What is a novella? The meaning of the word and its origin

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

There are a huge number of genres of narrative prose, among which there is a short story. We meet many different stories and stories, and do not think about what a short story is. And even more so, how and when it happened.

The meaning of the word. Occurrence period

What does the word "novella" mean? This is a narrative prose genre, which once included pieces of poetry. The novel is characterized by a neutral style of presentation, a sharp and dynamic plot, brevity of the narrative, and an unexpected denouement. It lacks psychology. Sometimes used as a synonym for story. In some cases, it is a variation. At the beginning of the 19th century, the short story appears in prose in Europe and America (everywhere). She influenced the novel, which was still developing at that time, especially in Russia.

The origin of the prose genre

The meaning of the word "short story" has its origins in an anecdote, a fable and a fairy tale. It differs from an anecdote in its plot; in the short story it is sentimental or tragic, but not comic at all. There is no edification or allegory in it, as, for example, in a fable. The short story differs from the fairy tale in the absence of magical elements. However, in somethey do occur, in most cases in oriental narratives, and are perceived as something amazing.

Even in the Renaissance, everyone knew what a short story was. Even then, its specific features were determined: unexpected twists of fate in the life of the hero, unusual incidents, sharp dramatic conflict. As Goethe wrote: "A novella is an incident that took place completely by accident."

Of course, with each literary era, this genre has its own special imprint. In the era of romanticism, the plot of the stories was mystical, it was impossible to draw a line between reality and a fairy tale ("The Sandman").

Novel without psychologism and philosophy

Actually, what is a novella? There is a lot of information on this subject. As always, in such cases, if it grows, it becomes problematic. The short story avoided philosophy and psychologism even before the establishment of realism in literature. It was possible to learn the inner world of the hero through his actions and actions. There was no descriptiveness in the novel, the author never expressed his opinion.

When realism began to develop, this genre with its classical examples almost disappeared. However, realism in the 19th century could not exist without psychologism and descriptiveness. At this time, the short story is being supplanted by other types of short narrative, among them the short story takes the first place (especially in Russia). For a long time, the story existed as a kind of short story.

Structure of the novella

So, we figured out what a short story is - the main genre of short narrative prose. The authors of such works are called novelists, a collection of stories - short stories. A narrative is a shorter form of fiction than a novel or short story. The short story is part of the folklore genres of oral retelling in the form of parables. The story has only one storyline (with some kind of problem) and few characters (compared to more extended narrative forms).

The structure of the novel is as follows: beginning, climax and denouement. Romantics of the early 19th century admired the unexpected turn of events in the novel. They were attracted by the sharpness, and sometimes the dynamism of the plot.

In the stories of some authors, you can notice cyclization. Here is a prime example. The novella is published in a periodical. After that, the works accumulated over a certain period are published as a separate book, resulting in a whole collection of stories.