Published May 30, 2026
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Temporal and spatial categories in short prose: unity within asymmetry
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The article investigates the interaction of temporal and spatial categories in short prose texts. Contrary to M. M. Bakhtin's concept of the chronotope, which postulates the inseparable unity of both categories, a categorical-textual analysis of 59 texts by three authors of contemporary Russian short prose (A. A. Matveeva, M. A. Kucherskaya, O. A. Slavnikova) reveals stable functional asymmetry at three levels: title marking strategies (compensatory temporal marking vs. generative spatial marking), the internal structure of the categorical field (temporal markers demonstrate greater authorial variability across types, whereas spatial markers exhibit greater structural stability), and the macro-composition of the collection. It is concluded that the chronotope in short prose constitutes a unity within asymmetry: the temporal category performs a coordinating function, the spatial — thematic and stabilizing functions. The sole locus of complete symmetry between the two categories is the incipit: in 91.5% of the texts it contains at least one chronotopic marker.
Keywords: temporal category; spatial category; chronotope; short prose; short story; categorical-textual analysis; compensatory marking; generative marking; A. A. Matveeva; M. A. Kucherskaya; O. A. Slavnikova
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