A novel in verse: poetics of intermediate form

Abstract

At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, the genre system restructuring and the leading role of the novel in the literary process leads to the novelization of genres and the emergence of hybrid forms, the internal measure of which is determined by the interaction of different kinds of strategies and techniques. The object of the article is a novel in verse as a result of the novelization of the lyric epic poem, whose status since its emergence has been problematic for both literature and literary studies. The article provides a brief overview of the novel in verse history, the variety of its definitions and themes, it analyses its leading genre features, and attempts to show how the novel and lyric transform each other within this form. The novel in verse is regarded as a literary genre, where the complex multilevel interaction of the prose and poetic word under the influence of the processes of the ready-made word decay and novelization becomes a genre-forming principle. It is concluded that the result of such complex inter-genre interaction is a change in the understanding of the poetic, and the phenomenon of the genre itself accompanies the novel formation, participating in its search for its internal measure, and reflects literature large-scale search for a “reconciliatory” form in the conditions of the value crisis.