whole life; Roman what is it? - the novel is characterized by the duration of the events described, the presence of several storylines and a system of actors, which includes groups of equivalent characters (for example: main characters, secondary, episodic); a work of this genre covers a wide range of life phenomena and a wide range of socially significant problems. There are different approaches to the classification of novels: 1) according to structural features (novel-parable, novel-myth, novel-dystopia, novel-journey, novel in verse, etc.); 2) on issues (family, social, social, psychological, psychological, philosophical, historical, adventurous, fantastic, sentimental, satirical, etc.); 3) according to the era in which this or that type of novel dominated (knightly, enlightenment, Victorian, Gothic, modernist, etc.). It should be noted that the exact classification of genre varieties of the novel has not yet been established. There are works whose ideological and artistic originality does not fit into the framework of any one method of classification. For example, the work of M.A. Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita" contains both acute social and philosophical problems, in it the events of biblical history (in the author's interpretation) and contemporary Moscow life of the 20-30s of the XX century develop in parallel, scenes full of drama are interspersed satirical. Based on these features of the work, it can be classified as a socio-philosophical satirical novel-myth.
epic novel- this is a work in which the subject of the image is not the history of private life, but the fate of the whole people or an entire social group; the plot is built on the basis of nodes - key, turning point historical events. At the same time, the fate of the people is reflected in the fate of the heroes, as in a drop of water, and, on the other hand, the picture of people's life is made up of individual destinies, private life stories. An integral part of the epic are mass scenes, thanks to which the author creates a generalized picture of the flow of people's life, the movement of history. When creating an epic, the artist is required to have the highest skill in linking episodes (scenes of private life and mass scenes), psychological authenticity in drawing characters, historicism of artistic thinking - all this makes the epic the pinnacle of literary creativity, which not every writer can climb. That is why in Russian literature only two works created in the epic genre are known: “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, "Quiet Flows the Don" by M.A. Sholokhov.
Lyric genres
Song- a small poetic lyrical genre, characterized by the simplicity of musical and verbal construction.
Elegy(Greek elegeia, elegos - a mournful song) - a poem of meditative or emotional content, dedicated to philosophical reflections caused by the contemplation of nature or deeply personal feelings about life and death, about unrequited (usually) love; the prevailing moods of the elegy are sadness, light sadness. Elegy is a favorite genre of V.A. Zhukovsky ("Sea", "Evening", "Singer", etc.).
Sonnet(Italian sonetto, from Italian sonare - to sound) - a lyrical poem of 14 lines in the form of a complex stanza. The lines of a sonnet can be arranged in two ways: two quatrains and two tercetes, or three quatrains and distich. In quatrains there can be only two rhymes, and in terzets - two or three.
The Italian (Petrarchian) sonnet consists of two quatrains with the rhyme abba abba or abab abab and two tercetes with the rhyme cdc dcd or cde cde, less often cde edc. French sonnet form: abba abba ccd eed. English (Shakespearean) - with rhyming scheme abab cdcd efef gg.
The classical sonnet presupposes a certain sequence of thought development: thesis - antithesis - synthesis - denouement. Judging by the name of this genre, particular importance is attached to the sonnet's musicality, which is achieved by alternating male and female rhymes.
European poets developed many original types of sonnets, as well as the wreath of sonnets, one of the most difficult literary forms.
Russian poets turned to the sonnet genre: A.S. Pushkin (“Sonnet”, “To the Poet”, “Madonna”, etc.), A.A. Fet (“Sonnet”, “Date in the Forest”), poets of the Silver Age (V.Ya. Bryusov, K.D. Balmont, A.A. Blok, I.A. Bunin).
Message(Greek epistole - epistole) - a poetic letter, in the time of Horace - philosophical and didactic content, later - of any nature: narrative, satirical, love, friendship, etc. A mandatory feature of the message is the presence of an appeal to a specific addressee, motives for wishes, requests. For example: “My Penates” by K.N. Batyushkov, "Pushchin", "Message to the Censor" by A.S. Pushkin and others.
Epigram(Greek epgramma - inscription) - a short satirical poem, which is a lesson, as well as a direct response to topical events, often political. For example: epigrams of A.S. Pushkin on A.A. Arakcheeva, F.V. Bulgarin, Sasha Cherny's epigram "To Bryusov's album", etc.
Oh yeah(from Greek ōdḗ, Latin ode, oda - song) - a solemn, pathetic, glorifying lyrical work dedicated to the depiction of major historical events or persons, talking about significant topics of religious and philosophical content. The ode genre was widespread in Russian literature of the 18th - early 19th centuries. in the work of M.V. Lomonosov, G.R. Derzhavin, in the early works of V.A. Zhukovsky, A.S. Pushkin, F.I. Tyutchev, but in the late 20s of the XIX century. other genres have come to replace the ode. Separate attempts by some authors to create an ode do not correspond to the canons of this genre (“Ode to the Revolution” by V.V. Mayakovsky and others).
lyric poem- a small poetic work in which there is no plot; the author focuses on the inner world, intimate experiences, reflections, moods of the lyrical hero (the author of a lyric poem and the lyrical hero are not the same person).
Lyric epic genres
Ballad(Provencal ballada, from ballar - to dance; Italian - ballata) - a plot poem, that is, a story of a historical, mythical or heroic nature, set out in poetic form. Usually a ballad is built on the basis of the dialogue of characters, while the plot does not have independent meaning - it is a means of creating a certain mood, subtext. So, “The Song of the Prophetic Oleg” by A.S. Pushkin has philosophical overtones, "Borodino" by M.Yu. Lermontov - socio-psychological.
Poem(Greek poiein - "to create", "creation") - a large or medium-sized poetic work with a narrative or lyrical plot (for example, "The Bronze Horseman" by A.S. Pushkin, "Mtsyri" by M.Yu. Lermontov, "The Twelve" A .A. Blok, etc.), the system of images of the poem may include a lyrical hero (for example, "Requiem" by A.A. Akhmatova).
Poem in prose- a small lyrical work in prose form, characterized by increased emotionality, expressing subjective experiences, impressions. For example: "Russian language" I.S. Turgenev.
Drama genres
Tragedy- a dramatic work, the main conflict of which is caused by exceptional circumstances and insoluble contradictions that lead the hero to death.
Drama- a play, the content of which is connected with the image of everyday life; despite the depth and seriousness, the conflict, as a rule, concerns private life and can be resolved without a tragic outcome.
Comedy- a dramatic work in which the action and characters are presented in funny forms; comedy is distinguished by the rapid development of action, the presence of complex, intricate plot moves, a happy ending and simplicity of style. There are sitcoms based on cunning intrigue, a special set of circumstances, and comedies of manners (characters), based on the ridicule of human vices and shortcomings, high comedy, everyday, satirical, etc. For example, "Woe from Wit" by A.S. Griboyedov - high comedy, "Undergrowth" by D.I. Fonvizina is satirical.

One of the most widespread, ancient and favorite literary genres was and remains the story. The story belongs to the general prose genre, which does not have a stable and clearly defined volume boundary, and therefore occupies an intermediate position between a short story and a short story on the one hand and a novel on the other. The story gravitates toward a plot described in chronological order, a plot that reproduces the natural course of events. Such a definition of the story as a literary genre is most characteristic of the traditions of Russian literary criticism. In Western literary criticism, the novel and the short novel act as the determining genres of the story.

The origins of the literary story.

In the domestic literary tradition, the genre definition of the story originates from the ancient Russian attitude of the narrator himself - the author to the events taking place around him. The term "story" originates from the Old Russian verb "to know" or "to tell". The Old Russian meaning of the phrase - “news of an event” - directly indicates the fact that the genre of the story has absorbed legends, epics, information about events that happened once, which the narrator himself heard or saw with his own eyes.

When writing the first, ancient Russian stories, the storytellers primarily relied on the most important sources for them - the ancient church annals. The most important such source was The Tale of Bygone Years, created by the chronicler and monk Nestor. Studying it, later many authors wrote such works as: “The Tale of Batu’s Invasion of Ryazan”, “The Tale of Saints Peter and Fevronia”, “The Tale of the Battle of Kalka”, whose irrefutable authenticity and value-cultural dominant could not raise doubts among contemporaries.

The plot line of the story

The storyline in almost any story is centered around the main characters, the personality and fate of each of them, which are revealed in a series of numerous described events. In the story, the storylines that are side, as a rule, are absent, which is a distinguishing feature of the story from the novel. The narration, conducted in accordance with a clearly defined chronological period, is concentrated on a narrow segment of space and time. The story can describe colocation, the life of different people, various historical events, etc.

Very often, the story is built around the "topics of the day." The author himself, who is a contemporary and a witness of this “malice”, can fully reveal its essence and partially express his attitude towards it through the lips and actions of his literary heroes. The title of the story is very often associated with the name and image of the person acting in it: “The Stationmaster” A.S. Pushkin, "The Man in the Case" by A.P. Chekhov, "Poor Lisa" by N.M. Karamzin, etc.

» » The story as a literary genre

This chapter mainly discusses the history of the emergence of the genre of the story, its features, problems, typology. It is divided into two paragraphs: the first paragraph is devoted directly to the history of the genre, the second - to the typology of the story of the first third of the 19th century.

Definition of the genre of the story in modern literary criticism

prose story - one of the genre varieties of the middle epic form (along with the short story, the short story and the new, non-canonical poem), which is distinguished by the following system of constant structural features: as a result of ethical choice, the principle of reverse ("mirror") symmetry in the location of the most important events; 2) in the structure of the "event of the story itself" - its non-reflective character, preference for temporal distance, evaluative focus of the narrative on the ethical position of the hero and the possibility of an authoritative summary position, a tendency to rethink the main event and give it an allegorical and generalized meaning (parallel insert plot or its additional analogue in the final); 3) in the aspect of the hero's "image building zone" - the seriousness, the unequal value of the depicted world of reality of the author and the reader, and at the same time the potential closeness of the horizons of the character and the narrator (can be realized in the finale); correlation of the hero and his fate with known patterns of behavior in traditional situations and, consequently, the interpretation of the central event as an "example" (often a temporary deviation from the norm), as well as extracting life lessons from the story told. Poetics: a dictionary of current terms and concepts / Ch. scientific adviser N. D. Tamarchenko / M., 2008.

The story in the modern Russian theory of literature is medium in terms of text or plot epic prose genre, intermediate between story And novel. In world literature, most often it is not clearly distinguished. In ancient Russian literature, the story was not a genre; this word denoted works of various types, including chronicles ("The Tale of Bygone Years"). In the 18th century, author's poetic stories appeared: I.F. Bogdanovich's "Darling" (1778) - "an ancient story in free verse", "Dobromysl" (late 1780s) - "an old story in verse." The satirical "Kaib" (1792) by I. A. Krylov, reminiscent of Voltaire's "oriental stories", is subtitled "oriental story". A.S. Pushkin applied the word "story" to his poems: "Prisoner of the Caucasus" (1820-21), "The Bronze Horseman" (1833). N.V. Gogol's early stories are shorter than subsequent ones, and Taras Bulba (1835) is comparable in volume to some novels of the 1830s. M. Gorky gave his four-volume chronicle "The Life of Klim Samgin. Forty Years" the subtitle "story", apparently emphasizing first of all that this is not a novel, but a narrative in general. In the last third of the 20th century, there were writers who distinguished themselves precisely in the story because the medium genre was less criticized than the large one. These are mature Yu.V.Trifonov, early Ch.T.Aitmatov, V.G.Rasputin, V.V.Bykov. Literary encyclopedia of terms and concepts / ed. A. N. Nikolyukina / M, 2001.--1600 stb.

The original meaning of the word "story" in our ancient writing is very close to its etymology: a story - that which is narrated represents a complete narrative, therefore it is used freely and widely. “So, hagiographic, short story, hagiographic or chronicle works were often called the story (for example, “The Tale of the Life and partly the miracles of the confession of blessed Michael ...”, “Tales of the Wise Wives” or the well-known “Behold the Tale of Bygone Years”, etc. .) And vice versa, in the titles of old stories one can find the terms "Tale", "Life", "Acts", respectively, common in the West, Latin "gesta", "Word", with a moralizing comprehension - often "Parable", later " Butt "(i.e. example)". Vinogradov V V . , Fav. Proceedings: On the language of artistic prose. [T. 5]. M., 1980. Nevertheless, the old story is closely intertwined with most other narrative genres. In insufficiently differentiated, "syncretistic" ancient writing, the story is a common genre form in which almost all narrative genres are intertwined: hagiographic, apocryphal, chronicle, military-epic, etc. The story is characterized by a coherent presentation of not one, but a number of facts, united by a single core. The central line in the development of narrative genres is given by secular stories, which contained a trend in the development of fiction. At the same time, the comparative simplicity of social relations and their everyday manifestations and the primitiveness of the cognitive possibilities of literature determined the plot single-linearity, the “one-dimensionality” of ancient works, which is characteristic of the story. Only in the later period of medieval literature do everyday, adventurous, talking about "ordinary" people and secular stories built on fiction appear. This period is a stage in the development of Russian literature, when the general mass of narrative genres begins to differentiate more clearly, highlighting, on the one hand, the short story, and on the other, the novel as already clearly defined genres. Works of this kind, such as "The Tale of Karp Sutulov", "About Shemyakin Court", etc., terminologically not yet separated into a separate genre, are in essence typical short stories. In the presence of such a differentiation of narrative forms, the concept of "story" acquires a new and narrower content, occupying a middle position between a novel and a short story. This is primarily determined by the scale of the volume and complexity of the reality covered by the work. But the size of the work does not play a decisive role in this: a small story can be shorter than a long story (for example, L. N. Tolstoy has the story "Notes of a Marker" and the story "Snowstorm"), while a large story can turn out to be longer than a small novel. However, on average, a story is longer than a short story and shorter than a novel; the size of a work is derived from its internal structure. Compared with the story, the story is a more capacious form, so the number of characters in it is usually greater than in the story. In the first third of the 19th century, in the dominant style, that is, in the style of various groups of the nobility, mainly poetic stories and dramatic genres were put forward. Later, in the 1930's, when prose began to grow with extreme intensity, the short story, along with the novel, came to the fore. So, Belinsky in the 30s. asserted: "Now all our literature has turned into a novel and a story" ("About the Russian story and Gogol's stories"). The development of the story is undoubtedly connected with the appeal of literature to "prosaic", everyday reality (it is not for nothing that Belinsky contrasts the story and the novel with the "heroic poem" and the ode of classicism), although this reality itself can be perceived by the authors in a romantic aspect (for example, the St. Petersburg stories of N.V. Gogol, a number of stories by V. Odoevsky, Marlinsky, such works by N. Polevoy as "The Bliss of Madness", "Emma", etc.). But among the stories of the 30s. there were quite a few that had a historical theme (the romantic stories of Marlinsky, the stories of Veltman, etc.). But truly typical of the era, new in comparison with the previous stage, are the stories with a realistic aspiration, addressed to modern, everyday life (Belkin's Tales by A. S. Pushkin, the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois everyday story by M. P. Pogodin, I.N. Pavlov, N. A. Polevoy and others, among the romantics - V. F. Odoevsky and A. A. Marlinsky). With the further development of Russian literature, in which the novel begins to play an ever greater role, the story still retains a fairly prominent place. Approximately the same proportion retains the story in the work of our contemporary writers. An exceptional contribution to the development of the story was made by M. Gorky with his autobiographical stories ("Childhood", "In People", "My Universities"), the structural feature of which is the great importance of the characters surrounding the main character. The story has taken a firm place in the work of a number of other contemporary writers. Suffice it to name such popular works of Soviet literature as "Chapaev" by D.A. Furmanov, "Tashkent - a city of bread" by S.I. Neverov and many others. etc. At the same time, the "single-linearity" of the story, the well-known simplicity of its structure in the literature of socialist realism, does not go to the detriment of the depth of social understanding of the reflected phenomena and the aesthetic value of the work. Vinogradov VV Plot and style. Comparative historical research, M.: AN SSSR, 1963. - p.102

Genre is a type of literary work. There are epic, lyrical, dramatic genres. Lyroepic genres are also distinguished. Genres are also divided by volume into large (including rum and epic novel), medium (literary works of “medium size” - novels and poems), small (story, short story, essay). They have genres and thematic divisions: adventure novel, psychological novel, sentimental, philosophical, etc. The main division is connected with the genres of literature. We present to your attention the genres of literature in the table.

Thematic division of genres is rather conditional. There is no strict classification of genres by topic. For example, if they talk about the genre-thematic diversity of lyrics, they usually single out love, philosophical, landscape lyrics. But, as you understand, the variety of lyrics is not exhausted by this set.

If you set out to study the theory of literature, it is worth mastering the groups of genres:

epic, that is, genres of prose (epic novel, novel, story, short story, short story, parable, fairy tale);
lyrical, that is, poetic genres (lyric poem, elegy, message, ode, epigram, epitaph),
dramatic - types of plays (comedy, tragedy, drama, tragicomedy),
lyrical epic (ballad, poem).

Literary genres in tables

epic genres

epic novel

epic novel- a novel depicting folk life in critical historical eras. "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, "Quiet Flows the Don" by Sholokhov.
Novel

Novel- a multi-problem work depicting a person in the process of his formation and development. The action in the novel is full of external or internal conflicts. By subject, there are: historical, satirical, fantastic, philosophical, etc. By structure: a novel in verse, an epistolary novel, etc.
Tale

Tale- an epic work of medium or large form, built in the form of a narrative of events in their natural sequence. Unlike the novel, in P. the material is chronicled, there is no sharp plot, there is no blue analysis of the feelings of the characters. P. does not pose tasks of a global historical nature.
Story

Story- a small epic form, a small work with a limited number of characters. R. most often poses one problem or describes one event. The short story differs from R. in an unexpected ending.
Parable

Parable- moral teaching in allegorical form. A parable differs from a fable in that it draws its artistic material from human life. Example: Gospel parables, the parable of the righteous land, told by Luke in the play "At the Bottom".

Lyric genres

lyric poem

lyric poem- a small form of lyrics written either on behalf of the author, or on behalf of a fictional lyrical hero. Description of the inner world of the lyric hero, his feelings, emotions.
Elegy

Elegy- a poem imbued with moods of sadness and sadness. As a rule, the content of elegies is philosophical reflections, sad reflections, grief.
Message

Message- a letter of poetry addressed to a person. According to the content of the message, there are friendly, lyrical, satirical, etc. The message can be. addressed to one person or group of people.
Epigram

Epigram- a poem that makes fun of a specific person. Characteristic features are wit and brevity.
Oh yeah

Oh yeah- a poem, distinguished by the solemnity of style and sublimity of content. Praise in verse.
Sonnet

Sonnet- a solid poetic form, usually consisting of 14 verses (lines): 2 quatrains-quatrains (for 2 rhymes) and 2 three-line tercetes

Dramatic genres

Comedy

Comedy- a type of drama in which characters, situations and actions are presented in funny forms or imbued with the comic. There are satirical comedies (“Undergrowth”, “Inspector General”), high (“Woe from Wit”) and lyrical (“The Cherry Orchard”).
Tragedy

Tragedy- a work based on an irreconcilable life conflict, leading to the suffering and death of heroes. William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
Drama

Drama- a play with a sharp conflict, which, unlike the tragic, is not so elevated, more mundane, ordinary and somehow resolved. The drama is built on modern rather than ancient material and establishes a new hero who rebelled against circumstances.

Lyric epic genres

(intermediate between epic and lyric)

Poem

Poem- the average lyrical-epic form, a work with a plot-narrative organization, in which not one, but a whole series of experiences is embodied. Features: the presence of a detailed plot and at the same time close attention to the inner world of the lyrical hero - or an abundance of lyrical digressions. The poem "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol
Ballad

Ballad- an average lyrical-epic form, a work with an unusual, tense plot. This is a story in verse. A story told in poetic form, historical, mythical, or heroic. The plot of the ballad is usually borrowed from folklore. Ballads "Svetlana", "Lyudmila" V.A. Zhukovsky

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