Narratorless narratives

Several short story writers have written texts in the form of a short play. It can be questioned whether such a text can legitimately be called a narrative. The dramatic character is dubious since they are obviously designed for reading rather than stage presentation. If they appear in short story collections or as parts of a novel, the narrative context also acts against their dramatic character. Zoltán Ambrus’ books, Baron Berzsenyi and His Family and The Berzsenyi Girls’ Twelve Fiancés, contain such texts. Several stage directions indicate an undramatic character. The paper highlights strategies that make the texts narratives rather than playlets. These include showing one moment of a plot from which readers can see a longer development, using one partner in the dialogue as an ‘intradiegetic’ narrator who tells a story, amplifying stage directions into narrative passages, and showing two or three distinct scenes, which a reader can interpret as parts of a bigger story. By using these tools, Ambrus’ texts acquire a narrative character despite the form of a play.