RAQAMLI TRANSFORMATSIYA SHAROITIDA SUN’IY INTELLEKTNI RIVOJLANTIRISH VA
ZAMONAVIY MATEMATIKANI O‘QITISH MUAMMOLARI VA YECHIMLARI
543
DRABBL GENRE IN UZBEK AND RUSSIAN LITERATURE: ON THE EXAMPLE OF
THE WORKS OF ANTON CHEKHOV AND ABDULLA QAHHOR
ANNAYEVA LOLA RASULOVNA
Pedagogical Skill Centre of Kashkadarya region Senior teacher of the chair “Methodology of
teaching languages” lola.annayeva@mail.ru
+998912148881
Abstract:
The article analyzes the artistic and aesthetic features of the drabble as a distinct
form of short prose in Russian and Uzbek literature. Through a comparative analysis of Anton
Chekhov’s and Abdulla Qahhor’s literary heritage, the study reveals the formation, development,
and literary-aesthetic potential of short story genres. The research extensively discusses the depth of
content, brevity of form, and literary significance of the drabble genre, highlighting both similarities
and differences between the two authors’ works.
Keywords:
drabble, short story, genre, Anton Chekhov, Abdulla Qahhor, microgenre,
Russian literature, Uzbek literature.
Introduction.
In modern literature, the compactness of artistic forms, high concentration of
content, and laconic expression of ideas are becoming increasingly relevant. In an era of
overwhelming information flow, attracting the reader's attention through short but meaningful texts
has become one of the important directions of the literary process. In this regard, the formation and
development of the microgenre called “drabble” deserves special attention in literary studies.
Drabble, defined as a 100-word mini-story, is essentially a condensed form of the classic narrative
genre, striving to express reality with maximum impact in a minimum volume.
This article analyzes the manifestation of this microgenre in Russian and Uzbek literature, its
artistic characteristics, harmony of form and content, and aesthetic impact. In this regard, a
comparative study of the creative heritage of A.P. Chekhov and A. Qahhor serves to determine how
the genre boundaries of short prose are determined. While Chekhov occupied an important place in
Russian literature through his miniature stories rich in psychological subtlety, Qahhor is a writer
who raised the short form to a high artistic level in Uzbek realistic prose.
This article aims to reveal the similarities and differences between the stories of A.P.
Chekhov and A. Qahhor within the framework of genre and style, by identifying the principles of
formation, literary-functional tasks and aesthetic value of drabble. Thus, it allows us to interpret the
microgenre of drabble in a national and general literary context, and to determine the place and
significance of the short form in modern artistic thought.
Literature review on the topic
In modern literary criticism, the transformation of the genre system, especially the evolution
of the short story genre, has been the focus of many scientific studies. The research of the Russian
literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin is of particular importance in the formation of theoretical approaches
to the short story genre and its small forms. In his opinion, the expressiveness and aesthetic power
of speech are more pronounced in small genres than in large genres. Bakhtin directly connects the
short story genre with the human mind and its speech activity, and believes that small forms reflect
the inner world of a person more vividly and deeply. (Baxtin, 1975).
Yuri Lotman also made a significant contribution to the analysis of the features of prose in
small forms. In his research, Lotman considers the story and its mini-forms as a separate type of
artistic communication. According to Lotman, small genres are the most condensed form of the
system of signs from a semiotic point of view. Lotman also emphasizes that each element in the
story, especially in a compact form, carries a large semantic load, and this compactness has a strong
emotional impact on the reader (Lotman, 1998).
Russian literary critic Dmitry Likhachev, in his theoretical considerations on short forms,
emphasizes that the main feature of short texts is conciseness and clarity. Likhachev cites the ability
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to convey the author’s idea concisely and effectively as the main artistic advantage of short stories.
According to his views, Chekhov’s work brought this genre to a new level and introduced a modern
model of short stories into literature (Lixachev, 1989).
One of the prominent scholars who conducted research on the compact forms of the short
story genre and their characteristics in Uzbek literary studies is Ozod Sharafiddinov. According to
Sharafiddinov, small forms of the short story genre, especially in the work of Abdulla Qahhor,
initiated a new stage of formation. While studying Qahhor’s work, he particularly notes the writer’s
skill in expressing reality in a compact form and revealing big ideas through images in a minimal
text. Sharafiddinov emphasizes that Qahhor’s stories demonstrate the potential of the small genre
and directly connects his work with Chekhov’s creative style (Sharafiddinov, 1967).
Also, the well-known literary critic and critic Ibrohim Gafurov puts forward important
considerations in his study of Abdulla Qahhor's stories. In his opinion, the brevity and conciseness
of Qahhor's stories were considered an artistic novelty for our national literature. He connects this
feature of the writer with inspiration from Chekhov's style and puts forward the need for a
comparative study of the genre of short stories in Russian and Uzbek literature (G‘afurov, 1974).
Another Uzbek literary critic, Umarali Normatov, who has studied Qahhor’s work more
extensively, analyzes the place of short stories in Uzbek literature, giving a detailed account of their
literary and aesthetic function and social content. According to his research, Qahhor managed to
subtly observe and describe socio-psychological situations in society through short stories. These
features had a significant impact on the development of the short story genre in Uzbek literature and,
under the influence of Russian literature, raised it to a new level.(Normatov, 2012).
In general, the ideas and theoretical views put forward by the above-mentioned researchers
serve as the basis for a comparative analysis of the features of the drabble genre in the works of A.P.
Chekhov and Abdulla Qahhor and allow us to correctly understand the place and role of short
stories in literature.
Research methodology.
The study used a comparative-analytical method, in which mainly
short stories by A.P. Chekhov and A. Qahhor were studied based on text analysis. The data were
obtained from scientific sources on literary studies and the original works of the authors, and their
genre, content and formal features were analyzed and summarized using a comparative method.
Analysis and results.
The genre of the story, by its very nature, is a genre that expresses the
complex, multi-layered content of a literary work in a small form. The development of small forms
of the story, including the genre of mini-stories, which are now called “drabbles”, is of particular
historical and theoretical importance in both Russian and Uzbek literature. The drabble genre is a
short story form consisting of exactly 100 words, emdiving a complete event, situation or mental
experience, and is becoming increasingly widespread in modern literature. However, the main
features of this genre are directly related to the short stories formed in classical literature, in
particular, in the works of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov in Russian literature and Abdulla Qahhor in
Uzbek literature. Therefore, this study deeply analyzes the aesthetic, stylistic and substantive
aspects of the short stories of both writers.
Anton Chekhov is recognized as a writer who brought the short form of the story to a new
level in Russian literature. The short and concise form in Chekhov’s stories serves to clearly express
his artistic purpose. In his works, genre elements such as plot development, character development,
and conclusion are contained in a very short volume. For example, stories such as “After Death”,
"Chameleon", and “Tears Through Laughter” are especially characteristic in this regard. The main
genre feature of Chekhov’s stories is the minimal amount of detail, but in a very impressive way,
reflecting the reality and situations being described. Through the short story form, he manages to
express the subtleties of the human psyche and the contradictions of relationships in society.
Another important feature of Chekhov’s work is the conciseness of the image, which shows
an important problem in reality, but not openly, but hidden under the image. In this regard, his
stories often have a symbolic and multi-layered content. For example, the story “Vanka” briefly
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expresses the sad drama of childhood, while “The Sixth Ward” shows social inequality and moral
weakness in a deeply symbolic sense. Dialogues are also of particular importance in Chekhov’s
work: the dialogues in his short stories are distinguished by their conciseness and are an important
means of revealing images.
Abdulla Qahhor is recognized as a creator who made a significant contribution to the
development of the short story genre in Uzbek literature. One of the most important aspects of
Qahhor’s stories is his ability to vividly and accurately describe the daily life of Uzbek society and
the spiritual world of people in a concise form. His short stories such as “Sinchalak”, “O‘g‘ri (A
thief)”, “Anor (A pomegranate)” are unique examples of Uzbek literature in terms of their
conciseness and expressiveness inherent in the short form. The method of reflecting the richness of
reality in the short form in Qahhor’s stories is especially in harmony with the traditions of folk oral
art.
The technique of creating images in Qahhor’s short stories is also noteworthy. He manages
to create memorable images even in very short stories. For example, in the story “The Patient”,
Qahhor expresses the inner state of the patient through a very short but touching image, revealing
his character. Also, the dialogues in his works are short and concise, and they are often the main
stylistic tool in revealing characters and situations. The brevity of the dialogues also shows the
harmony of Qahhor’s work with Chekhov.
One of the common aspects of Chekhov and Qahhor’s work is the harmony of volume and
content in the form of a short story. Both writers manage to reveal major social and spiritual
problems through a compact form. However, there are also stylistic differences. While Chekhov’s
stories often focus on internal psychological contradictions and their deep philosophical and moral
interpretation, Qahhor’s stories are more clearly characterized by a realistic representation of reality
and socio-critical aspects. Also, while Chekhov’s work has a stronger symbolic content and
psychologism, Qahhor’s reflects these aspects in harmony with realism.
Although the 100-word story form characteristic of the drabble genre is not directly present
in the works of Chekhov and Qahhor, the short stories of these writers serve as the foundation for
the modern development of the drabble genre. It is the experience of these classic writers that
played a major role in the formation of such features as deep content, conciseness, and
expressiveness in the short form. The modern drabble genre, in turn, further develops these
experiences, expanding the possibilities of maximum expression of thought through a minimalist
form.
Thus, the short stories in the works of Anton Chekhov and Abdulla Qahhor played an
important role in the development of the genre in Russian and Uzbek literature, and are the main
source for the formation and development of microgenres such as drabble. A comparative analysis
of the creative style of these two writers will provide a deeper understanding of the artistic
possibilities of the short story genre and reveal its role and significance in literature.
Conclusions and suggestions
Analysis of the formation and development of short stories in Russian and Uzbek literature,
especially the drabble genre, using the work of Anton Chekhov and Abdulla Qahhor as an example
shows that the main strength of the short story genre is manifested in its formal compactness, depth
of content, and artistic and aesthetic impact. These two writers, using the minimal forms of the short
story genre, revealed the possibilities of expressing major social and psychological problems at a
high artistic level.
While Chekhov breathed new life into the genre of short stories in Russian literature through
psychological symbolic expression and internal dramatism, Qahhor raised the short story to a high
artistic level in Uzbek literature, in harmony with the traditions of realism. Their creative experience
also directly influences the development of modern microgenres such as drabble today. Thus, short
stories, with their compact and concise form, are increasingly taking a wider place in modern
literature, opening up new research prospects for literary studies.
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