Genre Study: "Recitatif"

Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” is a confusing story for a myriad of reasons, from its name to the ever-changing incident with Maggie. “Recitatif” is also complicated due to its inability to fit perfectly into commonly accepted definitions of a short story. Edgar Allen Poe describes a short story as a “unity of effect and impression,” and Brander Matthews adds to this definition by stating that a short story “shows one action, in one place, on one day. A Short-story deals with a single character, a single event, a single emotion, or the series of emotions called forth by a single situation.” Based on these definitions, “Recitatif” hardly seems like a short story with its multiple characters and events, but I think that if Poe’s and Matthews’ definitions are expanded, “Recitatif” does belong to the short story genre. 

The first way “Recitatif” differs from Matthews’ definition of a short story is with its two protagonists: Twyla and Roberta. While the story is narrated from Twyla’s perspective, Roberta is definitely a key figure and essential to the plot. If Matthews’ definition of a short story as a text that deals with a single character means that the story is narrated from only one character’s perspective, then “Recitatif” fits this criteria; however, if Matthews’ definition means that a short story should have only one main character central to the plot, then “Recitatif” does not fit his definition. Either way, I would expand his definition to allow short stories to have multiple protagonists, and while I think switching narrators within a short story could result in the story becoming too hard to understand, I think that authors should have free reign to include however many main characters they want in order to add depth to their story. 

Matthews’ next point, that a short story must deal with a single event, definitely excludes “Recitatif” from the short story genre. On this point, I disagree with Matthews completely; many of the short stories we have read this year include multiple settings and events, and the stories are better and more interesting because of it. After checking the list of short stories we have read this year, I realized we read more stories that have multiple settings than stories that take place in only one setting. In fact, restricting “Recitatif” to a single event would completely ruin the story. Twyla and Roberta’s relationship grows and changes over time, and this shift can only occur through Morrison’s evolving depiction of different scenes and events. 

Matthews’ last criteria states that a short story must deal with a single emotion or series of emotions from a single situation. Again, I think this definition is far too narrow to encompass the entire genre of the short story, and “Recitatif” complicates Matthews’ definition. Morrison’s story is extremely complex and there are conflicted emotions of distress and guilt over the incident with Maggie in the orchard, as well as the girls' similarly complicated relationship (they alternate between being great friends to berating each other on opposite sides of a protest). Forcing “Recitatif” to focus only on a single emotion would strip it of Morrison’s expert writing style. 

Overall, I would characterize “Recitatif” as a short story, despite the fact that it does not fit perfectly into Brander Matthews’ or Edgar Allen Poe’s definitions of what a short story should be. I would revise Matthews’ definition of a short story to include any fictional story with a length less than a novella (approximately a length that could be read in one sitting). Compared to poetry or novels, my definition of a short story would be a piece of writing of medium length -- longer than a poem, but shorter than a novel. This definition might seem too vague, but I think it is the only way to fairly encompass all the unique styles of short stories.