If You Were a Literary Genre, Would You Be a Short Story or a Novel?
Your preference for a literary genre is probably defined by how you relate to space and time.
Among literary genres, the short story is the most biologic of them all. It is born, grows, reproduces and dies in a single breath. In a short and deep breath that is not panting like that of the novel, and is not succinct as that of the poem. The short story is an organic being, a seasonal plant.
But it is probable that the predilection for a literary genre is related to the spatiotemporal sense of each reader. There are those who feel more comfortable in a small room with high ceilings, and enjoy being there while a rain shower falls; and there are others who prefer open spaces, without limits or walls, and can enjoy the entire rain season from there. The first will feel more comfortable in the diegesis of the short story; the second in that of the novel. Short story lovers know that the intellectual commitment of reading a novel is always, as a trend, subject to disenchantment. Once the downpour is over, they will want to leave the room and occupy their minds in something else.
However, a story is just the tip of the iceberg. The rest happens when we leave the high-ceiling room and go out onto the street, carrying inside the ghost of that brief encounter with a simultaneous and contained world. An entire world in miniature. Some of the greatest storytellers of all time — Munro, Carver, Chekhov, Joyce, Irving, Foster Wallace, Borges, Poe or Mansfield— have made it clear that a good story requires the reader’s complicity, and in exchange, it will open a new realm for intuition.
In general terms, the greatest difference between the novel and the short story is that the latter requires the reader’s full attention; to each word and every phrase (it is recommended that you have nothing else to do). Paying attention, however, comes with a reward. As in life, each change in the plot, each inflection in the voice, each sentence, counts. Perhaps this will not lead us step by step to a world of comfort; but it will always grant us the promise of salvation or the risk of ruin. A good short story will unfailingly shake us.
Related Articles
Pictorial spiritism (a woman's drawings guided by a spirit)
There are numerous examples in the history of self-taught artists which suggest an interrogation of that which we take for granted within the universe of art. Such was the case with figures like
Astounding fairytale illustrations from Japan
Fairy tales tribal stories— are more than childish tales. Such fictions, the characters of which inhabit our earliest memories, aren’t just literary works with an aesthetic and pleasant purpose. They
A cinematic poem and an ode to water: its rhythms, shapes and textures
Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water. - John Keats Without water the equation of life, at least life as we know it, would be impossible. A growing hypothesis holds that water, including the
Watch beauty unfold through science in this "ode to a flower" (video)
The study of the microscopic is one of the richest, most aesthetic methods of understanding the world. Lucky is the scientist who, upon seeing something beautiful, is able to see all of the tiny
To invent those we love or to see them as they are? Love in two of the movies' favorite scenes
So much has been said already, of “love” that it’s difficult to add anything, much less something new. It’s possible, though, perhaps because even if you try to pass through the sieve of all our
This app allows you to find and preserve ancient typographies
Most people, even those who are far removed from the world of design, are familiar with some type of typography and its ability to transform any text, help out dyslexics or stretch an eight page paper
The secrets of the mind-body connection
For decades medical research has recognized the existence of the placebo effect — in which the assumption that a medication will help produces actual physical improvements. In addition to this, a
The sea as infinite laboratory
Much of our thinking on the shape of the world and the universe derives from the way scientists and artists have approached these topics over time. Our fascination with the mysteries of the
Sharing and collaborating - natural movements of the creative being
We might sometimes think that artistic or creative activity is, in essence, individualistic. The Genesis of Judeo-Christian tradition portrays a God whose decision to create the world is as vehement
John Malkovich becomes David Lynch (and other characters)
John Malkovich and David Lynch are, respectively, the actor and film director who’ve implicitly or explicitly addressed the issues of identity and its porous barriers through numerous projects. Now