Short literary genre. Types of genres of literary works

Literary genera and literary genres are a powerful means of ensuring the unity and continuity of the literary process. They relate to the characteristic features of the narrative, plot, author's position and the relationship of the narrator with the reader.

V. G. Belinsky is considered the founder of Russian literary criticism, but even in antiquity, Aristotle made a serious contribution to the concept of literary gender, which Belinsky later scientifically substantiated.

So, types of literature are called numerous sets of artistic works (texts), which differ in the type of relationship of the speaker to the artistic whole. There are 3 types:

• Epic;
• Lyrics;
• Drama.

Epic as a type of literature aims to tell in as much detail as possible about an object, phenomenon or event, the circumstances associated with them, and the conditions of existence. The author seems to be detached from what is happening and acts as a storyteller. The main thing in the text is the narrative itself.

The lyrics have the goal of telling not so much about events, but about the impressions and feelings that the author has experienced and is experiencing. The main thing will be the image of the inner world and soul of a person. Impressions and experiences are the main events of the lyrics. Poetry dominates this type of literature.

Drama tries to depict an object in action and show it on a theatrical stage, to present what is described surrounded by other phenomena. The author's text is visible here only in stage directions - brief explanations of the characters' actions and remarks. Sometimes the author’s position is reflected by a special character-reasoner.

Each type of literature includes several genres.

Literary genres

A genre is a group of works united by historically characteristic common features of form and content. Genres include novel, poem, short story, epigram and many others.

However, between the concepts of “genre” and “genus” there is an intermediate one - type. It is a less broad concept than gender, but broader than genre. Although sometimes the term “type” is identified with the term “genre”. If we distinguish between these concepts, then the novel will be considered a type of fiction, and its varieties (dystopian novel, adventure novel, fantasy novel) will be considered genres.

Example: genus - epic, type - story, genre - Christmas story.

Types of literature and their genres, table.

Modern literary scholars distinguish 4 types of literature - lyroepic (lyroepos). The poem belongs to it. On the one hand, the poem talks about the feelings and experiences of the main character, and on the other hand, it describes the history, events, and circumstances in which the hero finds himself.

The poem has a plot-narrative organization; it describes many experiences of the main character. The main feature is the presence, along with a clearly structured storyline, of multiple lyrical digressions or drawing attention to the character’s inner world.

The lyric-epic genre includes the ballad. It has an unusual, dynamic and extremely tense plot. It is characterized by a poetic form, a story in verse. May be historical, heroic or mythical in nature. The plot is often borrowed from folklore.

The text of an epic work is strictly plot-based, focused on events, characters and circumstances. It is built on storytelling, not experience. The events described by the author are separated from him, as a rule, by a large period of time, which allows him to be impartial and objective. The author's position can be manifested in lyrical digressions. However, in purely epic works they are absent.

Events are described in the past tense. The narration is unhurried, unhurried, measured. The world seems complete and fully known. Lots of detailed details, great thoroughness.

Major epic genres

An epic novel can be a work that covers a long period in history, describes many characters, with intertwining storylines. Has a large volume. The novel is the most popular genre these days. Most of the books on bookstore shelves are in the romance genre.

The story is classified either as a small or medium genre, focusing on one storyline, on the fate of a specific hero.

Minor genres of epic

The story embodies small literary genres. This is the so-called intensive prose, which, due to its small volume, lacks detailed descriptions, enumeration and an abundance of details. The author is trying to convey a specific idea to the reader, and the entire text is aimed at revealing this idea.

The stories are characterized by the following features:

• Small volume.
• The plot centers on a specific event.
• A small number of heroes - 1, maximum 2-3 central characters.
• It has a specific topic to which the entire text is devoted.
• It has the goal of answering a specific question; the rest are secondary and, as a rule, are not disclosed.

Nowadays, it is almost impossible to determine what is a story and what is a novella, even though these genres have completely different origins. At the dawn of its appearance, the novella was a short, dynamic work with an entertaining plot, accompanied by anecdotal situations. There was no psychologism in it.

An essay is a genre of non-fiction literature based on real facts. However, very often an essay can be called a story and vice versa. There won't be much mistake here.

In a literary fairy tale, a fairy-tale narrative is stylized; it often reflects the mood of the entire society and expresses some political ideas.

Lyrics are subjective. Addressed to the inner world of the hero or the author himself. This type of literature is characterized by emotional interest and psychologism. The plot fades into the background. What is important is not the events and phenomena themselves, but the hero’s relationship to them, how they influence him. Often events reflect the state of the character's inner world. The lyrics have a completely different attitude towards time, it seems as if it doesn’t exist, and all events take place exclusively in the present.

Lyrical genres

The main genres of poems, the list of which goes on:

• Ode is a solemn poem that aims to praise and exalt
• hero (historical figure).
• Elegy is a poetic work with sadness as the dominant mood, representing a reflection on the meaning of life against the backdrop of a landscape.
• Satire is a caustic and accusatory work; the epigram is classified as a poetic satirical genre.
• An epitaph is a short work of poetry written on the occasion of the death of someone. Often becomes an inscription on a tombstone.
• Madrigal is a short message to a friend, usually containing a hymn.
• The epithalamus is a wedding hymn.
• An epistle is a verse written in the form of a letter, implying openness.
• A sonnet is a strict poetic genre that requires strict adherence to form. Consists of 14 lines: 2 quatrains and 2 tercets.

To understand drama, it is important to understand the source and nature of its conflict. Drama always aims at direct representation; dramatic works are written for performance on stage. The only means of revealing the character of a hero in a drama is his speech. The hero seems to live in the spoken word, which reflects his entire inner world.

The action in a drama (play) develops from the present to the future. Although events occur in the present time, they are not completed, they are directed towards the future. Since dramatic works are aimed at staging them on stage, each of them involves entertainment.

Dramatic works

Tragedy, comedy and farce are genres of drama.

At the center of classical tragedy is an irreconcilable eternal conflict that is inevitable. Often a tragedy ends with the death of heroes who were unable to resolve this conflict, but death is not a genre-defining factor, since it can be present in both comedy and drama.

Comedy is characterized by a humorous or satirical depiction of reality. The conflict is specific and, as a rule, can be resolved. There is a comedy of characters and a comedy of situations. They differ in the source of comedy: in the first case, the situations in which the heroes find themselves are funny, and in the second, the heroes themselves are funny. Often these 2 types of comedy overlap with each other.

Modern dramaturgy gravitates towards genre modifications. A farce is a deliberately comic work in which attention is focused on comic elements. Vaudeville is a light comedy with a simple plot and a clearly visible author's style.

There is no way to define drama as a kind of literature and drama as a literary genre. In the second case, drama is characterized by an acute conflict, which is less global, irreconcilable and insoluble than a tragic conflict. The work centers on the relationship between man and society. The drama is realistic and close to life.

Genre is a type of meaningful form that determines the integrity of a literary work, which is determined by the unity of theme, composition and style; a historically established group of literary works, united by a set of characteristics of content and form.

Genre in literature

In the artistic structure, the category of genre is a modification of the literary type; a species, in turn, is a type of literary genus. There is another approach to the generic connection: – genre – genre variety, modification or form; in some cases it is proposed to distinguish only gender and genre.
The belonging of genres to traditional literary genres (epic, lyric, drama, lyric-epic) determines their content and thematic focus.

Genre in ancient literature

In ancient literature, the genre was an ideal artistic norm. Ancient ideas about genre norms were focused primarily on poetic forms; prose was not taken into account, as it was considered trivial reading. Poets often followed the artistic models of their predecessors, trying to surpass the pioneers of the genre. Ancient Roman literature relied on the poetic experience of ancient Greek authors. Virgil (1st century BC) continued the epic tradition of Homer (8th century BC), since the Aeneid is focused on the Odyssey and the Iliad. Horace (1st century BC) owns odes written in the manner of the ancient Greek poets Arion (VII–VI centuries BC) and Pindar (VI–V centuries BC). Seneca (1st century BC) developed dramatic art, reviving the work of Aeschylus (6th–5th centuries BC) and Euripides (5th century BC).

The origins of the systematization of genres go back to the treatises of Aristotle “Poetics” and Horace “The Science of Poetry”, in which a genre denoted a set of artistic norms, their natural and fixed system, and the author’s goal was considered to correspond to the properties of the chosen genre. The understanding of genre as a constructed model of a work led to the subsequent emergence of a number of normative poetics, including dogmas and laws of poetry.

Renewal of the European genre system in the 11th–17th centuries

The European genre system began its renewal in the Middle Ages. In the 11th century New lyrical genres of troubadour poets arose (serenades, albums), and later the genre of the medieval novel arose (knightly novels about King Arthur, Lancelot, Tristan and Isolde). In the XIV century. Italian poets had a significant influence on the development of new genres: Dante Alighieri wrote the poem “The Divine Comedy” (1307–1321), combining narrative and the genre of vision, Francesco Petrarch approved the genre of the sonnet (“Book of Songs,” 1327–1374), Giovanni Boccaccio canonized the short story genre (Decameron, 1350–1353). At the turn of the 16th–17th centuries. genre varieties of drama were expanded by the English poet and playwright W. Shakespeare, whose famous plays - “Hamlet” (1600–1601), “King Lear” (1608), “Macbeth” (1603–1606) - contain themselves have the characteristics of tragedy and comedy and are classified as tragicomedies.

Code and hierarchy of genres in classicism

The most complete, systematic and significant set of genre norms was formed in the 17th century. with the appearance of the poem-treatise of the French poet Nicolas Boileau-Depreo “The Poetic Art” (1674). The essay defines the genre system of classicism, regulated by reason, a generally understandable style, with the division of literary genres into epic, dramatic, and lyrical genres. The structure of the canonical genres of classicism goes back to ancient forms and images.

The literature of classicism was characterized by a strict hierarchy of genres, dividing them into high (ode, epic, tragedy) and low (fable, satire, comedy). Mixing genre characteristics was not allowed.

Genres of literary aesthetics of romanticism

Literature of the Romantic era in the 18th century. did not obey the canons of classicism, as a result of which the traditional genre system lost its advantage. In the context of a change in literary trends, deviations from the rules of normative poetics, a rethinking of classical genres occurs, as a result of which some of them ceased to exist, while others, on the contrary, became entrenched.

At the turn of the 18th–19th centuries. at the center of the literary aesthetics of romanticism were lyrical genres - ode (“Ode to the Capture of Khotin” by M. Lomonosov, 1742; “Felitsa” by G. R. Derzhavin, 1782, “Ode to Joy” by F. Schiller, 1785 .), romantic poem (“Gypsies” by A. S. Pushkin, 1824), ballad (“Lyudmila” (1808), “Svetlana” (1813) by V. A. Zhukovsky), elegy (“Rural cemetery" by V. A. Zhukovsky, 1808); Comedy prevailed in the drama (“Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov, 1825).

Prose genres flourished: the epic novel, the story, the short story. The most widespread type of epic literature of the 19th century. was considered a novel, which was called the “eternal genre.” The novels of Russian writers L. N. Tolstoy (“War and Peace,” 1865–1869; “Anna Karenina,” 1875–1877; “Resurrection,” 1899) and F. M. had a significant influence on the European epic. Dostoevsky (“Crime and Punishment”, 1866; “The Idiot”, 1868; “Demons”, 1871–1872; “The Brothers Karamazov”, 1879–1880).

Formation of genres in literature of the twentieth century

The formation of mass literature in the twentieth century, its need for stable thematic, compositional and stylistic prescriptions led to the formation of a new system of genres, based primarily on the “absolute center of the genre system of literature” according to the Russian scientist M. M. Bakhtin - the novel.
Within popular literature, new genres have emerged: romance novel, sentimental novel, crime novel (action, thriller), dystopian novel, anti-novel, science fiction, fantasy, etc.

Modern literary genres are not part of a predetermined structure; they arise as a result of the embodiment of author's ideas in verbal and artistic works.

The origins of the appearance of genre varieties

The appearance of genre varieties can be associated both with a literary direction, movement, school - a romantic poem, a classicist ode, a symbolist drama, etc., and with the names of individual authors who introduced genre-stylistic forms of the artistic whole into literary circulation (Pindaric ode , Byron's poem, Balzac's novel, etc.), forming traditions, and this means the possibility of different types of assimilation (imitation, stylization, etc.).

The word genre comes from French genre, which means genus, species.

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  Since the time of Aristotle, who gave the first systematization of literary genres in his “Poetics,” the idea has become stronger that literary genres represent a natural, once and for all fixed system, and the author’s task is only to achieve the most complete compliance of his work with the essential properties of the chosen genre. This understanding of the genre - as a ready-made structure presented to the author - led to the emergence of a whole series of normative poetics containing instructions for authors regarding exactly how an ode or tragedy should be written; The pinnacle of this type of work is Boileau’s treatise “Poetic Art” (). This does not mean, of course, that the system of genres as a whole and the characteristics of individual genres really remained unchanged for two thousand years - however, the changes (and very significant ones) were either not noticed by theorists, or were interpreted by them as damage, a deviation from the necessary models. And only by the end of the 18th century, the decomposition of the traditional genre system, associated, in accordance with the general principles of literary evolution, both with intraliterary processes and with the influence of completely new social and cultural circumstances, went so far that normative poetics could no longer describe and curb literary reality.

  Under these conditions, some traditional genres began to rapidly die out or become marginalized, while others, on the contrary, moved from the literary periphery to the very center of the literary process. And if, for example, the rise of the ballad at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, associated in Russia with the name of Zhukovsky, turned out to be quite short-lived (although in Russian poetry it then gave an unexpected new surge in the first half of the 20th century - for example, in Bagritsky and Nikolai Tikhonov, - and then at the beginning of the 21st century with Maria Stepanova, Fyodor Swarovsky and Andrei Rodionov), then the hegemony of the novel - a genre that normative poets for centuries did not want to notice as something low and insignificant - dragged on in European literature for at least a century. Works of a hybrid or undefined genre nature began to develop especially actively: plays about which it is difficult to say whether they are a comedy or a tragedy, poems for which it is impossible to give any genre definition, except that it is a lyrical poem. The decline of clear genre identifications was also manifested in deliberate authorial gestures aimed at destroying genre expectations: from Laurence Sterne’s novel “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman,” which ends in mid-sentence, to N. V. Gogol’s “Dead Souls,” where the subtitle is paradoxical for a prose text the poem can hardly fully prepare the reader for the fact that he will now and then be knocked out of the rather familiar rut of a picaresque novel by lyrical (and sometimes epic) digressions.

  In the 20th century, literary genres were particularly strongly influenced by the separation of mass literature from literature focused on artistic exploration. Mass literature has once again felt an urgent need for clear genre prescriptions that significantly increase the predictability of the text for the reader, making it easy to navigate through it. Of course, the previous genres were not suitable for mass literature, and it quite quickly formed a new system, which was based on the genre of the novel, which was very flexible and had accumulated a lot of varied experience. At the end of the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th, the detective and police novels, science fiction and ladies' (“pink”) novels took shape. It is not surprising that contemporary literature, aimed at artistic search, sought to deviate as far as possible from the mass literature and therefore moved away from genre definition quite consciously. But since the extremes converge, the desire to be further from genre predetermination sometimes led to new genre formation: for example, the French anti-novel did not want to be a novel so much that the main works of this literary movement, represented by such original authors as Michel Butor and Nathalie Sarraute, are clearly observed signs of a new genre. Thus, modern literary genres (and we already encounter this assumption in the thoughts of M. M. Bakhtin) are not elements of any predetermined system: on the contrary, they arise as points of concentration of tension in one place or another of the literary space in accordance with artistic tasks , here and now put forward by this circle of authors, and can be defined as “a stable thematically, compositionally and stylistically type of statement.” Special study of such new genres remains a matter for tomorrow.

  Typology of literary genres

  A literary work can be classified as one or another genre according to various criteria. Below are some of these criteria and examples of genres.

  Hierarchy of genres in classicism

  Classicism, for example, also establishes a strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high(ode, tragedy, epic) and low(comedy, satire, fable). Each genre has strictly defined characteristics, the mixing of which is not allowed.

  see also

  Notes

  Literature

  • Darwin M. N., Magomedova D. M., Tyupa V. I., Tamarchenko N. D. Theory of literary genres / Tamarchenko N.D. - M.: Academy, 2011. - 256 p. - (Higher professional education. Bachelor's degree). - ISBN 978-5-7695-6936-4.
  • Genre as a reading tool / Kozlov V.I. - Rostov-on-Don: Innovative humanitarian projects, 2012. - 234 p. - ISBN 978-5-4376-0073-3.
  • Lozinskaya E. V. Genre // Western literary criticism of the 20th century. Encyclopedia / Tsurganova E. A. - INION RAS: Intrada, 2004. - P. 145-148. - 560 s. - ISBN 5-87604-064-9.
  • Leiderman N. L. Genre theory. Research and analysis / Lipovetsky M. N., Ermolenko S. I. - Ekaterinburg: Ural State Pedagogical University, 2010. - 904 p. - ISBN 978-5-9042-0504-1.
  • Smirnov I. P. Literary time. (Hypo) theory of literary genres. - M.: Publishing House of the Russian Christian Humanitarian Academy, 2008. - 264 p. - ISBN 978-5-88812-256-3.
  • Tamarchenko N. D. Genre // Literary encyclopedia of terms and concepts / Nikolyukin A. N. - INION RAS: Intelvac, 2001. - pp. 263-265. - 1596 p. - ISBN 5-93264-026-Х.
  • Todorov Ts. Introduction to fantastic literature. - M.: House of Intellectual Books, 1999. - 144 p. - ISBN 5-7333-0435-9.
  • Freidenberg O. M. Poetics of plot and genre. - M.: Labyrinth, 1997. - 450 p. - ISBN 5-8760-4108-4.
  • Schaeffer J.-M. What is a literary genre? - M.: Editorial URSS, 2010. - ISBN 9785354013241.
  • Chernets L.V. Literary genres (problems of typology and poetics). - M.: MSU Publishing House, 1982.
  • Chernyak V. D., Chernyak M. A. Genres of mass literature, Formula of mass literature// Mass literature in concepts and terms. - Science, Flint, 2015. - P. 50, 173-174. - 193 p. -

  The main genres of literature are groups of works that are identical formally and in style of presentation. Even in the time of Aristotle, literature was divided into genres; evidence of this is the Greek philosopher’s “Poetics,” a treatise on literary evolution written three hundred years before the birth of Christ.

  in literature?

  Literature dates back to biblical times; people have always written and read. containing at least some text is already literature, for what is written is a person’s thoughts, a reflection of his desires and aspirations. Reports, petitions, and church texts were written in abundance, and thus the first literary genre appeared - birch bark. With the development of writing, the genre of chronicle arose. Most often, what was written already bore some literary characteristics, elegant figures of speech, and figurative allegories.

  The next genre of literature was epics, epic tales about heroes and other heroes of historical subjects. Religious literature, descriptions of biblical events, and the lives of the highest clergy can be considered separate.

  The advent of printing in the 16th century marked the beginning of the rapid development of literature. Throughout the 17th century, styles and genres were formed.

  

  18th century literature

  To the question of what genres are, one can answer unequivocally that the literature of that time is conditionally divided into three main directions: drama, storytelling and poetic verses. Dramatic works often took the form of tragedy, when the heroes of the plot died, and the struggle between good and evil became increasingly deadly. Alas, the conditions of the literary market dictated its terms even then. The genre of calm storytelling also found its reader. Novels, novellas and short stories were considered the “middle level”, while tragedies, poems and odes belonged to the “high” genre of literature, and satirical works, fables and comedies - to the “low”.

  Virshi is a primitive form of poetry that was in use at balls, social events and other events of the highest metropolitan nobility. Poems in the verse genre had signs of syllogistics; the verse was divided into rhythmic segments. The mechanical style, deadly for real poetry, dictated fashion for a long time.

  

  Literature19-20 centuries

  The literature of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th is distinguished by several genres, most in demand in the golden Pushkin-Gogol age, and then in the silver age of Alexander Blok and Sergei Yesenin. Drama, epic and lyricism - these are the genres in the literature of the past and the centuries before last.

  The lyrics had to have an emotional connotation, be meaningful and purposeful. Its categories were ode and elegy, and ode - with enthusiastic surprise, glorification and elevation to the rank of heroes.

  The lyrical elegy was built on the principle of the sad tonality of the verse, sadness, as a result of the hero’s experiences, regardless of what was the cause - or the disharmony of the universe.

  

  What are genres in modern literature?

  There are quite a lot of genres in modern literature, among them the most popular ones, in demand by a wide readership, can be identified:

  • Tragedy is a type of literary drama genre, characterized by extreme emotional tension, with the obligatory death of the heroes.
  • Comedy is another type of drama genre, the opposite of tragedy, with a funny plot and a happy ending.
  • The fairy tale genre is a literary direction for children and their creative development. There are many literary masterpieces in the genre.
  • Epic is a literary genre of a historical sense, describes individual events of past times in the style of heroism, and is distinguished by a large number of characters.
  • The novel genre is an extensive narrative, with several storylines, describing in detail the life of each character individually and all together, and is distinguished by a penchant for analyzing current events.
  • The story is a genre of medium form, written according to the same scheme as the novel, but in a more condensed context. In a story, one character is usually singled out as the main one, the rest are described in connection with him.
  • A short story is a genre of short-form storytelling, a brief summary of one event. Its plot cannot have a continuation, it represents the quintessence of the author’s thoughts, and always has a finished form.
  • A short story is a genre similar to a short story, the only difference being the sharpness of the plot. The novella has an unexpected, unpredictable ending. This genre lends itself well to thrillers.
  • The genre of the essay is the same story, but in a non-fictional manner of presentation. There are no flowery turns of phrase, pompous phrases or pathos in the essay.
  • Satire as a literary genre is rare; its accusatory nature does not contribute to its popularity, although satirical plays in theatrical productions are well received.
  • The detective genre is the most popular literary trend of recent times. Millions of paperback books by popular authors such as Alexandra Marinina, Daria Dontsova, Polina Dashkova and dozens of others have become reference books for many Russian readers.

  Conclusion

  They are diverse, each contains the potential for further creative development, which will certainly be used by modern writers and poets.

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

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

  A Brief History of the Short Story Genre

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

  A little later, in the 2nd half of the 19th century, the essay received the widest 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 conflicting nature of the plot. After all, an essay is characterized by the fact that it is mainly a descriptive work.

  Unity of time

  

  In order to more fully characterize the short story genre, it is necessary to highlight the patterns inherent in it. The first of them is the unity of time. In a 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 followed, it is rare to find stories in which the plot covers the entire life of the main character. Even less often are works created 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 entire fate of a character is revealed, one can note “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” (author Leo Tolstoy) and It also happens that not the whole life is presented, but a long period of it. For example, in Chekhov's "The Jumper" a number of significant events in the fate of the heroes, their environment, and the difficult development of relationships between them are depicted. However, this is given in an extremely condensed and condensed manner. It is the conciseness of the content, greater than in the story, that is the general feature of the story and, perhaps, the only one.

  Unity of action and place

  

  There are other features of the short story genre that need to be noted. The unity of time is closely connected and conditioned by another unity - action. A short 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. This is where the unity of the place comes from. 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, in the space of a work of this genre there is one main character. Occasionally there may be two of them, and very rarely - several. As for the secondary characters, there can be quite a lot of them, but they are purely functional. A short story is a genre of literature in which the task of the secondary characters is limited to creating the background. They can hinder or help the main character, but nothing 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, which is impossible neither in a story nor in a novel.

  

  Unity of the center

  Like the genres listed above, one way or another they come down to the unity of the center. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine a story without some defining, central sign that “pulls together” all the others. It doesn’t 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 character must be in any story. It is due to him that the entire composition is held together. It sets the theme of the work and determines the meaning of the story being told.

  The basic principle of constructing a story

  The conclusion from thinking about “unities” is not difficult to draw. The thought naturally suggests itself that the main principle of constructing the composition of a story is the expediency and economy of motives. Tomashevsky called the smallest element a motive. This could be an action, a character or an event. This structure can no longer be decomposed into components. This means that the author’s greatest sin is excessive detail, oversaturation of the text, a pile-up of details that can be omitted when developing this genre of work. The story should not dwell on details.

  You need to describe only the most significant things to avoid a common mistake. It is very typical, 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 thing when they stage their graduation films and performances. This is especially true for films, since the author’s imagination 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 the main character of the work is being chased by a pack of cannibal wolves. However, if dawn begins, they always stop at describing long shadows, dim stars, reddened clouds. The author seemed to admire nature and only then decided to continue the chase. 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 that interests us, all motives should reveal the theme and work towards meaning. For example, the gun described at the beginning of the work must certainly fire in the finale. Motives that lead astray 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

  It should be noted that it is not necessary to adhere to traditional methods of constructing a literary text. Breaking them can be spectacular. A story can be created almost on descriptions alone. But it’s still impossible to do without action. The hero simply must at least raise his hand, take a step (in other words, make a significant gesture). Otherwise, the result will not be a story, but a miniature, a sketch, a poem in prose. Another important feature of the genre that interests us is a meaningful ending. For example, a novel can last forever, but a story is constructed differently.

  Very often its ending is paradoxical and unexpected. This is precisely what was associated with the appearance of catharsis in the reader. Modern researchers (in particular, Patrice Pavy) view catharsis as an emotional pulsation that appears as one reads. However, the significance of the ending remains the same. The ending can radically change the meaning of the story and prompt a rethinking of what is stated in it. This must be remembered.

  The place of the story in world literature

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

  Advantages of the short story over other genres

  

  The genre that interests us allows us to highlight particularly clearly this or that typical case, this or that aspect of our life. It makes it possible to depict them so that the reader's attention is completely focused on them. For example, Chekhov, describing Vanka Zhukov with a letter “to his grandfather in the village,” full of childish despair, dwells in detail on the contents of this letter. It will not reach its destination and because of this it becomes especially strong from the point of view of exposure. In the story “The Birth of Man” by M. Gorky, the episode with the birth of a child, which occurs on the road, helps the author in revealing the main idea - the affirmation of the value of life.