Opowiadania Gustawa Herlinga-Grudzińskiego (podstawowe zagadnienia genologiczne)

Abstract

Works by Gustaw Herling-Grudziński analyzed in this article evoke various questions as to their genetic structure, although they are usually regarded as stories. However, they realize the genetic structure of a story as their primary structure, which explains why the term "story" is used in the articie instead oi "novella" or "short narrative form”. The novella, as a historical genre form, becomes a negative reference point for the definition oi a short story presented by the author. The short story as a literary genre is less consistent than a novella in terms of composition, it is "open" in a specific way which allows for the introduction of various literary forms. Some of its genetic features, also present in the works by Herling, are as follows: the narrator and the narrative situation are exposed, there is a tendency to objectify the text and make lyrical, the sequence of events is loose (which is connected with the introduction of episodic plot, the presence oi digressions and descriptive as well as reilexive fragments), and, finally, the plot is open. Among those literary and extra-literary genres which modify the structure of Herlings stories one should mention the journalistic report, the essay and the parable.