Short story genre in Russian literary studies of the second half of the 20th - the beginning of the 21st centuries

The article analyzes the main trends in the perception of the short story genre in Russian literary studies of the 2nd half of the 20th - the beginning of the 21st centuries. The analysis is based on the articles by V. V. Kozhinov, A. A. Ninov, G. N. Pospelov in literary dictionaries, encyclopedias, as well as research of V. Yu. Grechnev, I. N. Sukhikh, V. P. Skobelev, S. V. Tarasova, E. A. Abashkina, which actualizes the genre specifics of a short story in Russian literature, its fundamental features and typology within the genre. The study is focused on such features of the story as its small size, a limited number of characters, the peculiarities of a plot defined by one event, the specifics of artistic time continuum and space, a specific form of narration, the concentration of artistic means, and the illusion of oral narration. We have determined the positions of researchers in understanding the relationship between a short story and a novel. The works of modern literary critics M. V. Kudrina and P. G. Zhirunov allows us to confirm that the main scientific strategies in the field of story studies are aimed at further research of the typology within short story as a non-canonical genre, as well as differentiation of the categorical features of a short story.