Novel is a literary genre, the art of short story

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

Novella is a small narrative prose, a special literary genre close to a story, essay, essay. This work is distinguished by a clearly defined plot with a climax and finale. Another difference between the short story and literary works of 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 sufficiently broad topic, presented in a concise manner.

Novel as a literary genre

Usually, novels are combined by the author into small cycles, as was the custom with one of the most famous novelists, the American writer O. Henry (William Sydney Porter). O'Henry's short stories were divided into separate categories. For example, the "Noble Rogue" cycle was made up of short stories-novels about two swindlers named Andy Tucker and Jeff Peters, and the "Business People" cycle included several short stories on the theme of the adventures of criminal characters - "The Leaderredskins", "Bolivar can't take down two", "Soulmates" and others.

Russian short stories

Russian writers, unlike French and American novelists, did not put the short story at the forefront of their work, but used a short narrative 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 wrote short stories at the dawn of his work ("The Mistress", "The Double").

Russian novelists

Russian short stories in the classical sense of this genre came from the pen of Nikolai Vasilyevich 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 the artistic value of the work is beyond doubt.

Russian writer-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 put the whole life of the character into a short story, 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 tragicomiccontent, 15 pages. Similar examples of "compressed" creativity are also found in Leo Tolstoy, and one of them is the short story "Alyosha Pot".

Novel and plot

Since the short story is a literary genre that involves 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 exactly 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

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 research, a complete illustrated guide to conchiology has been created.

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

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".

Novel is a literary genre that combines almost all the possibilities of prose, with great potential for expressing the writer's creative thoughts.