A Study on the Text Without Plot: M. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s “Morning at Khreptyugin” and I.Turgenev's “Conversation on the High Road”

This paper is devoted to study the text without plot: M. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s one-act play “Morning at Khreptyugin” and I. Turgenev's one-act play “Conversation on the High Road” are analyzed. Saltykov-Schedrin described the genre of “Morning at Khreptyugin” as dramatic sketch. It suggests that he made the depiction of social conditions as his intention. There is no motif in “Morning at Khreptyugin”; the relationship between the episodes is very loose, and each scene is independent of each other. There is no coherent subject in the dialogue, what leads to the absence of conflicts and events: “Morning at Khreptyugin” belongs to the text without plot. The characters gather in one space and talk, and in this respect, Saltykov-Schedrin’s one-act play belongs to the discussion model. In Turgenev's one-act play “Conversation on the High Road”, the dialogues of the characters are oriented neither towards motive and plan, nor towards a purpose or goal. There are no intrigue, conflict or event to achieve personal interests between the master, the servant and the coachman: This one-act play is the text without plot. The content of the play consists entirely of dialogues between the characters on the carriage; “Dialogue on the Main Road” belongs to a discussion model.