The narrative structure and the problem of the genre in I.S. Turgenev's “Father Alexey's story”

The epic genres in the works of I.S. Turgenev have always attracted literary critics. However, “Father Alexey's Story” was rarely the subject of research, as it was considered among the so-called “mysterious tales” by I.S. Turgenev. Even less often, when analyzing it, the narrative structure of the work was taken into account. Most researchers have bracketed the fact that this is a frame construction and a two-voiced word: the main subject of speech is not Father Alexey. The speech of this protagonist is represented not as an independent unfolded remark-confession, which arose in the conversation between the two characters (the narrator and Father Alexey), but in the retelling by this narrator. Thus, we are faced with a special case of a doublevoiced word: the inner word maintains clear boundaries here and does not mix with the voice of the main subject of speech - an anonymous narrator; moreover, it is included in the composition of the ambient utterance. At the same time, the word of Father Alexey loses dialogicity and requires no answer. In addition, Father Alexey is depicted in the work as a man completely different from all other rural priests. It is also important to take into account the distance (both spatial and temporal) with which the narration of the main subject of speech is conducted. The internal story, given in the words of Father Alexey and included in the statement of the anonymous narrator, is clothed in the genre form of the story: it is based on a cyclical plot, focused on parable stories, completed and evaluated from a higher, authoritative position. However, taking into account the narrative structure suggests that the “Father Alexey's Story” in terms of genre is not a story, but an artistic feature article, the purpose of which is to depict the psychological type of a person.