What is the difference between a novel and a novel? Features of genres

In this article, we'll talk about how the novel differs from the story. To begin with, let's define these genres, and then compare them.

What is a novel and story ?

The novel is called a fairly large artistic prose work. This genre is epic. The main characters can be several, and their lives are directly related to historical events. In addition, the novel tells about the whole life of the characters or about some significant part of it.

The story is a literary work in prose, which usually tells about an important episode in the life of the hero. Acting characters are usually few, with the main is only one of them. Also, the volume of the story is limited and should not exceed about 100 pages.

Comparison

And yet how is the novel different from the story? Let's start with a novel form. So, this genre involves the image of large-scale events, the multidimensionality of the plot, a very large time frame, which includes the entire chronology of the narrative. The novel has one main storyline and several side-lines, which are closely interwoven into a composite whole.

The ideological component is manifested in the behavior of heroes, the disclosure of their motives. The novel's action takes place on a historical or everyday background, affecting a wide range of psychological, ethical and worldview problems.

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

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

The plot in the story is one, but it can have several unexpected turns that give it multidimensionality and depth. All actions are connected with the main character. In such works there are no clearly expressed links to history or socio-cultural events.

The problems of prose are much narrower than in the novel. Usually it is connected with morality, ethics, personal formation, the manifestation of personal qualities under extreme and unusual conditions.

The story is divided into sub-genres: detective, fantasy, historical, adventure, etc. Rarely in the literature one can find a psychological story, but satirical and fairy-tale ones are very popular.

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

Let's sum up:

• The novel reflects social and historical events, and in the story they serve only as a background for the narrative.
• The life of the characters of the novel appears in a socio-psychological or historical context. And in the story, the image of the protagonist can be revealed only in certain circumstances.
• In the novel there is one main story and several secondary ones that form a complex structure. The story in this regard is much simpler and is not complicated by additional story lines.
• The action of the novel occurs in a large time interval, and the story - in a very limited.
• Romance problems include a large number of questions, and the story touches 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

Let's list the works that are examples of stories:

• "The Story of Belkin" (Pushkin);
• "The spring waters" (Turgenev);
• "Poor Liza" (Karamzin).

Among the novels you can name the following:

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

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