The Genre of the Story-Parables in Prose by V.I. Dal

Abstract

The article substantiates the definition of the genre of Dal’s stories and novellas as a story-parable that carries a lesson about the laws of human life. In Dal’s prose emphasis is not so much on the exact external “physiognomy” of human types, but on the deep moral and existential content that is revealed to the reader with their help. The genre specificity of Dal’s prose reflects his Christian worldview, which is similar to the popular one and enriched with reflection and a special artistic gift of the writer. The author of the article demonstrates the reason for the inadequate perception of Dal’s prose in N. Chernyshevsky’s critical assessments. In addition, he refutes the frequent statement that Dal’s “Pictures from Russian Life,” which were to allegedly cover the entire national life, were scattered into fragmented sketches and were not permeated with a single thought. In fact, these “pictures,” although extremely diverse in their subject matter due to the diversity of life itself, are internally clearly united in their general meaning. Dal selected bright stories, generally reflecting the general moral life of the Russian people from the most positive side. Each of these stories carries a deep Christian meaning: in each of them there is a person overcoming or paying his sin, as well as repentance and a general transfiguration and renewal of the soul. Sometimes he shows also the heroic features of the national character. In Dal’s stories-parables an indication of the inner complexity, the dialectic of life, always full of internal contradictions and incomprehensibility, often appears. Dal was the author who accepted the need for updating the genre of the parable. This need was due to the fact that the reader wanted to preserve the genres of traditional culture (fairy tales and parables), but in a new literary form.