Not (Just) a Short Story

Short stories should not be understood as short stories, but as a separate sub-genre.

KOMPAS/SUPRIYANTO

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A fairly popular author once protested against a newspaper (literary) editor for publishing short stories - short stories which, according to him, could not be called short stories - because they only contained flowery poetic words, but has no story. He also emphasized that if the editor still wants to continue publishing this type of work, it would be best not to call it a short story because, according to him, a short story is a short story. The question is, is that true? Is it true that short stories have to have a story? So what does the story mean?

According to KBBI, a story is: 1) a narration that presents how a thing (event, incident, etc.) happened; 2) a written composition that tells about someone's actions, experiences, or sufferings; events, and so on (both real occurrences and mere creations); 3) a performance or show in moving pictures (play, puppetry, etc.); 4) nonsense; fiction (which is not true); talk.

However, of course the definition of story above is different from a story that is intended as prose. Prose generally has a story structure. At least that is what those who are active in story writing understand. And because short stories are part of prose, they must also have a story structure. Perhaps this is what the author meant, that short stories must follow the rules of story structure in the established sense: there is exposition, plot, conflict and resolution.

I somewhat disagree. Some short stories that I have read recently do not meet the criteria. These short stories do not have a clear story structure as mentioned above. There is no exposition, plot, conflict, and resolution that build its body. Even the premise is unclear - or rather, non-existent. However, these short stories are still classified as short stories.

Just take a look at the surrealism genre short stories or experimental short stories. These short stories are very difficult—if not impossible—to analyze their structure using established story structure theories. You might wonder why. Well, that is because the stakes are not on the story structure. The structure is not built to pursue the dramatic effect of the story but to pursue suggestive language effects or innovative form. These kinds of short stories often do not have a story at all or can be said to not have a story in the established sense.

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Take a look at Julian Barnes' short story titled "60/40: Cigarettes, Testicles, and Lucky Bastards," which cannot be said to have a story. This short story has no narrative. There is only a brief description at the opening and closing of the story. After that, there is only dialogue without any explanation of who is speaking or what they are saying. Not to mention, the number of characters involved in this short story is unknown simply by looking at the surface text.

At a glance, reading this short story will make you feel as if you are at a marketplace with your eyes closed. You are asked to stand and listen to people talking, but because your eyes are closed, you do not know who is speaking and what they are saying is unclear. The conversation jumps irregularly here and there. However, if you examine it more carefully, you can discover through the style of speaking, what is being talked about, and the greetings made by one character to another.

Then, what about the structure? Never mind the structure, the premise is not clear. However, as I said earlier, the stakes are not in the structure. The stakes are in three things: the narrator, the character of the crowd, and the discourse of power. This short story uses a personal narrator with a first person plural point of view (us) which is very rarely used. Then, through a polylogue, the "crowd character" is revealed. The character of the crowd can be seen through the unstructured conversations in the short story, the topic of conversation changes quickly, and there are no prominent individual characters. With a style like this, the theme being discussed becomes main. The thematic aspects in this short story are very strong and are developed to dismantle the power structures that emerge in society.

Next, there is a short story by Patricio Pron titled "Fence of Words". Patricio Pron is a Latin American (Argentina) writer of the magical post-realism generation. It can't be said that this short story has a plot. The story is composed of a series of panels that are divided into 9 disconnected panels. The narrator acts like a CCTV camera framing events that happened on a certain day and connects them into a sequence that the characters themselves are unaware of. This short story is rich in detail and without dialogue, truly resembling a CCTV camera.

The events in these short stories cannot be considered stories in the traditional sense - as there is no exposition, plot, conflict, and resolution. The essence of these short stories lies in their portrayal of big issues such as the cycle of life, sexuality, religious beliefs, loyalty, death, and creation. Mundane daily activities of modern humans are presented so vividly through juxtaposition.

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These two short stories are somewhat difficult to understand as stories in the established sense (there is plot, exposition, conflict and resolution). But can both of them be called short stories? Of course, I can. Eka Kurniawan once said, short stories are a space to express something that cannot be expressed in novels. Short stories are a space for him to experiment—something that seems difficult for Eka to do in novels. It can be seen in his seminal book Love Never Dies (GPU, 2018), Eka Kurniawan writes using a different style for each of his short stories. Although not completely experimental, Eka tried various forms to produce each short story in the collection.

Therefore, I think we need to rethink our understanding of short stories. Short stories should no longer be understood as just a short narrative - because there are many short stories that do not use established rules in structuring their plot. Therefore, short stories should be understood as a sub-genre in literature that cannot be categorized as poetry or novel. Short stories are no longer just short narratives.

Aliurridha, Lecturer at the Indonesian Language and Literature Education Study Program, University of Mataram. Active in the Akarbesar literary community.