The form of Short story

 

Concept and definition of short story

an invented prose narrative shorter than a novel usually dealing with a few characters and aiming at unity of effect and often concentrating on the creation of mood rather than plot

short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters.

The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes. The form encourages economy of setting, concise narrative, and the omission of a complex plot; character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but is seldom fully developed. Despite its relatively limited scope, though, a short story is often judged by its ability to provide a “complete” or satisfying treatment of its characters and subject.

Before the 19th century the short story was not generally regarded as a distinct literary form. But although in this sense it may seem to be a uniquely modern genre, the fact is that short prose fiction is nearly as old as language itself. Throughout history humankind has enjoyed various types of brief narratives: jests, anecdotes, studied digressions, short allegorical romances, moralizing fairy tales, short myths, and abbreviated historical legends. None of these constitutes a short story as it has been defined since the 19th century, but they do make up a large part of the milieu from which the modern short story emerged.

Example of Short story - The last leaf

Elements of Short story 

1. Characters

In short stories, the number of characters are usually limited. They’ll have a main character or protagonist, whom you’ll meet at a crucial stage in his or her life. You may only know a couple of his or her qualities. The other people who appear in the story are generally the minor characters.

2. Narrator

You must not confuse the narrator here with the author. In a short story, a narrator is the voice that tells the story. Narrators in short stories are purely fictional.

3. Setting

Because of the limited length of short stories, it is rather unusual to have many settings in them. A setting is the time and place where the events in the story take place. As a short story covers a shorter time span, its setting can be directly stated or implied.

4. Events

Events are the facts in the story that form the storyline and drive the action forward. The way the narrator arranges and presents the events is described as the plot. Mostly, the short stories have one main plot without the presence of any sub-plots. There’s no room for sub-plots in a short story.

5. Closure

A closure is the ending of the narrative. If it solves the problem or issue in the story, it closes the ending. If the situations are left unresolved, the ending is considered open. In this case, the short story ends with the climax.

The form of Novella

Concept of Novella 

Novella, short and well-structured narrative, often realistic and satiric in tone, that influenced the development of the short story and the novel throughout Europe. Originating in Italy during the Middle Ages, the novella was based on local events that were humorous, political, or amorous in nature; the individual tales often were gathered into collections along with anecdotes, legends, and romantic tales.

A work of fiction between 20,000 and 49,999 words is considered a novella. Once a book hits the 50,000 word mark, it is generally considered a novel. (However, a standard novel is around 80,000 words, so books between 50,000 to 79,999 words may be called short novels.) A novella is the longest of the short fiction forms, granting writers freedom for an expanded story, descriptions, and cast of characters, but still keeping the condensed intensity of a short story. Modern trends generally seem to be moving away from publishing novellas. Novellas are more commonly published as eBooks in specific genres, especially romance, sci-fi, and fantasy.

Differences between novel and novella

Novellas have less pages and words than that of novels. The more obvious difference is that novellas have fewer subplots and conflicts than full length novels. The main narrative of a novella resembles with a straight line and does not use complicated and indirect plot lines, back stories, and multiple points of views. Unlike novels, novellas usually do not have chapters. It is mostly concerned with emotional and personal development of the characters rather than dealing with a larger social sphere and events that usually takes place in one place or location.

Example # 1

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Heart of Darkness is a strictly controlled novella, with a classic status, describing a story of late nineteenth century about imperialistic and colonialist process. This novella focuses on the search of the central character, Kurtz, who goes too far for exploitation of the natives for the sake of an ivory trade. Conrad’s readers plunge deeper into the horror of darkness to see what happened after the invasion of the Europeans.

Example # 2

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The Turn of the Screw is a good example of a classic novella. It is, in fact, a ghost story that challenges an easy interpretation. The story is about a governess living in a remote house, taking care of two kids, who are horrified by former dead employees. However, no one knows the truth. The story is filled with complexities such as its central issue is the reliability of the narrator, who tells this story. This story can be said a self-conscious and subtle exploration of a traditional horrible domestic theme about Victorian culture, drenched in social and sexual unease.

Example # 3

Billy Budd by Herman Melville

Billy Bud is a novella that tells the story of a tragic incident happens at sea. This is an adaptation from a true occurrence. The story is a parable relating good and evil, nautical recasting of Fall, a reflection on political governance and justice, and finding reality of three persons trapped in a dangerous triangle. Billy is an innocent and handsome, Claggett a cruel tormentor, and third one is Captain Vere, who needs to judge the conflict going on between them. The author has interpreted this narrative in Biblical terms, used Christian allegory, and represented male homosexual desires and what mechanisms are to be chosen to prohibit this desire.

Example # 4

Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

Death in Venice is a wonderful classic novella. It is an amazingly condensed story about the relationship between life and art and life and death. Venice sets background of this story. It is based on a renowned German writer, who is following unusual routines, falling for a young lad, and getting trapped in a slight downward twist of indulgence. The construction of this novella follows the framework of Greek tragedy in which author has used unity of form, motives and themes superbly.

The form of Novel

 

novel, an invented prose narrative of considerable length and a certain complexity that deals imaginatively with human experience, usually through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting. 

Dramatic Monologue

 Definition 

Dramatic monologue refers to a type of poetry. These poems are dramatic in the sense that they have a theatrical quality; that is, the poem is meant to be read to an audience. To say that the poem is a monologue means that these are the words of one solitary speaker with no dialogue coming from any other characters.