Literary genres are groups of works distinguished within types of literature. Each of them has a certain set of stable properties. Many literary genres have their origins and roots in folklore. The newly emerged genres in literary experience proper are the fruit of the combined activities of the founders and successors. Such, for example, is the lyric-epic poem that emerged in the era of romanticism.

Genres are difficult to systematize and classify (unlike types of literature), and stubbornly resist them. First of all, because there are a lot of them: each artistic culture has specific genres (Hokku, Tanka, Gazelle in the literature of Eastern countries). In addition, genres have different historical scope. Some exist throughout the entire history of verbal art (such as, for example, the ever-living fable from Aesop to S.V. Mikhalkov); others are correlated with certain eras (such, for example, as liturgical drama in the European Middle Ages). In other words, genres are either universal or historically local.
The picture is further complicated by the fact that the same word often denotes deeply different genre phenomena. Thus, the ancient Greeks thought of elegy as a work written in a strictly defined poetic meter - an elegiac distich (a combination of hexameter and pentameter) and performed in recitative to the accompaniment of a flute. And in the second half of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. The elegiac genre, thanks to T. Gray and V.A. Zhukovsky, began to be defined by the mood of sadness and melancholy, regret and melancholy.

Authors often designate the genre of their works arbitrarily, without conforming to the usual usage of words. So, N.V. Gogol called "Dead Souls" a poem; "House by the Road" by A.T. Tvardovsky has the Subtitle “lyrical chronicle”, “Vasily Terkin” - “a book about a fighter”.

Consideration of genres is unimaginable without reference to the organization, structure, and form of literary works.

G.N. Pospelov distinguished between “external” genre forms (“a closed compositional and stylistic whole”) and “internal” (“specific genre content” as the principle of “imaginative thinking” and “cognitive interpretation of characters”). Having regarded external (compositional and stylistic) genre forms as content-neutral (in this, Pospelov’s concept of genres, as has been repeatedly noted, is one-sided and vulnerable), the scientist focused on the internal side of genres. He identified and characterized three supra-epochal genre groups, basing their differentiation on a sociological principle: the type of relationship between an artistically comprehended person and society, the social environment in a broad sense. “If works of national-historical genre content (meaning epics, epics, odes. - V.Kh.),” wrote G.N. Pospelov, “experience life in the aspect of the formation of national societies, if romantic works comprehend the formation of individual characters in private relations, then works of “ethological” genre content reveal the state of national society or some part of it.” (“Travels from St. Petersburg to Moscow” by A.N. Radishchev, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by N.A. Nekrasov).

NOVEL
The novel, recognized as the leading genre of literature of the last two or three centuries, attracts the close attention of literary scholars and critics.

If in the aesthetics of classicism the novel was treated as a low genre, then in the era of romanticism it rose to the top as a reproduction of “everyday reality” and at the same time “a mirror of the world and<...>of his age", the fruit of a "quite mature spirit

Hegel: the novel lacks the “originally poetic state of the world” inherent in the epic; here there is a “prosaically ordered reality” and “a conflict between the poetry of the heart and the opposing prose of everyday relationships.” V. G. Belinsky, who called the novel an epic of private life: the subject of this genre is “the fate of a private person,” ordinary, “everyday life.”

MM. Bakhtin: the hero of the novel is shown “not as ready-made and unchanging, but as becoming, changing, educated by life”; this person “should not be “heroic” either in the epic or in the tragic sense of the word; the romantic hero combines both positive and negative traits, both low and high, both funny and serious.” At the same time, the novel captures the “living contact” of a person “with an unready, becoming modernity (unfinished present).” And it “more deeply, significantly, sensitively and quickly” than any other genre “reflects the formation of reality itself.” The main thing is that the novel (according to Bakhtin) is capable of revealing in a person not only the properties determined in behavior, but also unrealized possibilities, a certain personal potential

In the novel, there is invariably present and almost dominates - as a kind of “super-theme” - artistic comprehension (to use the famous words of A.S. Pushkin) “human independence”, which constitutes (let us add to the poet) “the guarantee of his greatness”, and the source of sad falls, life dead ends and disasters. The ground for the formation and consolidation of the novel, in other words, arises where there is interest in a person who has at least relative independence from the establishment of the social environment

The novels widely depict situations of the hero’s alienation from his surroundings, emphasizing his lack of roots in reality, homelessness, everyday wandering and spiritual wandering. Evgeny Onegin (“A stranger to everything, not bound by anything,” Pushkin’s hero laments about his fate in a letter to Tatyana), Raskolnikov from F.M. Dostoevsky

in novels, a significant role is played by heroes whose independence has nothing to do with the solitude of consciousness, alienation from the environment, and reliance only on themselves. Among the novel characters we find those who, using the words of M.M. Prishvin about himself can rightfully be called “communication and communication figures.” This is Natasha Rostova, “overflowing with life.” In a number of novels (especially persistently in the works of Charles Dickens and Russian literature of the 19th century), a person’s spiritual contacts with the reality close to him and, in particular, family ties ("The Captain's Daughter" by A.S. Pushkin) are presented in an elevating and poetic way. . The heroes of such works perceive and think of the surrounding reality as friendly and familiar rather than alien and hostile to themselves. What is inherent in them is that M.M. Prishvin called it “kindred attention to the world.”
The theme of the house is also heard in the novels of our century: in J. Galsworthy ("The Forsyte Saga" and subsequent works), M.A. Bulgakov ("The White Guard"), M.A. Sholokhov ("Quiet Don"),

This genre is able to include the features of an epic into its sphere, capturing not only the private lives of people, but also events of a national-historical scale ("The Parma Monastery" by Stendhal). Novels are able to embody the meanings characteristic of a parable. According to O.A. Sedakova, “in the depths of the “Russian novel” usually lies something similar to a parable.”
There is no doubt that the novel is involved in the traditions of hagiography. The hagiographic principle is very clearly expressed in Dostoevsky’s works. Leskovsky's "Soboryan" can rightfully be described as a novel-life.

Novels often acquire the features of a satirical description of morality, such as, for example, the works of O. de Balzac, W.M. Thackeray

The novel, as can be seen, has a dual content: firstly, it is specific to it (the “independence” and evolution of the hero, revealed in his private life), and secondly, it came to him from other genres. The conclusion is valid; the genre essence of the novel is synthetic. This genre is capable of combining, with effortless freedom and unprecedented breadth, the substantive principles of many genres, both funny and serious. Apparently, there is no genre principle from which the novel would remain fatally alienated.
The novel as a genre, prone to synthetics, is sharply different from others that preceded it, which were “specialized” and operated in certain local “areas” of artistic comprehension of the world. He (like no other) turned out to be able to bring literature closer to life in its diversity and complexity, inconsistency and richness. The novel's freedom to explore the world has no boundaries. And writers from different countries and eras use this freedom in a variety of ways.

In the centuries-old history of the novel, two types of it are clearly visible. These are, firstly, works of acute events, based on external action, the heroes of which strive to achieve some local goals. These are adventurous novels, in particular picaresque, knightly, “career novels,” as well as adventure and detective stories. Their plots are numerous concatenations of event nodes (intrigues, adventures, etc.), as is the case, for example, in A. Dumas.
Secondly, these are novels that have prevailed in the literature of the last two or three centuries, when one of the central problems of social thought, artistic creativity and culture in general became the spiritual independence of man. Here internal action successfully competes with external action: the eventfulness is noticeably weakened, and the consciousness of the hero in its diversity and complexity comes to the fore.

One of the most important features of the novel and related stories (especially in the 19th-20th centuries) is the close attention of the authors to the microenvironment surrounding the heroes, the influence of which they experience and which they influence in one way or another.

PART II. WHAT ARE THERE ARE NOVELS AND WHAT TO CHOOSE FROM THEM

So, we accepted that the novel is still a thing worthy of some effort. And you decided to try to create it. And this is not easy. And the difficulty is not even in finding out what kinds of novels there are, where to start a novel, what to do to make it come out, and how to deal with failures - I will tell you all this. At this stage, the main difficulty is that you must very seriously choose your type of novel from the variety offered and not rush into several options at once. That is, in this part I want to curb your appetite, although throughout the previous part I tried to whet it. Why is it important now, figuratively speaking, not to put more on your plate than you need?

The fact is that this material will form the basis of your experiment. And this means that what you choose now is what you will develop. And not just one day or week, but maybe many months. And it will no longer be possible to turn aside, because then the purity of the genre will be violated - what this is, I explain below. And deciding to write a second, side-by-side novel without finishing the first means dooming the experiment to failure, because even seasoned professionals don’t always dare to write two or more novels—there’s simply not enough material.

Besides, everything I say now will seem uncomplicated at first. And the choice will be so easy to make... “I love detective stories... or romance novels,” you will say and choose... That’s a mistake. You may love novels by other authors, but here you are trying to make your own. And I don’t recommend immediately rushing to your favorite genre, because our goal is maximum help, education and training. And for this, perhaps a completely different genre will be suitable.

Which? In general, it’s up to you, but I repeat my advice: take your time, don’t choose hastily. Treat this operation responsibly. Roll over the basic concepts, types of novels in your head, try to imagine what and how your novel will change in you, what chord this or that genre will touch... And only then choose.

In general, you need to think. Writing in general is a job where you have to think. And therefore, to begin with, as a sapper, you need to at least take your time. The proverb “if you hurry, you make someone laugh” doesn’t work for them. Among them, haste is followed by tears. Quite often, writers too, too.

Chapter 4. Don't lose your head from greed

When the author, and in this case you, comes to understand what opportunities he can discover if he works at least a little, there comes a very pleasant moment when you can indulge in attacks of greed. I am not against greed, which can only punish the one who experiences it. And in this case, this is exactly so - if you lose your head from greed, you will be the only person who will seriously suffer from this. This is how this can happen and how it appears to be happening, we will now find out.

WHAT IS GENRE PURITY?

I remember well the “literary newspaper” of the perestroika era. There, different voices discussed the same question: what should post-perestroika literature be like, understood as the literature of tomorrow. Such was the tradition - to respond with a fundamental forecast to the “initiative” proposed by the CPSU, as if everything was already behind, everything had been accomplished and even the rewards had been shared. Many even intelligent people offered their options, but no one guessed what happened. Mainly because they did not believe in the power of commercial literature, but relied on the intelligence of the intelligentsia - forgive the tautology.

And although it was as if it was self-evident that there should be commercial, entertaining books, the main place was still given to the literature of “big ideas”, or the “main stream”. That is, books of philosophical or deeply psychological content. Everything else seemed simply unprofitable to consider, since at that time the literary establishment gained almost nothing.

And the need for detective, love - then no one understood such a term unless they read foreign language publications - fantastic or at least scandalous, what is called “sensational” genres was accepted as a digression built into a great novel, nothing more. Well, as a last resort, as a plot branch, however, insignificant in volume...

But no one noticed that in this case a mixture of genres arose and genre purity was violated. Or he pretended not to notice. I only once came across a mention of this very dangerous literary vice - yes, sir, a vice, and nothing else - in an article by a well-known critic, but she dealt with this little detail in two paragraphs, written in a very unnecessary intonation.

And this led to colossal losses when our masters and pillars of thick journal literature tried to work in new conditions. Namely, their texts did not reach the general public. Apart from five or seven of them, almost all of them slowed down, were unable to sell their texts, and serious romance in Russia withered away. Yes, so thoroughly that now it is not clear where to start. By the way, we will have to start anyway; an artistically wealthy nation cannot do without an updated novel.

What happened? But a simple thing happened - writers tried to take LG’s advice and mixed genres. There is philosophical prose, we add a little “love” to it, a couple of crimes, a little exotic... No, they don’t eat this brew. And if they eat, then only “their own” who would read and praise, even if it were written in the language of the African Yoruba tribe in Mayan knotted script.

The reason is that the purity of the genre has been violated. The one that, unlike Russian constitutions, acts with the inevitability of gravity. Which itself is an iron rule for the success of certain techniques, the rule for the development of these techniques and their completeness. Or which requires a refusal to use these same techniques with the imperativeness of the execution commission of the Cheka.

That is, if you are creating a love story, it means there must be the notorious spark of love between the heroine and the hero, misunderstandings or obstacles, life's troubles and the obligatory languor of feelings... Well, in general, you yourself know, you have almost certainly swallowed a couple of texts of this kind at leisure. It turns out, choose something that is already in the genre canon, or don’t make a romance novel. But in any case, never try to use just a piece of an established technique, it won’t work anyway. Because reading this piece for someone who wants to read the whole love novel is not interesting because a mixture of one, two, three is good only in a hodgepodge. And in the texts, as in coin metal, it is called fake. This is what happened to those who thoughtlessly used unqualified advice, which then happened to be given, to be honest, to our most experienced professionals.

WHY DOES SHE EXIST

And yet, genre purity, which is assessed as a correctly taken scheme, is an instinctively understandable thing. But why does it exist, why is it so discouraged to violate it that even seasoned craftsmen who dared to ignore this prohibition or simply did not attach any importance to it suffered such a complete fiasco that only now, a decade later, we are beginning to understand how crushing it was. In short, a plot, which is a chain of logically arranged events, must you. To present a certain main idea of ​​the novel, you must resolve its main conflict, and besides, you must do this by the most economical means, and if you try on another romantic genre, you either obscure this main idea, or violate the possible solutions to the conflict, or resolve it by such uneconomical means, that the reader’s awareness of the causality of everything that happens in the novel is lost.

This thing is quite complicated, even literature students who are experienced in terminology do not always understand it, so I will try to explain it again, and in other words.

The plot, which is the most powerful means of revealing the character, conflict, ideas of the novel, its ideology and, in general, almost everything that is in the novel - no matter what critics write about the plot, who, as a rule, either do not understand it or do not like it , - requires a causality of events, which will ultimately work specifically for the plot, and nothing else. That is, you can turn everything upside down, put recent events first, and only then bring up ancient ones that preceded them, you can launch several event flows simultaneously, as is usually done in cumbersome historical “chronicles”, you can even “hide” part of the action, as in a detective story , - all the same, assimilated by the reader, lining up in their “normal” form, the events will always work for the plot, and only then for the rest of the components of the novel. This is the main condition. If you violate this identification of the plot by adding another scheme characteristic of a different genre, you lose the integrity of the text and, as a result, the clarity of the image.

If you outlined the main conflict of the novel, loaded the reader with it, but then suddenly decided that it didn’t work out very well and allowed another conflict to be described with approximately the same force that working on the main conflict requires, that is, you organized a plot structure from two contradictory components , you will lose the integrity of the text and a conscious attitude towards such an important element as, for example, the “accuracy” of the novel.

If you managed to do the incredible, combine the ideas and conflicts of the novels so cleverly that they almost do not contradict each other, even if they seem to be complemented in some components - at least that’s what it might seem to anyone who loves thick “bricks” - and in the end, the solution comes to a single whole that unites the entire previous text, which means you have committed the third “deadly” sin of a novelist - you made this decision blurry, using not very convincing moves. Because he was forced to sit on two chairs at once, perform, in fact, two full-fledged symphonies at the same time, inserted two paintings into one frame... And almost certainly lost the reader along the way. In any case, it weakened the effect that it could have achieved if it had respected the purity of the genre.

WHAT BENEFITS DOES IT GIVE?

After the previous sub-chapter, it should be clear that genre purity provides a number of advantages. Without expanding too much, without losing the outlined criteria of the text, I argue that if you comply with it, you are able to identify the plot scheme with maximum completeness, convey to the reader the solution to the main conflict with maximum severity, and you have the opportunity to do this by the most economical means. Moreover, the work of previous writers who “ride” on the same rails before you will help you, smooth out the rough edges and push you on the “sags”, if this is at all possible.

I hope that a detailed interpretation of the shortcomings still convinces you that adherence to the rule of genre purity gives you advantages, that is, it gives the text the same effects, only with a different sign, not with a minus, but with a plus. And therefore I will draw your attention only to the last part of the statement, which says that you seem to be using the works of previous authors.

The fact is that novels by different authors in the reader’s mind are often combined into one very large novel, a kind of mega-text. And if you didn’t manage to develop the plot too smoothly, but the reader has already come across similar texts, these “potholes” in your narrative can be compensated by preliminary acquaintance with this mega-text. That is, they will not seem too harsh. Sliding through the mega-text, the reader seems to have already gained a high speed of perception of your text, among other texts, and therefore will literally “fly” over your minor mistakes, like a trolley that has gained decent momentum flies over a junction of rails.

Approximately the same thing happens with the “sagging” of the plot, that there are the same rough edges that only arose in systems of argumentation, direct or indirect, for example, in explaining the thoughts and feelings of a character or in describing an ominous castle where ghosts are found... You didn’t live up to ideal, but the reader already knows a similar hero, and even more so has read about a dozen such castles, he will jump over your weakness, because three novels ago he came across a very sensible explanation of a similar hero, or a year and a half ago he came across a book with a masterful description of the castle. Agree, there is something to try and be concerned about maintaining genre purity. Moreover, the prize is great, and the winnings can turn the head of almost everyone who works in literature, and does not just demonstrate their own genius.

By the way, about real geniuses, not imaginary ones. You know, geniuses really exist, but they are creatures of a different breed, they themselves come up with these rules that I’m talking about, breaking previous laws, as they want, in fact, however they want. But they are very rare, so let’s not cancel what already exists because of them. It's simply not economical.

IS IT WORTH FOLLOWING THE RULES?

So easily, for no apparent reason, I asked a question, the answer to which was still necessary. Is it really worth following the rules of the text that I tried to build with such ant-like accuracy in the previous paragraphs?

After very concentrated reflection I am forced to admit that it is still worth it. And that's why.

Of course, you can break the rules. But not from the very beginning, not from training. Michelangelo, while painting the Sistine ceiling, broke many rules. But from the age of thirteen he worked like hell, drawing and carving quite “conventional” works from marble. And school, artistic training in those days was savagely hammered into students. As Ghirlandaio, it seems, told him, there is no model, draw your left hand. Finished with it, draw the legs... True, our genius also drew his right hand at the same time, which plunged the teacher into a slight stupor - the great fresco master did not know how to work with both hands with equal strength... But that’s why Michelangelo is a genius, to shine. Yes, this is exactly brilliance, and not an attempt to break the canon of learning.

Maybe someday you will decide to revise the rules, who knows what will come of us in the end. Maybe you too will be able to do something that will make all my previous passages seem like Old Testament trash. And this is correct - it is impossible to work with such material as words without secretly nurturing genius within oneself. But, you know, not now, not this moment, not in this book, which is designed for something completely different. Although…

WHERE RULES DO NOT EXIST.

Perhaps, in order for this chapter to have some closure, it will be necessary to explain where the rules do not exist.

The fact is that texts are written in two main narrative keys. This is similar to major and minor in music. Only in literature they are called... I didn’t find a clear name in Russian, but in the Western education system it is called plot or extra-plot narration.

Of course, the point is not that the plot narrative has a plot, and the non-plot narrative lacks it. Not at all. The extra-plot narration is also subordinated to all the attributes of a plot that developed almost in pre-Homeric times, it just does not come to the fore.

To make it clear, I will give examples. Stevenson's Treasure Island is an example of a frankly boyish plot novel. The main question of the text is whether they will find it or not? who will win? Will our good pirates or the sinister pirates take the prize first? – is resolved with an overwhelming predominance of intensified plot construction. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is also a plot novel. But it's more complicated. It contains philosophical digressions, and gives a model of the Puritan labor school, especially by listing the tools with which Robinson got the chest, and discussions about slavery, and many other exercises.

But “Peter I” by Alexei Tolstoy, despite the thunder of battles and a lot of other things, including love “curls,” is a non-plot novel. There seems to be no main question here - although there is one, and it is formulated in a Stalinist way: the state or everything else? – there is no definite support for plot development. And there is the feeding of the text primarily with psychological constructs, there is rich descriptive material, which is almost always codified as a purely patriotic line, and there is a strong ideological premise.

Of course, there are texts that are not as easily defined as I have indicated here. For example, the textbook “Crime and Punishment” is not a detective story at all simply for the reason that the novel is written in an off-plot narrative. There is no reliance on the plot, on the skeleton of exactly the events taking place; philosophy, almost in its pure form, and psychology, and the moral position of the author are too important... But Chekhov’s “Drama on the Hunt” is close to a detective story. Although he is still not considered a detective, simply because Anton Pavlovich himself is not considered, cannot be considered the author of the plot.

Yes, that’s right - in difficult situations they put a label on the author, and you are welcome to the prepared shelf... I mean a bookshelf, not a columbarium shelf, for example.

Of course, you can not follow any rules, but only in extra-plot text. And receive such an incredible experimental novel, for example, as “Ulysses” by Joyce, which only professors can read to the end, not to mention break through its multi-level encryption. Or such monstrous texts that are not in the European tradition, such as, for example, “The Three Kingdoms” by Luo Guaichzhuk. But they are not the topic of our work.

But if you are going to work in a generally accepted manner, if you want to overcome difficulties using methods that are recognized by our literary tradition, then I recommend doing all of the above. And use those types of novels that are familiar to us and therefore, without a doubt, the most effective.

Chapter 5. Varieties of novels

I must admit that in compiling the list of types of novels below, I slightly sinned against the generally accepted system of genre division used in Western literature. I was forced to do this in order to reflect the current, effective at the end of our decade, “working” scheme for dividing novels into types and at least somehow update it, bring it together with the Western novel school, to which the Russian novel, of course, adjoins... Yes, it exactly adjoins, but is in no way included in it, if only because of the huge difference in attitude to the plot, to social values and an exaggerated understanding of educational significance.

Of course, we also have other differences from the “decaying” ones. For example, there is an almost clinical rejection of the Western philistine way of thinking as basic, if not at all standard. Or a look back at the notorious “Eurasianism,” which, it seems, having lost the primary enlightenment meaning of the term, has turned into a poorly understood Marxian example of the “Eastern type of production” in half with the clan habits of narrow-eyed nations. But all these “details” had to be sacrificed, because the nuances are simply not the point now. And in the types of novels, that’s what we’re talking about.

NOVEL OF THE MAIN STREAM

So, almost all novels are divided according to the principle of plot narration and non-plot narration. Hence the first type of novels as texts with an extra-plot narrative system. They are also called “mainstream” novels.

There is approximately the same dependence here as in the name “Bolsheviks”, coined by Lenin. As soon as this always the smallest political wing of the Social Democrats accidentally gained a majority once, they proudly appropriated the name “Bolsheviks” to themselves. It’s the same with this “main thing” - as soon as this type of novels became one of the leaders in terms of the number of publications only in a specific, very small historical period, it immediately began to call itself “the main thing.” In general, as they say, history will judge, especially since this term is increasingly and more confidently being abandoned.

Although this variety has recently shown stunning decadence, I, like many others, consider it the first, because in our country these opuses, no matter how poorly written most of them were, were for many years understood as “mainstream” literature. All other works were and are still considered to be purely “commercial” (although non-plot novels can actually be commercial; commerce depends rather little on the type of novel). So, there is a “main” thread and there are, of course, all the others - this should be remembered.

As a rule, the “main” stream includes everything that uses the method of terry, outdated (we inherited from the last century), tooth-breaking, killer realism. Also, these novels include almost all the texts of numerous small “realisms”, except perhaps magical (although this is to some extent), as well as naturalisms, a fair number of texts of “postmodernism” and a very cool movement in Russian literature, which is conventionally called “ post-post-modernism." I don’t know what it is, it seems even those who invented it don’t know. Therefore, we will mention it and immediately forget it - there are an extremely large number of inventions by all sorts of chatterboxes who dream of being considered adherents of at least a very limited, but new school; Typically, these founders cannot even articulate their claims coherently.

This type of novel can have almost all kinds of conflicts, outlines almost all possible solutions to them, but has “evolved” to such an extent that it has become almost plot-free. I think you know him well yourself - apart from very few novels, it is from him that school curricula are compiled. Unfortunately, not only in Russia. However, I can gladly admit that this darkness, like other darknesses of the passing century, is still slowly, but more and more confidently passing. And again - not only in Russia.

EROTIC NOVEL

This is a new round of Western realism, which took into account a very narrow area of ​​​​human relations - sex, love in its very naked degree, brought almost to naturalism.

Real erotic books, in my opinion, are unreadable. They are sweaty, have the whole gamut of the most unpleasant aromas, are not very witty and, much as often, for the most part are simply vile. In addition, they portray a person as a crazy animal, obsessed only with the satisfaction of lust.

I would not have mentioned this variety at all if the former “holders” of the main block of shares in socialist realism had not slipped more and more towards this topic, solving it in a way very similar to the Western model. This is generally understandable. Apart from the usual and long-described conflicts, the realist knows nothing more, does not understand anything, and is extremely—I repeat, extremely—afraid of any innovations, experiments, and, what’s more, afraid of “falling out of the pack.” And he has only one way to revive his pale text - to describe all sorts of “African” passions. This is what he is doing, not noticing that he is slipping into a very well-developed commercial plot “pocket.”

The conflict between the “hunger of the body” and socially accepted ways of satisfying it is resolved unambiguously, in the words of our liberalissimo Zhirinovsky, “in favor of the body.” The solution options depend on the ingenuity of the author, which in principle is not great. I cannot advise anyone to do something like this, because this is a very weak branch, and starting with it is stupid. In addition, to create it (and even more so to read it) requires real sexual obsession. And somehow the exhausted, exhausted “scoops” immediately took hold of her, and she came out pale, like the sexual fantasies of a eunuch. That is, if we have something more compromised than Yeltsin’s power, then this is precisely the type of novel to which this subchapter is devoted.

ROMANTIC-SENTIMENTAL NOVEL

In this also not the most thematically developed branch of novelism, which we increasingly call after the established Western term “romance,” the problem of love is solved, but with the mention of feelings, sometimes even childishly, that is, infantilely, without the slightest mention of the “problem” of the body , although “rigged” sex is also increasingly common.

The most interesting thing is that this problem is presented as if it does not depend on the historical period of the story, the religious content of the characters and other romantic conditions. Recently I “spied” how in one novel a girl who received a very puritanical upbringing during the British Regency engaged in rather sophisticated types of sex. But this could not have happened, because this simply did not exist in those days. And yet, the author made this mistake, because her opus was supposed to be read by the ladies of emancipated America, who had gone through the sexual revolution with all its consequences. And yet, novels of this kind in our country are very infantile. They resemble those drawings of beauties that teenage girls make. Definitely a wasp waist, huge eyes, lush hair and a bewildered, greedy look. However, I never had a daughter, maybe there are smarter girls.

The main thing in such novels is not even the bed, although, as I noted, in the later versions of the subspecies it is found. The main thing is feelings, passion. They are described meticulously, in detail, with repetitions, with all the nonsense of a ladies' drawing room. In the background are the woman’s surroundings, her clothes, in modern texts there are some hints about work, career and material success, cuisine, restaurants, food in general. Based on the type of conflict, the main character is necessarily a girl. The second character is her admirer, her future husband. The final solution is always the same - wedding bells. Sometimes someone dies nearby, but it is always either a friend or a competitor. And although the world in the text is depicted as if by realistic tools, the world never is like that and, I hope, never will be. In essence, this is a record of the most rabid, boundless women's fantasies, which are characteristic of them in a state of relaxed, uncritical half-asleep. But the achievements of real fantasy behind this aesthetic - if I may say so - system, of course, will never happen. However, there are masters in this genre; perhaps they, at least over time, will “pull” the genre into noteworthy, high-quality literature. For now, we can only hope.

SCIENTIFIC AND FICTIONAL, ALSO A FANTASTIC NOVEL, AND ALSO A HORROR STORY

A scientific-fiction novel, as the term science-fiction is translated much more accurately, in contrast to the generally accepted “sci-fi” (which is also more consistent with common sense), is familiar to everyone.

It describes a scientific discovery or some technological incident, which is sometimes projected onto the entire planet ("War of the Worlds") or depicted more subtly, so to speak, with a local effect ("The Invisible Man"), but which in any case significantly changes the rules of the game in our seemingly familiar and studied world.

The more developed the author’s imagination is, the ability to see exactly the changes introduced, the brighter the novel. And the higher its value on the conventional scale of this subgenre. Moreover, this scheme is very stable and has been in effect for more than a century. At the same time, of course, heroes and characters do not have a special, decisive, overwhelming significance, as in realism, although it is usually not bad if they are written out brightly and expressively. The conflict, as a rule, lies in the need to adapt to a new situation or suppress an unfavorable new situation, and then a huge list of options arises. In a good science fiction novel, the solution to the main conflict is usually unusual, unexpected, convincing, and very radically solves all the problems at once.

I cannot resist noting that the last condition is increasingly being violated, because the author does not want to abandon the well-written world of his novel, and then he moves on to writing a series. As a rule, a fantasy series develops the same principles, the same laws of the fictional world as the first, “pilot” novel, and is very strictly connected with it by the characters and the main conflict (unlike a detective series, which may have no connection at all with the previous one). novel, except for the main character).

It is also necessary to mention that the purely technotronic background of the plot has recently increasingly given way to a simply fantastic assumption, such as, for example, all the texts in the small genre of “alternative history”, or many disaster novels. It is these, in contrast to the generally accepted system, that I propose to call fantastic, because there is no scientific artistry here, but only an irrepressible thirst for the unusual, mixed with known and well-developed visual arts and means.

There is another version of fantasy, also not related to the scientific and artistic school of writing, namely, the small genre of horror novels, which is gaining momentum in the West, and now here too. As you know, it has very old roots, even older than scientific and artistic romance itself, and is involved in mysticism, esotericism and the dark side of the ancient religions of the world. Conflicts here are resolved in many respects - if not in all - quite arbitrarily, even without correlation with genuine esotericism, the hero is portrayed using a wide variety of methods, up to condensed psychologism, as sometimes happens in Stephen King, and solutions to the conflict, as a rule, are associated with religious background or with white magical powers.

It is traditionally believed that although this subgenre originates from such masters as Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe and Bram Stoker, although it has considerable achievements, it has not received much development in our country, because the spirit of the Gothic novel is simply not strong in our country . But the master who proposed “horror” on the Orthodox base has not yet appeared, and I doubt that he will, taking into account the well-known “hermetic” nature of the main Russian religion.

WHAT IS FANTASY?

Fantasy, as a subgenre of science fiction, was invented by several people, but, as is not always fair with literary achievements, the credit was attributed almost exclusively to John Tolkien for his “The Lord of the Rings.” This series is truly amazing - dynamic, colorful, full-blooded, just like good novels should be. But these are not exactly novels.

Because it has a beginning, but it is dated back somewhere in the mists of time, there are heroes, but they are often reincarnations of other personalities - this trick was used by Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, and Robert Jordan in the best series of the nineties - “The Wheel of Time” " And, besides, the conflict of these “not quite” novels is deliberately reduced, almost of an everyday political, power and military nature. And it is solved by means that are initially understandable to us, even if among the tools there is magic or some kind of paranormality and other reality, for example, the ability of foresight.

Since Tolkien's first experiments, it became clear that fantasy cannot be done with just one novel. This European, and now world school, has taken too much from epics, and this type of narration, as a rule, includes several generations, was created for several generations and is extremely harmoniously related to ongoing history. That is, the main conflicts of the novel do not seem to have a final solution. A lack of understanding of this specificity has led to the fact that the subgenre itself has not yet truly developed in our country, and the few texts that, rightly, due to internal design, have steered towards seriality, multi-facetedness, a reincarnating hero, etc., have not yet been made organically. with full use of the Russian realistic school.

At one time I had hopes that the series of novels “The Witcher” by the best Slavic fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski would be able to promote precisely these, in my opinion, the strongest aspects of fantasy. But in The Witcher this did not happen explicitly, and Pan Sapkowski himself recently stated that, although the end of the series is already visible, he will not write another similar chain of novels, supposedly “he will not be able to pull it off.” We can only hope that he underestimates himself and “before Poland perishes,” or we will still see texts by other authors with a more complete use of the possibilities inherent in fantasy. I can recommend fantasy to a beginning author quite legitimately, and even with some preference over other genres, because in this type of novel a lot depends only on the author and because (no matter how indignant the literary establishment may be) it is now a completely respectable genre. Moreover, it is perhaps the most respectable of the currently active ones - after all, more than a quarter of the list of the main novels of the 20th century of all literature in the world in one way or another include fantasy techniques: either elements of a scientific-fiction novel, or fantasy.

I want to warn you about only one thing - among others, both of these small genres are read by special people, the so-called “facts”. And therefore, in order to do something original here, you need to really love the genre and read its entire main body, and this is at least several hundred volumes. And yet, think about it - there are much more opportunities to “compose” from the heart, to “twist” any ideas, whatever you say, in fantasy there are much more than in stupid romance or in convict realism.

A STORY FOR CHILDREN

Almost every writer dreams of writing something for children, and almost no one manages to do it in a decent manner. In this sense, the textbook statement that “you need to write for children the same way as for adults, only better” has the meaning of a law. And yet there is always the illusion that this can be done painlessly, quickly, easily, great... Why?

It must seem to each of us that the simplicity of the plot, the almost doll-like clarity of the characters, the clarity of the conflict, its unambiguous and unconditional solution in favor of good are things that almost everyone is capable of. In addition, the opinion has become established that raising children is not the most difficult thing, many people have them, and everyone seems to cope with it. In addition, they are almost always in front of your eyes, and the illusion is created that you know them, or at least are familiar with them, in addition, there is the opportunity to use your own childhood, which most people remember with outright pleasure, which means that almost everything is in order with the material ...

I strongly advise against doing this unless you are a fanatic teacher with twenty years of experience. Firstly, this is a different psychology that must be mastered perfectly, because it has long been noticed that little people react extremely sensitively to the slightest falsehood. Secondly, this genre requires a very special form of gaming imagination, which masters have been honing for decades, and you can’t take it rudely. Thirdly, your own childhood is not “material”, because you perceive it from the height of your current age, and even if it seems to you that you remember everything “as if it were yesterday,” you will have to place accents, be cheerful, and simply create an environment -to the present one."

And among other things, this genre will clarify almost nothing, will not reveal or cure you of your current unrest. I say this almost certainly because the purpose of children's books is to create illusions, not to analyze. That is, you are more likely to layer additional experiences on top of your current problems, realizing how much you have lost over the years of your life, and not at all discover new opportunities for yourself that will help you cope with them.

HISTORICAL NOVEL

One of my acquaintances, a very good detective writer, suddenly moved into the serious historical genre and felt not like a novelist, but rather an archivist. True, he chose puzzling problems, a terrible time and a completely difficult place for a two-volume saga, but even if he decided to work on the most “ordinary” material, beautifully described in dozens of articles and monographs, if it was the most famous period with the most famous people - and then he would have to retrain as an archivist.

Because in this subgenre of realism you need to know history very well, and not just a simple one, but a real one, for example, clothing, dishes, cuisine, household management and more general things - kings and power relations, legislative and general economic practices. Or you have to do what many modern writers have done - they place completely modern characters in slightly different, mostly medieval conditions, dress them up in strange outfits and force them to fall in love, worry, and eventually get married and give birth to great people in a completely modern way. known from the school children's history course. We will not deal with the last type of prose - the language hesitates to call it historical - we will not deal with it, we have already examined it in the sub-chapter on romance, and this is what a novel is, only a little exotic.

But with the first, normal historical novel, the situation is not simple. Yes, you can find very juicy, bright, beautiful heroes. Actually, a writer like Lion Feuchtwanger did nothing but write historical novels about celebrities, developing their psyche, albeit to the detriment of a certain temporal authenticity. You can find intriguing events that serve as an expression of the brightest conflicts of our universal civilization. And although they will have an already known ending, they will almost certainly be able to have a lot of fun in order to get to this finale.

But the historical novel is a very conservative genre, large, well-researched, and this in our case is the main weakness. That is, you will have to follow a very serious, multi-level, carefully organized canon. And if you don’t know what your soul is about, if you haven’t truly revealed yourself yet, then it’s better not to harness yourself to these chains.

However, for an introvert with a strong penchant for detail, with an interest in reality and a dislike for excessive freedom of design, a historical novel may be suitable. Moreover, here you can, for example, dim the dialogues and expand the time frame of what is happening by decades or, conversely, try your hand at describing a multi-layered specific event, as “easel” battle painters do, which cannot be done organically in any other genre. In general, you need to think.

ADVENTURE NOVEL

I set an adventure novel very close to the historical one, but still not in sync with it. Of course, it is no coincidence that it is located not far from the children's story. There is no need to over-describe this genre. We were all brought up on Soviet publishing policy, and she recognized only this of all entertainment genres. Besides, for the life of me, I can’t believe that there are people in our country who wouldn’t be drawn to “The Three Musketeers,” and this is “an irreplaceable doubloon of what I’m trying to define.

Of course, to complete the picture, it makes sense to mention current, contemporary adventures, but they are almost always violent, belong, rather, to the genre of military prose and lack the charm of the old style. Although in essence, in the hero, the conflict and the way it is resolved, they have not changed much, perhaps because this is not necessary - the genre has both developed and frozen on classical examples, on its “golden shelf”.

The hero, as usual, is young, almost like a reader, naive, although, of course, he knows how to fight with swords and shoot, and in extreme cases, he receives a map of treasures buried somewhere. The villain is as bad as it gets. The conflict between them almost always takes on a personal character, is resolved in the last battle and almost certainly by the victory of good, that is, ours, not our enemies. Along the way, the hero gets fame, money, cherished love or fabulous luck in the form of a calm, prosperous life.

Now, I fell into an ironic tone, but I shouldn’t have. This genre really is what it is, and we all grew out of it - for this alone we shouldn’t speak badly about it. After all, in childhood, an adventure novel was necessary, and he honestly told us what we needed. Now I have to apologize... And he will apologize - books of this genre favor me. They probably guess that I am their long-time and unconditional fan.

Westerns occupy a special place. They are very popular in English-speaking countries, and from time to time in other countries they are ahead of pirates and political-espionage escalades. But something tells me that they will not be very welcome in our court, probably because the “six-shooter” judge has never played a decisive role in our history, and the ideology of rabid individualism was completely alien. True, recently there have been attempts to apply some conflicts to our reality, method),! Decisions and even Western heroes, but this phenomenon has not yet found a vivid embodiment. And if there is no master, there is no novel, no novel, there is no school, no school, there is no tradition. And finally, there is no tradition - no genre.

CRIME NOVEL, DETECTIVE. THRILLER. AND AGAIN “HORROR”

Perhaps the favorite genre of all times is the crime novel, detective story, action novel. Some researchers trace its origins to chivalric romance, others to epic, and still others to family and genealogical codes, which have played a system-forming role in society since antiquity. They have come up with a lot about this genre in an effort to refine it: the struggle between good and evil, a textbook on jurisprudence, and even overcoming death by restoring order in the microuniverse of the novel.

I must admit that I was and will be the most diligent reader of all these opuses that explain to me why I love detective stories. And not only in the current version, but in almost all of its types and subtypes. For example, I read medieval Chinese novels with great pleasure if they fall into my hands, because these are practically court novels a la Earl Gardner, including, in addition to the trial, operational actions and the investigation itself, which in the Middle Kingdom has always been the prerogative of the judge .

In one encyclopedia of the detective genre, I found a detailed classification by type and counted, it seems, fourteen varieties. That is, a detective can have more than a dozen guises, appearing before the reader either as a class of the variety who did it, or as a “private owl” - with the classics, which I will probably re-read until my death (I mean the Hammett-Chandler school ), - either in the form of a spy action movie, or in the guise of a psychological thriller, or in a variety of lyceum investigation, or in the actual “crime” novel, that is, in a “criminal adventure” in which good does not necessarily win...

In terms of the type of hero, in the development of other characters, in the type and methods of resolving the conflict, this subgenre “diversified” in the same way as evolution played out, giving birth from one protein molecule to a deep-sea mollusk, a majestic whale, a platypus, a Scandinavian eagle, and many others. more. According to the system that I have tried to follow so far, it is impossible to determine anything in this genre. And yet, almost every reader can easily recognize when he sees a detective story, an action movie, a police novel, a psychological “crimmy”, or another version of the detective genre. Because there is always a crime in it. And as was promised about Woland’s performance - “with subsequent exposure”... But this is no longer necessary.

At the same time, I have to draw attention to the fact that crime itself is not a system-forming feature, because other adventure books, or westerns, or even realistic novels may also well include crime. And yet, for some reason, we immediately see that there is something wrong, the wrong degree of heat, or cold, or... I don’t know what. Something that makes this subgenre so resilient and enduring. According to statistics, every third work of fiction currently published in the world belongs to it.

I should also note that in the last twenty to thirty years, a significant layer of “horror” films has joined this same subgenre. Unlike mystical novels, which I included in the sub-chapter of scientific and artistic novels, in novels adjacent to detective stories, crimes, as a rule, are committed by some otherworldly monster. But the character of this creature and the technical conditions for its appearance are uninteresting, so such a horror film moves from that scientific and artistic category to this sub-chapter.

Sometimes it happens that this type of horror and this detective type, which I am writing about here, merge. What comes of this, I won’t attempt to briefly explain. In general, I feel that we will soon suffer with the “theory of horrors”, and in a way that we did not even suffer with the detective story and the “main” stream. But at the same time, this is still not our problem, but the theorists’, and we’ll leave this tidbit to them.

NOVEL-ESSAY, OR WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT DO

When I first started working in publishing, I immediately noticed the difference between for-profit and non-profit publishers. In essence, it was not difficult. Non-profit, founded a long time ago, Gosnik’s, that is, state-owned, respected the text, which, as they used to say, made you think, suggested the thoughts of the author and, most importantly, through this thinking, led the reader to some generalizations that have significant subjective motive. This was the main difference between the philosophical novel and others - the clear readability of the author’s personality, the essayism of the entire text.

Commercial publishing houses immediately realized that it was almost impossible to sell such a novel, and they rejected it, like a thirsty person rejecting salted fish. And over time, they even began to have a very unfriendly attitude towards such authors, many of whom, especially those who were older, did not understand the main thing - the personal beginning of the text loses its meaning. This is true even for stars of the first magnitude in literature, let alone others!

So, the plot, its presentation, and methods of presentation came to the fore, revealing the most intense and severe conflicts. Of course, the resolution of these conflicts has become more dramatic, sometimes turning into mountains of corpses and a sea of ​​tears. Nothing seemed too cool, no psychological value seemed worthy of attention, the characters were frankly replaced by cardboard cutouts from a Chinese shadow theater - and everyone welcomed it.

Now, it seems, such times are slowly passing. In a decent publishing house with a pretense of intellectuality, they will not fail to talk about psychologism, they will notice the literary figure of the author and even, if they are lucky, they will welcome essayism, that is, his subjective thinking...

But not really. The primacy of the plot remains, moreover, perhaps, it has penetrated into state publishing houses, only there are still people there who are ashamed of this, therefore, in some types of conversation, they begin to grunt, shrug their shoulders and express their own disagreement with the situation in every way. But it is possible to disagree, but not to disobey. Everyone understands this. Because before our eyes there have already been too many collapses of even decent publishing houses; too many of the “gosniks” were forced to turn to the state for support, and this is both unpleasant and unreliable. It is clear to everyone, even the most sophisticated intellectuals, that this is not a solution to the situation, but only postponing the decision until later.

That's why I still don't recommend writing such a novel. Essay texts will not soon become popular among us, and only if Russia takes care of creating the next generation of intellectuals, and does not force intelligent boys and girls into stalls and paramilitary groups.

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES, BIOGRAPHIES OF CELEBRITIES, NEWSPAPER COMPILATIONS AND THE ABILITY TO BUILD HYPOTHESES.

But if you have personal material that is of considerable significance in a general cultural or other context, then I suggest paying attention to an autobiography. This subgenre is just developing in our country; against the backdrop of rather sluggish opuses, it’s not difficult to make a really noticeable text. There are only two objections to this view. First, you need to have first-class material, and second, it's not really a novel.

We won’t talk about the first one; the texture either exists or it doesn’t, there’s no point in arguing here. But the second is quite logically removed by fictionalizing the material. A very good example is Korzhakov’s book, although it relates not so much to autobiography as to work on depicting a literary portrait of a celebrity. That is, to the second type of texts that I listed in the title of this subchapter.

By the way, for that matter, the lack of material, that is, the lack of texture, as they now say, it seems, not only journalists, can be conditionally corrected if a genuine star is involved in cooperation, no matter what horizon - political, show business, science or from a criminal community.

There are such examples; it’s worth remembering the novel about Ruslan Khasbulatov and his clan or the books of our other pop stars, quite a few of which appeared five to seven years ago. However, there is a catch here too. Stars do not like to work with completely unknown people, and if you come to a real star and say about your interest in her life and views that you want to somehow fictionalize, there is too great a chance of getting in response a request to bring early works. In our case, this is not very advantageous. And if we take into consideration a “cool” star, then it’s fraught.

However, this option can also be bypassed. You just need to choose someone who can no longer actively “stand up” for themselves, and you can simply “not notice” your relatives, especially if there is still no obvious negativity in the book. But if the “main witness,” that is, the chosen hero, is absent, you need to use material from newspapers, magazines and already written books. In principle, this is not impossible, but you need to have a taste for working in a library.

And yet, it is very important not to just cut out articles about your favorite hero with scissors, not just to arrange them. In the end, we are making a novel, not a catalog of clothes, a census of trips, not just a book of quotes from one, even a truly great person. That is, it must be remembered that all requirements for the novel remain in force.

Therefore, special attention needs to be focused on the motivation of the hero’s actions, it is necessary to build hypotheses about these actions, draw the situation, generalize, draw conclusions and compare with someone else, that is, create some kind of conflict, even if it is in absentia. Even if you haven’t found any mention of this conflict anywhere, you still have to present it in such a way that they believe you, so that it doesn’t seem far-fetched. Here you need to give your best, perhaps even to a degree similar to an essayistic novel. And this is not easy. And for the same reasons that I outlined in the sub-chapter on essay writing.

As for examples, the model for a long time, without a doubt, is the work of Yuri Lotman about Paul the First and about Karamzin, although I will be the first to agree that this is not exactly a novel. And yet, the assertion that our great historiographer, for example, was present in Paris during the Great Revolution, I consider the most brilliant example of a demonstrative fictional hypothesis, which, under the pen of such a scientist as Yuri Mikhalych, acquires the status of a magnificent intrigue.

The word "novel", which came to us from the French language, has several meanings. Surely each of us has ever bought a novel in a bookstore or heard that someone was having an affair.

Let's take a closer look at the meaning of this word.

Novel as a literary genre

Novel is a literary term meaning one of the epic genres (along with short story, novella, novella).

Originally, a novel meant only those works that were written in the living Romance language, as opposed to spiritual canonical or scientific works written in Latin. Romanesque stories and stories with “light” plots were distributed among ordinary people who did not know Latin. Later, the adjective "Roman" acquired its own meaning. This is how this genre of narrative works arose in any language.

In the modern sense, a novel is understood as a fictional (or based on real events, but with a share of fiction) story with a solid plot, detailing the picture of life and covering the fates, as a rule, of several characters.

A novel can be psychological, everyday, or adventure. It can be written both in prose and in verse (remember the novel in verse by Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”).

If you are seriously interested in this literary genre and are thinking about how to create your own work in this genre, refer to the article.

And you will learn about the literary movement that has a consonant name in the article.

Romance in the meaning of love relationships

If you heard that a man and a woman are having an affair, it means that they are in love with each other and have entered into a love relationship. Sometimes the word in this meaning has an ironic connotation and suggests that such a love affair will not last long.

In literature, a novel is a genre of work. It is mainly written in prose, has a narrative character and is relatively large in volume.

Literary term

The medieval chivalric romance gave the world its modern name for the genre. It comes from Old French romanz. Further development in different cultures and countries led to some differences in terms. So, the English name of the genre is novel- from the word novella. The Old French term in English culture gave the name to a movement in art (romanticism) and one of the forms of the genre - the love story (romance).

Character traits

A novel in literature is a long fictional narrative about the life or moment in the life of a hero. Today it is most often characterized by the following features:

• Speech. Most novels today are written in prose, despite the fact that this was originally the name of poetic works. After works began to be written more for reading than for performance in the 13th century, prose almost completely took over the literary speech of the European novel.
• Fiction. In contrast to biography, journalism and historiography, this genre is distinguished by a fictional plot that has no connection with real events and people.
• Volume. Today, the novel is the longest genre of fiction, although there is controversy regarding the minimum required length. In this regard, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish a novel from a story.
• Content is the most complex and controversial characteristic of the genre. Previously it was believed that this was a description of the fictional life and emotions of the hero. Today it is common for a novel to describe the personal experiences of one or more characters. The content of the novel varies so much that there is a division into forms and subgenres.

Historical typology of the novel

Historically, it is difficult to determine the origins of the novel as a separate literary genre. Strictly speaking, the first European novel is Don Quixote, but the history of the genre begins to be counted from the Middle Ages. Throughout its evolution, the following forms were distinguished:

• The chivalric romance is an epic genre of poetry using elements of fantasy. The main focus of the story is actions. Contemporaries called this form a courtly novel.
• An allegorical novel is a form of genre that uses concrete images and actions to explain abstract, complex concepts. The ideal example of allegory in literature is fables, and the pinnacle of the allegorical novel was Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy.

• The novel of manners, or satirical novel, differs more in content than in strict correspondence to any historical period. Petronius's Satyricon can be called a novel of morals, just like Cervantes's Don Quixote.
• The philosophical novel is a movement in 18th-century literature that focuses on finding answers to eternal questions. The pinnacle of the philosophical novel was Voltaire's Candide. Philosophy has always played an important role in literature, so the philosophical novel cannot be limited to one century. The works of Hesse, Mann and Nietzsche were written much later, but are prominent representatives of this trend.
• A psychological novel is a type of genre aimed at studying the inner world of heroes. No historical form of the novel has had such a dramatic and profound influence on the development of the genre as the psychological novel. In fact, it revolutionized the very definition of literary genre and is the dominant type of novel today.

In this article we will talk about how a novel differs from a story. First, let's define these genres and then compare them.

and story

A fairly large piece of fiction is called a novel. This genre is classified as epic. There may be several main characters, and their lives are directly related to historical events. In addition, the novel tells about the entire life of the characters or about some significant part of it.

A story is a literary work in prose, which usually tells about some important episode in the life of the hero. There are usually few active characters, and only one of them is the main one. Also, the length of the story is limited and should not exceed approximately 100 pages.

Comparison

And yet, what is the difference between a novel and a story? Let's start with the novel form. So, this genre involves the depiction of large-scale events, a multifaceted plot, a very large time frame that includes the entire chronology of the narrative. The novel has one main storyline and several side ones, which are closely intertwined into a compositional whole.

The ideological component is manifested in the behavior of the characters and the revelation of their motives. The novel takes place against a historical or everyday background, touching on a wide range of psychological, ethical and ideological problems.

The novel has several subtypes: psychological, social, adventure, detective, etc.

Now let's take a closer look at the story. In works of this genre, the development of events is limited to a specific place and time. The protagonist's personality and fate are revealed in 1-2 episodes, which are turning points for his life.

The story has one plot, but it may have several unexpected twists that give it versatility and depth. All actions are connected with the main character. In such works there are no clear links to history or socio-cultural events.

The problems of prose are much narrower than in the novel. It is usually associated with morality, ethics, personal development, and the manifestation of personal qualities in extreme and unusual conditions.

The story is divided into subgenres: detective, fantasy, historical, adventure, etc. It is rare to find a psychological story in literature, but satirical and fairy-tale stories are very popular.

What is the difference between a novel and a story: conclusions

Let's summarize:

• The novel reflects social and historical events, and in the story they serve only as a background for the story.
• The life of the characters in the novel is presented in a socio-psychological or historical context. And in a story, the image of the main character can only be revealed in certain circumstances.
• The novel has one main plot and several minor ones, which form a complex structure. The story in this regard is much simpler and is not complicated by additional plot lines.
• The action of the novel takes place in a large time period, and the story - in a very limited one.
• The novel's problems include a large number of issues, but the story touches on only a few of them.
• The heroes of the novel express ideological and social ideas, and in the story the inner world of the character and his personal qualities are important.

Novels and stories: examples

We list the works that are:

• "Belkin's Tales" (Pushkin);
• “Spring Waters” (Turgenev);
• “Poor Liza” (Karamzin).

Among the novels are the following:

• “The Noble Nest” (Turgenev);
• "The Idiot" (Dostoevsky);
• “Anna Karenina” (L. Tolstoy).

So, we found out how a novel differs from a story. In short, the difference comes down to the scale of the literary work.