STRUCTURAL AND NARRATIVE FEATURES OF CHARLES DICKENS'S SHORT STORIES

This paper examines the structural and narrative features of Charles Dickens’s short stories within the context of the formation and development of nineteenth-century English short fiction. Although Dickens is primarily recognized for his novels, his shorter prose works represent an important stage in the development of English short-story writing. The study focuses on selected short stories, including A Christmas Carol, The Signal-Man, and Doctor Marigold’s Prescriptions, with particular attention to their plot organization, narrative perspective, characterization, setting, temporal structure, and techniques of suspense. The analysis demonstrates that Dickens adapted and transformed conventional narrative patterns by combining concise plot structures with vivid characterization, framed narration, supernatural elements, and social observation. His short fiction also reveals a close interaction between narrative form and thematic concerns, particularly social inequality, isolation, morality, memory, and human relationships. The paper argues that Dickens’s experimentation with narrative structure and storytelling techniques contributed to the development of English short fiction in the nineteenth century and provided significant possibilities for the further evolution of the genre.