Hello friends.
I run new series: How to write a story.

Now in the publishing house is my collection of short stories and journalism. And also there is a written story, which was published in the collection "Proverbs of the XXI century". In total, I have written more than 30 different stories, now I am working on publishing them.

To be honest, creating stories is much more difficult than writing a novel. This is recognized by many. But it is not for nothing that many writers admit that the art of the story is much more complex than the art of the novel.

If there are weak points in a major work, they are more than compensated by strong points. The main thing is that there are not many of them. You know how girls read War and Peace? They leaf through the war, and read the world. Because there are weak points even in such a great novel as War and Peace. In the novel, you can carry water, but in the story - never.

But the story is beautiful because if you manage to create a strong work, a strong story, then you immediately grow by several orders of magnitude.

And in their own eyes, not in the eyes of others. Indeed, the best competition is with yourself. And the realization that today you are better than yesterday is the most beautiful thing in self-development.

And to be able to create a story, then write it, and then publish it is something that everyone who writes must be able to do.

And I also promise that I will not write nonsense - that which is not interesting to me. For example, the origin of the story, the history of the story is not always interesting, even literary critics, it seems to me.

Let's get started!

In this series, I precisely plan 10 parts with detailed examples:

1. Storytelling Basics (here it is)
2. Three-act structure + composition
3. Conflict
4. Characters
5. climax
6. Zachin
7. Style
8. Detail
9. Publication

A feature of the past series was that I not only told the theory, but also showed concrete examples strong texts. So it will be this time.

Story requirements. Components

In fact, the complexity of the story is that you need to not only know in theory what the story includes.

But it's important to practice it. Make it your daily practice.

The minimum that a story should include

• Reasonable construction
• Conciseness
• High plot voltage
• Interesting heroes
• Acute conflict.
• Understatement. It's complicated.

This is exactly what I will talk about in each of the parts, only in more detail.

Typical mistakes when creating a story

Beginners often make common mistakes

1. Lack of preparation.

I think it main mistake writing. Especially beginners, but also experienced ones are sometimes not prepared enough.

To begin with, it is worth considering the plan of the story, what you want to say. And only then.

You need to think through all the details, the conflict, the portrait of each hero. And only then begin the story itself.

1. conceit

“I don’t need to study”, “I can handle it” - typical thoughts of a self-conceited writer

You need to work, work as much as it takes to make the text work, so that the thoughts in the text are exactly the way they need to be.

1. No passion

The old rule of writers says: "What is written without passion, will be read without passion."

Many people write because they want to write. Graphomania pure water. And everyone goes through this stage. But when you already realize that you should not do this, it means that inside you have the inner strength not to scribble more.

Learn to write strongly. Learn to write thoughtfully. Do not hurry,

Some define the story by place and time. unity of place and time. THAT is what happens in a certain period of time and in a certain place. Then Joyce's "Ulysses" is a story, just stretched out.

But there are stories where this rule is not respected, and it's still a story.

Best of all, the story is determined by the volume of up to 45 sheets. Why this particular number?

Prose that is longer than 45 pages is already a story. And if there are several storylines- it's a novel.

Working on a story is like in a carpentry workshop.

Before you start creating a story, you need to think about its structure.

I use 5 elements for each story. Today I will share them briefly, but in the future there will be a whole article devoted to this component of the story.

1. Idea

What idea do I want to put into the story. For example

• The rabbit wants to live, but he is sent to the kitchen as the main course of the evening.
• Taking care of a woman is an honor for every man.
• Having children is happiness

That is, an idea is a simple belief that you want to uncover. Moreover, there may be two stories in which directly opposite ideas.

For example, the first story will be written by a loving husband: "Taking care of a woman is an honor for every man." And the second story will be written by a man who has just divorced, and his idea will be: "Women are the meanest creatures." That is why we love different authors - each has its own values.

1. Main conflict. A highlight that will move.

Let's take the second idea. Imagine that our male hero loves his wife. And she had an accident.

His reflections, his desires, thoughts, and most importantly, actions and help to his wife - this will be the body of the story. And the more difficult it is for his wife, the sharper the conflict.

1. Heroes. Features that I sympathize with, empathize with.

Young people are always in a hurry, headphones in their ears.

Old people are squeamish.

Businessmen are rich, dissatisfied with life.

This is a very simple and primitive view of life, and such stories look flat and read without interest.

Your characters must be interesting. Sit in a cafe for at least an hour. Will you meet at least two identical people there? One speaks loudly, the other is calm, the third has the habit of biting his nails. In the real world, we are all different.

So why do we make people monotonous and boring in the story.

1. Three-act structure + composition

All serious films and books usually have three main acts:

- tie. About 20% of the story.

- the development of the conflict. Here we present the main development of the conflict and the whole situation. Usually, on average, this is 60% of the story.

- decoupling. This is 20% of the total.

I will write more about this later, as promised, in one of the parts of the series.

1. climax

This is the main thing in any work. You can ideally think through and work out the entire structure of the book, and then blunt the ending and everything will be smudged.

It is after the climax and denouement that the aftertaste remains.

1. Strong syllable

Words that catch, which are interesting to read. Each successful author has his own style, which is felt.

You will see this in the examples of stories by Zoshchenko, Hemingway, Chekhov, which I am attaching as a bonus. And also in Zoshchenko's story, which you can read right in this article.

Examples of strong stories. Zoshchenko's story

Mikhail Zoshchenko is a master of small prose, short stories

In the application you will be able to download 3 short stories that I think are very strong.

And here I want to parse one story. It has everything - an idea, a structure, a strong style.

This is Mikhail Zoshchenko - master short stories that make you roll on the floor laughing.

HUMAN DEATH

It's over. Basta! No pity for people remained in my heart.
Yesterday, even before six o'clock in the evening, I sympathized and respected people, but now I cannot,
kids. Human ingratitude has reached the last point.
Yesterday, if you please, I suffered desperately for my pity for my neighbor and,
maybe even stand before a people's court in the near future.
Basta. My heart hardened. Let the neighbors no longer count on me.
And I was walking down the street yesterday. I was walking down the street yesterday and I saw that the people seemed to be standing, crowded near the gates. And someone desperately groans. And someone shakes his hands, And in general I see an incident. I'm coming. I ask what the noise is about.
- Yes, they say, one citizen broke his leg here. Can't walk now...
- Yes, I say, it's not up to walking.
I pushed the audience aside and I come closer to the place of action. And I see - some kind of little man really lies on the stove. His muzzle is desperately white and his leg in his trousers is broken. And he lies, a cordial friend, resting his head against the very pedestal and muttering:
- Like, rather slippery, citizens, I apologize. Walked and fell, of course. Leg is a thing
fragile.
My heart is hot, I have a lot of pity for people and I can’t see death at all.
person on the street.
. - Brothers, I say, yes, maybe he is a member of the union. It must be done nonetheless.
And, of course, I rush to the phone booth. I'm calling an ambulance. I say: a man's leg is broken, hurry to the address.
The carriage arrives. In white robes, four doctors descend from there. Disperse the audience and put the injured person on a stretcher.
By the way, I see that this man absolutely does not want to be put on a stretcher. He shoves all four doctors with the rest, with a healthy leg and does not allow himself to.
- Send you, he says, all four doctors back and forth. I, he says, may be in a hurry to go home.
And he himself a little, you know, does not cry.
- What, - I think, - for the confusion of the mind of a person.
And suddenly there was some confusion. And suddenly I hear - they call me.
- This, they say, uncle, did you call an ambulance?
- I say.
- Well, so, they say, you will have to answer through this to the fullest extent
revolutionary laws. Because in vain he called the carriage - the citizen has an artificial
leg broke off.
They wrote down my name and left.
And so that after this fact I would still upset my noble heart—no way! Let them kill a man in my eyes - I won’t believe it for anything. That's why - maybe they kill him for filming.
And in general I don’t believe anything now - the time is so incredible.

Without many words.

Idea there is.

Conflict- there is.

Style- gorgeous. I must say that in the 20s of the twentieth century there was a flowering of the story, Zoshchenko, Babel, Green appeared. And at the junction of jargon, prison vocabulary, military and colloquial, Zoshchenko's style appeared. As far as I'm concerned, it's brilliant.

Structure- there is. It doesn't matter if it's short or not.

Heroes- simple and understandable.

climax- unexpected

How to write a story. First conclusions

Writing a story is hard work. I like how Yuri Olesha, a writer of the 20-30s of the twentieth century, compared writing with mining work. Indeed, hellishly tired of thought processes. Sometimes I just want to exhale, then I take a book, sit on the balcony and read the hellish work of another. I am touched, especially when I see the serious efforts of other writers.

And by the end of this series, you will have all the necessary minimal arsenal to create a strong story.

And the promised gift: some of the best stories by Zoshchenko, Hemingway and Chekhov.

Briefly about me: Author of two blogs (and Words of Encouragement), head of the text studio “Word”. I have been writing since 1999, I have been earning money with texts since 2013. Let's be friends on social media.

Introduction

This course work gives an opportunity to in general terms get acquainted with the work of W.S. Maugham. In foreign literary criticism, interest in Maugham's work has not faded throughout the entire 20th century.

The object of the study is Maugham's stories. What can they have in common, and also what is their uniqueness. The first chapter does not refer to the writer's work, it describes the signs of a story, what can be considered a story, the genre and stylistic features of the story, whether the short story can be attributed to the story. In the second chapter, you can generally get acquainted with the biography of the prose writer. The third chapter is devoted to the stories of W.S. Moema, given summary some stories and analysis. How do periods of creativity differ, and on what basis can stories be ungrouped.

The subject of analysis is the genre and stylistic features of Maugham's stories and the elements of narration.

The relevance of this work lies in the pronounced individuality of the style of W.S. Maugham. The goal is to prove it, analyze the stories and tell about Maugham's personality.

Short story as a genre

Genre characteristics of a short story

Literary genres, like all social phenomena are subject to the laws of evolution. Therefore, the genres of literature will never be completely completed: they are in constant dialectical change, while maintaining certain genre features. Genre is a phenomenon so complex that it is impossible to define it even with a detailed definition. Genres merge, intersect, and in any genre there comes a turning point, the so-called "crisis of the genre", then involuntary changes occur. These changes are inevitable, they are caused by various reasons - historical, socio-political, artistic and others. These reasons determine the formation and development of each genre.

The story is a small form of epic prose, correlated with the story as a more detailed form of narration. It goes back to folklore genres (fairy tale, parable); how the genre became isolated in written literature; often indistinguishable from the novel, and from the 18th century. -- and an essay. Sometimes the short story and the essay are considered as polar varieties of the story.

First of all, we are interested in the question of the story as a holistic phenomenon, always changing in time, but at the same time stable. What are the characteristic features that distinguish the story from other types of literature? Literary scholars have been searching for an answer to this question for a long time. The problem of the genre specifics of the story was posed and solved in the works of I.A. Vinogradova, B.N. Eikhenbaum, V.B. Shklovsky, V. Goffenscheffer, and other critics back in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century.

Some literary critics classify the short story as a short story, while others classify the short story and the short story as genre varieties of short prose. I'm leaning towards last opinion, because the novel is characterized by tension and drama, main character struggles with something throughout history. So the short story is a small novel. In a story, there can only be a narrative, a description, and at the end of it some idea, a philosophical thought is heard, or the exclusivity of the hero or events is simply shown, while tension is not the goal, and the plot is not confused.

Thus, a story (especially a shorter one) is a modification of the genres of fable, fairy tale, legend, which are already outdated in style, and they were replaced by the so-called story. For example, from a historical point of view, Krylov's fables contain philosophical thoughts. In the fable "The Crow and the Fox" one can trace the idea of ​​flattery and the idea that flattery is deceitful and deceptive, that one should beware of it and not fall into its net, because. a person flatters for profit. In this case, the author uses the technique of allegory.

The roots of the story lie in folklore. Legend, anecdote, satire, song, proverb and other types folk art gave rise to fiction narrative (narrative) genre.

It was from folklore that writers also drew ways of realistic depiction of people, pictures of nature, images, themes and plots for their works. The story arose on the basis of the genres of oral folk art, became a convenient form of artistic reflection of reality and became widespread. Elements of the story were observed in ancient literature (II - IV century AD), but as a separate genre, the story was finally formed in the Renaissance. The Canterbury Tales by J. Chaucer in England were examples of the first works of the narrated genre, and Boccaccio's Decameron in Italy.

In the story, the material for ups and downs is the actions, actions of the characters. The elements of the composition are almost always located in a causal-logical sequence. Details are carefully selected, mostly the most striking characteristic ones, this creates laconicism. Its task is to show the object, the image in its uniqueness. The denouement of the story is a logical conclusion, which is the idea of ​​it all.

According to most literary critics, the main characteristic features of the story are as follows:

Small volume;

Image of one or more events;

clear conflict;

Brevity of presentation;

The law of selection of the protagonist from the environment of characters;

Disclosure of one dominant character trait;

One problem and the resulting unity of construction;

Limited number of characters;

Completeness and completeness of the story;

The presence of a dramatic structure.

Based on these features, we can derive a definition of the story.

Story - short narrative piece of art about one or more events in the life of a person or a group of people, which depicts typical pictures of life. Thus the story separates special case from life, a separate situation and gives them a high meaning. The main task of the narrator is to convey the event, the image, in its authentic uniqueness. A number of researchers see the genre difference of the story in the features of the image of the character: in the story it is static, that is, it does not change in actions and actions, but only reveals itself. Jack London, for example, said that "development is not inherent in the story, it is a feature of the novel."

The small size of the work entails the need to create material that is strictly limited in volume, ”the story keeps the author in strictness both compositional and stylistic.

A special role in creating a picture in a story is played by an artistic detail, i.e. particularly meaningful detail. It helps the author achieve maximum compression of the image.

Education

Genre story: features, history of development, examples. Is the story a genre of literature? Signs of a story as a genre

January 6, 2016

The short story genre is one of the most popular in literature. Many writers have turned to him and are turning to him. After reading this article, you will learn what are the features of the story genre, examples of the most famous works, as well as popular mistakes that authors make.

The story is one of the small literary forms. It is a small narrative work with a small number of characters. In this case, short-term events are displayed.

Brief history of the short story genre

V. G. Belinsky (his portrait is presented above) as early as 1840 distinguished the essay and the story as small prose genres from the story and the novel as larger ones. Already at this time in Russian literature the predominance of prose over verse was fully indicated.

A little later, in the second half of the 19th century, the essay received the broadest development in the democratic literature of our country. At this time, there was an opinion 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 in 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 genre of the story, it is necessary to highlight the patterns inherent in it. The first of these is the unity of time. In a story, the action time is always limited. However, not necessarily only one day, as in the works of the classicists. Although this rule is not always observed, it is rare to find stories in which the plot spans the entire life of the protagonist. Even rarer are works in this genre, the action of which 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, one can note "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (author - Leo Tolstoy) and "Darling" by Chekhov. It also happens that not all life is represented, but a long period of it. For example, Chekhov's "The Jumping Girl" depicts a number of significant events in the fate of the characters, their environment, and the difficult development of relationships between them. However, this is given extremely compacted, compressed. It is the conciseness of the content, greater than in the story, that is a common feature of the story and, perhaps, the only one.

Unity of action and place

There are other features of the short story genre that should be noted. The unity of time is closely connected and conditioned by another unity - action. A story is a genre of literature that should be limited to describing a single event. Sometimes one or two events become the main, meaning-forming, culminating events in it. Hence comes the unity of place. Usually the action takes place in one place. There may be not 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 is the unity of the character. As a rule, one main character acts in the space of a work of this genre. Occasionally there may be two, and very rarely - several. Concerning minor characters, there may be quite a lot of them, but they are purely functional. The story is a genre of literature in which the task of minor characters is limited to creating a background. They can interfere or help the main character, but no more. In the story "Chelkash" by Gorky, for example, there are only two characters. And in Chekhov's "I want to sleep" there is only one at all, which is impossible either in the story or in the novel.

Unity of the center

The features of the story as a genre, listed above, one way or another are reduced to the unity of the center. Indeed, a story cannot be imagined without some defining, central sign that "pulls together" all the others. It does not matter at all whether this center will be some static descriptive image, a climactic event, the development of the action itself, or a significant gesture of the character. main image should be in any story. It is through him that the whole composition is kept. It sets the theme of the work, determines the meaning of the story told.

The basic principle of building a story

It is not difficult to draw a conclusion from reflections on "unities". The idea suggests itself that the main principle of constructing the composition of a story is the expediency and economy of motives. Tomashevsky called the motive the smallest element of the structure of the text. It can be an action, a character or an event. This structure can no longer be decomposed into components. This means that the author's biggest sin is excessive detail, oversaturation of the text, a heap of details that can be omitted when developing this genre of work. The story should not go into detail.

It is necessary to describe only the most significant in order to avoid a common mistake. It is very characteristic, oddly enough, for people who are very conscientious about their works. They have a desire to express themselves to the maximum in each text. Young directors often do the same when they stage diploma films and performances. This is especially true for films, since the author's fantasy in this case is not limited to the text of the play.

Imaginative authors love to fill literary genre story with descriptive motives. For example, they depict how a pack of cannibal wolves is chasing the main character of the work. However, if dawn breaks, they will necessarily stop at the description of long shadows, dimmed stars, reddened clouds. The author seemed to admire nature and only then decided to continue the pursuit. The fantasy story genre gives maximum scope to the imagination, so avoiding this mistake is not at all easy.

The role of motives in the story

It must be emphasized that in the genre of interest to us, all motives should reveal the theme, work for meaning. For example, the gun described at the beginning of the work must certainly fire in the finale. Motives that lead to the side should not be included in the story. Or you need to look for images that outline the situation, but do not overly detail it.

Composition features

It should be noted that it is not necessary to adhere to traditional methods of constructing a literary text. Their violation can be effective. The story can be created almost on the same descriptions. But it is still impossible to do without action. The hero is simply obliged to at least raise his hand, take a step (in other words, make a significant gesture). Otherwise, it will turn out not a story, but a miniature, a sketch, a poem in prose. Another important feature of the genre we are interested in is a meaningful ending. For example, a novel can last forever, but the story is built differently.

Very often its ending is paradoxical and unexpected. It is with this that Lev Vygotsky associated the appearance of catharsis in the reader. Modern researchers (in particular, Patrice Pavie) consider catharsis as an emotional pulsation that appears as you read. However, the significance of the ending remains the same. The ending can radically change the meaning of the story, push to rethink what is stated in it. This must be remembered.

The place of the story in world literature

The story is an epic genre that occupies an important place in world literature. Gorky and Tolstoy turned to him both in the early and in the mature period of creativity. Chekhov's story is the main and favorite genre. Many stories have become classics and, along with major epic works (stories and novels), have entered the treasury of literature. Such, for example, are Tolstoy's stories "Three Deaths" and "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter", Chekhov's works "Darling" and "The Man in a Case", Gorky's stories "Old Woman Izergil", "Chelkash", etc.

Advantages of the short story over other genres

The genre we are interested in allows us to single out one or another typical case, one or another side of our life, with particular convexity. It makes it possible to depict them in such a way that the reader's attention is completely focused on them. For example, Chekhov, describing Vanka Zhukov with a letter "to the village of grandfather", full of childish despair, dwells in detail on the content of this letter. It will not reach its destination and because of this it becomes especially strong in terms of accusation. In the story "The Birth of a Man" by M. Gorky, the episode with the birth of a child that occurs on the road helps the author in revealing the main idea - affirming the value of life.

The short story genre is one of the most popular in literature. Many writers have turned to him and are turning to him. After reading this article, you will learn what are the features of the short story genre, examples of the most famous works, as well as popular mistakes that authors make.

The story is one of the small literary forms. It is a small narrative work with a small number of characters. In this case, short-term events are displayed.

Brief history of the short story genre

V. G. Belinsky (his portrait is presented above) as early as 1840 distinguished the essay and the story as small prose genres from the story and the novel as larger ones. Already at this time in Russian literature the predominance of prose over verse was fully indicated.

A little later, in the second half of the 19th century, the essay received the broadest development in the democratic literature of our country. At this time, there was an opinion 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 in 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 genre of the story, it is necessary to highlight the patterns inherent in it. The first of these is the unity of time. In a story, the action time is always limited. However, not necessarily only one day, as in the works of the classicists. Although this rule is not always observed, it is rare to find stories in which the plot spans the entire life of the protagonist. Even rarer are works in this genre, the action of which lasts for centuries. Usually the author depicts some episode from the life of his hero. Among the stories in which the whole fate of a character is revealed, one can note "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (author - Leo Tolstoy) and It also happens that not all life is represented, but its long period. For example, Chekhov's "The Jumping Girl" depicts a number of significant events in the fate of the characters, their environment, and the difficult development of relationships between them. However, this is given extremely compacted, compressed. It is the conciseness of the content, greater than in the story, that is a common feature of the story and, perhaps, the only one.

Unity of action and place

There are other features of the short story genre that should be noted. The unity of time is closely connected and conditioned by another unity - action. A story is a genre of literature that should be limited to describing a single event. Sometimes one or two events become the main, meaning-forming, culminating events in it. Hence comes the unity of place. Usually the action takes place in one place. There may be not 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 is the unity of the character. As a rule, one main character acts in the space of a work of this genre. Occasionally there may be two, and very rarely - several. As for the secondary characters, there can be quite a lot of them, but they are purely functional. The story is a genre of literature in which the task of minor characters is limited to creating a background. They can interfere or help the main character, but no more. In the story "Chelkash" by Gorky, for example, there are only two characters. And in Chekhov's "I want to sleep" there is only one at all, which is impossible either in the story or in the novel.

Unity of the center

Like the genres listed above, one way or another are reduced to the unity of the center. Indeed, a story cannot be imagined without some defining, central sign that "pulls together" all the others. It does not matter at all whether this center will be some static descriptive image, a climactic event, the development of the action itself, or a significant gesture of the character. The main image should be in any story. It is through him that the whole composition is kept. It sets the theme of the work, determines the meaning of the story told.

The basic principle of building a story

It is not difficult to draw a conclusion from reflections on "unities". The idea suggests itself that the main principle of constructing the composition of a story is the expediency and economy of motives. Tomashevsky called the motive the smallest element. It can be an action, a character or an event. This structure can no longer be decomposed into components. This means that the author's biggest sin is excessive detail, oversaturation of the text, a heap of details that can be omitted when developing this genre of work. The story should not go into detail.

It is necessary to describe only the most significant in order to avoid a common mistake. It is very characteristic, oddly enough, for people who are very conscientious about their works. They have a desire to express themselves to the maximum in each text. Young directors often do the same when they stage diploma films and performances. This is especially true for films, since the author's fantasy in this case is not limited to the text of the play.

Imaginative authors love to fill the story with descriptive motifs. For example, they depict how a pack of cannibal wolves is chasing the main character of the work. However, if dawn breaks, they will necessarily stop at the description of long shadows, dimmed stars, reddened clouds. The author seemed to admire nature and only then decided to continue the pursuit. The fantasy story genre gives maximum scope to the imagination, so avoiding this mistake is not at all easy.

The role of motives in the story

It must be emphasized that in the genre of interest to us, all motives should reveal the theme, work for meaning. For example, the gun described at the beginning of the work must certainly fire in the finale. Motives that lead to the side should not be included in the story. Or you need to look for images that outline the situation, but do not overly detail it.

Composition features

It should be noted that it is not necessary to adhere to traditional methods of constructing a literary text. Their violation can be effective. The story can be created almost on the same descriptions. But it is still impossible to do without action. The hero is simply obliged to at least raise his hand, take a step (in other words, make a significant gesture). Otherwise, it will turn out not a story, but a miniature, a sketch, a poem in prose. Another important feature of the genre we are interested in is a meaningful ending. For example, a novel can last forever, but the story is built differently.

Very often its ending is paradoxical and unexpected. It was with this that he associated the appearance of catharsis in the reader. Modern researchers (in particular, Patrice Pavie) consider catharsis as an emotional pulsation that appears as you read. However, the significance of the ending remains the same. The ending can radically change the meaning of the story, push to rethink what is stated in it. This must be remembered.

The place of the story in world literature

The story - which occupies an important place in world literature. Gorky and Tolstoy turned to him both in the early and in the mature period of creativity. Chekhov's story is the main and favorite genre. Many stories have become classics and, along with major epic works (stories and novels), have entered the treasury of literature. Such, for example, are Tolstoy's stories "Three Deaths" and "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter", Chekhov's works "Darling" and "The Man in a Case", Gorky's stories "Old Woman Izergil", "Chelkash", etc.

Advantages of the short story over other genres

The genre we are interested in allows us to single out one or another typical case, one or another side of our life, with particular convexity. It makes it possible to depict them in such a way that the reader's attention is completely focused on them. For example, Chekhov, describing Vanka Zhukov with a letter "to the village of grandfather", full of childish despair, dwells in detail on the content of this letter. It will not reach its destination and because of this it becomes especially strong in terms of accusation. In the story "The Birth of a Man" by M. Gorky, the episode with the birth of a child that occurs on the road helps the author in revealing the main idea - affirming the value of life.

Literary art has a large number of means of conveying the intention of the author. At the same time, the genre of the work plays a certain role in expressing the author's intention, since the choice of the genre of the work determines its structure, the features of the use of language means, the process of creating characters' images, the expression of the author's attitude to the events and characters presented, etc. All the variety of epic genres in literature can be classified on the basis of volume and the following forms can be distinguished: large (novel), medium (story, short story) and small (story). This paper considers only a small form of the epic genre - a story.

The concept of "story" can be given the following definition: A story is a small prose (occasionally poetic) genre, correlated with a story, as a more detailed form of epic narration. [encyclopedia].

N. A. Gulyaev (N. A. Gulyaev. Theory of Literature. - M., graduate School, 1985.) gives such an interpretation of the concept of "story": Story-small epic form. It differs in a smaller volume, it is focused on the image of a single event, often in the life of one person, revealing one of his traits. One-sidedness, one-sidedness - characteristics short story as a genre. Usually, the narrator explores the situation in which the hero is at his best. The story is usually based on some individual case from life, a story that is characterized by “isolation” (it has a beginning and an end). The features of the revealed event or human character are quite fully presented in it. The story requires the greatest skill from the writer, the ability to fit a lot into a small space. The originality of the small epic form, therefore, lies in the exceptional brevity of presentation, compression, artistic richness.

F. M. Golovenchenko gives the following definition of the concept of "story": a story is a short narrative work depicting a bright event, a social or psychological conflict and the characters associated with it. This form of the epic genre is most commonly used in literature, as it allows the most active intervention in life. The story represents a particular period in someone's life, beginning long before the story is told and continuing long after the story is over. This period of life must necessarily be bright, characteristic of those conditions, that environment, those people whom the author intends to introduce to the reader.

The story can touch on a wide variety of spiritual and spiritual issues. public life, but in force genre features deprived of the opportunity to provide the many-sided and broad picture of life that big form of the epic genre (novel, poem, story). This form of the epic genre is characterized by such character traits as the brevity and intensity of the narrative, the absence of side digressions, the utmost brevity, the swiftness of the plot, the completion of a spectacular ending. Usually there is little in the story actors, and each of them is outlined only in the most essential features for resolving the ideological and artistic conception. In addition, the details and detail that are needed in the larger forms of the epic genre are not allowed. The characters here are not given in development: each person appears already formed and is revealed from any one side; in the same way, events are taken such that unfold over a short period of time.

Stories can be divided, according to F. M. Golovenchenko, depending on the leading motive into everyday, adventurous, social or psychological. However, it is not always possible to find stories of only one of the named types. Most often, elements of psychologism, adventurism and everyday life are intertwined. Then the character of the story is determined by the dominant motive.

However, in literary criticism, the story is opposed to other epic forms. There is a so-called story problem. On the one hand, the possibility of correlating the story, in contrast to both the short story and the story, with both of these “simple” genres, which are considered the sources and prototypes of the named middle forms. On the other hand, the story should be correlated - through the story - with the novel.

There are several criteria for distinguishing between genres. [Tamarchenko's theory of literature]

1) "Small form" as a criterion. On the one hand, the difference in the volume of texts is a convincing criterion for distinguishing between the genres of the story and the story. In accordance with the above criterion, it is easier to identify a story than a story: for this, an approximate idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe boundary to which the volume of text can be considered minimal is sufficient. For example, in the Western scientific tradition, where much more attention is paid to the volume of the text, it is customary in the definition of a story (it is no coincidence that this form is called “short story”, “Kurzgeschichte”) include indications of the number of words: “a short realistic narrative” should contain less than 10,000 words. . (Shaw H. Dictionary of Literary Terms. - N. Y., 1972. - P. 343) The length of the text is an important but insufficient criterion. The division of the text into chapters or the absence of such a division should also be taken into account. This moment is more obviously connected with the content: with the number of events and episodes. But in relation to episodes and events, the quantitative approach must become more differentiated and must be combined with qualitative criteria. When we are talking not only about the elements of the text, but also about the work. Two aspects stand out here: the “objective” plan of the image (Thursabout depicted: the event, the space and time in which it occurs) and the “subjective” plan (who depicts the event and with what forms of speech). Friedman N. points out that a story can be short because its action is small, or because its action, being large, is reduced in volume using selection, scale, or point of view techniques. (quoted from: Smirnov I.P. On the meaning of brevity // Russian short story: Problems of history and theory: collection of articles. - St. Petersburg, 1993. - P. 5.)

As Smirnov I.P. showed, the minimum of events in a short story is not one, but two, since artistry, no matter what genre form it takes, is based on parallelism (on equivalence). (Smirnov IP On the meaning of brevity. - p. 6) A similar principle also exists in the story and in the novel. However, outside of small form In addition to the main “parallel” events, there are others that duplicate or vary this parallelism.

To the subject planepisode , i.e., that part of the text where the same place and time of action and a set of actors are preserved, in addition to the event, the spatio-temporal conditions for its commission are included. It should be emphasized that without an analysis of these conditions, the event composition of the action may not be clear. According to N. D. Tamarchenko, at least subject matter content, which is inherent in the "small form", consists of two principles: two spatio-temporal spheres, on the boundaries of which an event takes place, i.e. moving a character across a border semantic field. (Lotman Yu. M. The structure of a literary text. - M., 1970. - P. 282) Outside the "small form" - in the story and the novel - a greater number of scenes of action is possible. But their correlation with each other is formed aroundmain opposition and diversevaries his.

In addition, the subjective plan of each episode is created by a certain complex of compositional forms of speech, which always has two poles: the speech of the depicting subject (narrator or narrator) and the speech of the characters. In this case, the number of episodes is determined by whether the authorvary ratio main points of view:representing and depicting (external and internal), i.e. whether the idea of ​​binary is realized. Thus, J. Van der Eng tried to extend the idea of ​​binarity to all aspects of the “small form” structure. He says that it is characterized by a cross-cutting combination of two so-called "variation series" of motives of "action, characteristics and environment": "integral" and "dispersed". (Van der Eng J. The art of the short story. The formation of variation series as a fundamental principle of narrative construction // Russian short story: Problems of history and theory. - P. 197 - 200)

Based on the foregoing, the specifics of the small form can be determined in the following way: the volume of the text is sufficient to implement the principle of binary in the main aspects of the artistic whole - in the organization of space-time and the plot and in the subjective structure materialized in the compositional forms of speech. At the same time, the volume is minimal in the sense that this principle is implemented everywhere in a single variant.

One more concept of "small form" should also be pointed out. According to quantitative criteria, this concept leaves aside the question ofstructural differences between short stories and short stories . The existing definitions of the concept of "story" either do not clearly distinguish it from the short story, or this distinction is based on an explicit or implicit convergence of the story with the story. Wilpert G. (von Sachwörtebuch der Literatur) gives the following definition of the concept of “story”: “... a special genre, a short epic prose intermediate form between a short story, an essay and an anecdote, characterized by a purposeful, linear, concise and conscious composition aimed at an inevitable solution (calculated to the end), which has the purpose of shaking or bringing ruin to life, or opening an exit. A similar definition is given by Shaw H. (Dictionary of Literatury Terms. P. 343): “In a story, attention is focused on one character in one specific situation at a specific moment. ... Dramatic conflict - the confrontation of opposing forces - is at the center of any story. Another definition in which the story is similar to the short story can be found in Kozhinov V. (Story // Dictionary literary terms. - M., 1974. - S. 309 - 310): “The novel and the story are distinguished as a narrative with a sharp, distinct plot, intense action (novella) and, on the contrary, an epic calm narrative with a naturally developing plot (story)”). From the same position, Sierowinski S. (Slownik terminow litreackich. - Wroclaw, 1966. - S. 177) considers the concept of "story": "an epic work of small size, which differs from the short story in the greater prevalence and arbitrariness of compositions." However, such a convergence of the story with the story and the short story naturally leads to the removal of the story beyond the "small form" - unlike the short story, it reveals an "expansion" of the volume of the text due to "non-fable elements": "the story in this case allows for greater authorial freedom of narration, expansion of descriptive, ethnographic, psychological, subjective-evaluative elements ... ”(Ninov A. Story // KLE. T.6. - Pt. 190 - 193) Thus, in order to understand the genre specifics of the story, it is necessary to oppose it to the short story, while remaining in within the "small form". At present, this problem has no solution, although this question has long been raised in an article by K. Locks: “While the Italian novel of the Renaissance ... is a solid literary genre ... this cannot be said about the “story”. … All these considerations force us to begin the definition of the term “story” not from its theoretically and abstractly established type, but rather from a general manner, which we will designate asspecial tone of the story, giving it the features of a "story". ... The tone of storytelling presupposes ... strict factuality, economy (sometimes consciously calculated) of visual means, immediate preparation of the main essence of what is being told. The story, on the contrary, uses the means of slow tonality - it is all filled with detailed motivation, side accessories, and its essence can be distributed at all points of the story itself with almost uniform tension. story. Its relatively small volume, which they tried to legitimize as one of the signs, is entirely due to these basic properties. (Locks K. Story // Literary encyclopedia. Dictionary of literary terms: In 2 vols. - Vol. 1. - P. 693 - 695) However, in this work there is also a focus on identifying common features of the prosaic "small form"; the center of tension of the story is in no way delimited from the novelistic center of tension.

In addition to the scope of the work important role in determining the form of the work play artistic tasks. The novella creates a new vision of the everyday situation, but lessons are never learned from it (as from an anecdote). The accentuated rethinking of the plot of the story in the final event, separated from the main story, gives the entire story told a teaching meaning. This feature arises from the use of parable elements in the story - rethinking in the final of the results of the central event - tests, their evaluation. As a rule, the final meaning of the story is an open situation of the reader's choice between an "anecdotal" interpretation of everything told and its "parable" perception as an example of a temporary deviation from the universal law and subsequent internal merging with it. Such duality and incompleteness characterizes in general the semantic structure of the story as a genre.