Characteristic features of story-telling in V.I. Dal's “All round narrative”

The article is concerned with two stories written by V.I. Dal’ - “All round narrative” and “Another all round narrative”, which constitute the so-called “uncollected” cycle of the author’s works. The composition structure of both works (closed-in-composition with expletive novellas narrated by different characters) provides for multiple background and versatile genres of narration. Participants of the “narratives” turn to a number of folklore genres: legends, remembrances, happenings, fairy tales about animals, popular fairy tales. The story telling in “all round narratives” is characterized by literary speech (due to well-educated characters) aimed to transfer folklore and popular plots. It is contrasted by the vernacular of a “commoner” - Kadnikov’s dialogue of the watchman. All in all, the manner of narration is dictated not as much by the stylistic means inherent to free speech (so characteristic of Dal’s fairy tales), but by the description of the narrative setting and presence of the active listeners.