1.2. Literary Genres

Below are some definitions for the terms genre and literary genre.

• genre n 1: a kind of literary or artistic work 2: a style of expres­sing yourself in writing [syn: writing style, literary genre] 3: a class of artistic endeavor having a characteristic form or technique. Dictionary.com

• literary genre n: a style of expressing yourself in writing [syn: writing style, genre] Dictionary.com

• A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or subject matter (content). ErWiki, free encyclopedia.

So what do we mean when we talk about literary genres? Dividing literary works into genres is a way of classifying them into particular categories. At the highest level literature is classified as either Fiction (about things, events and characters which are not true) or Nonfiction (about things, events and people which are based on fact).

We then classify Fiction into categories that tell us something about the form of the work. For example:

• poetry

• drama (plays)

• prose (ordinary writing)

We also classify Fiction according to technique (layout) and style. For example, we have:

• picture books (contains words and pictures)

• game books (require the reader to problem-solve and actively engage in an activity while reading)

• novellas (short novels)

• short stories (much shorter than a novella)

• novels

We also have books that are classified by content and theme. For example:

adventure stories science fiction fantasy crime and mystery thriller western travel literature spy fiction political thriller

horror romance human relations historical fiction psychological fiction erotic fiction family saga fable fairy tale

These categories aren't always clear-cut. You can have a crime/mys­te­ry story set in the future (science fiction) or in the past (historical fiction).

Functional Styles and Types of Writing in Modern English Prose Fiction Writing (The Belles-lettres Style)

Prose consists of writing that does not adhere to any particular formal structures. Prosaic writing simply says something without necessarily trying to say it in a beautiful way, or using beautiful words. Narrative fiction generally favors prose for the writing of novels, short stories and the like. Length often serves to categorize works of prose fiction. Aesthetics is one the most important elements of human culture. Prose writing can provide aesthetic pleasure without adhering to poetic forms. Prose fiction writing also performs educational, infor­mational, hedonistic (entertaining), and evaluative functions. The freedom authors gain in not having to concern themselves with strict rules of structure translates often into a more complex plot or into one richer precise detail. This freedom also allows an author to experi­ment with many different literary styles in the scope of a single novel.

Any work of fiction is based on some principal elements. Any piece of fictional writing is unified by a structured plot. The plot is the sequence of events in a story. The plot serves the author to introduce the story’s characters, setting, and situation to the reader. The narrative hook of the plot marks the beginning of the intensified action which signifies the development of the basic conflict in the story. The rising action leads to the climax. Generally, the climax is the most powerful, exciting, or important part in a story, set of events, which usually comes near the end. It indicates the way in which the conflict between the characters is going to be solved. The falling action reveals the outcome of the climax, and the resolution brings the story to a logical conclusion. The plot also contains a lot of clues, sings of what is coming (foreshadowing details) that prepare the reader for the development of the plot.

Another essential feature of any work of fiction is describing the story’s characters. The characterization can be direct when the author directly states facts about a character’s personality. It can also be indirect, not straight that is achieved through the person’s speech, actions, and attitudes. Depending on how much information the reader is given about the story’s heroes, they can be either major (principle) or minor (secondary). Minor personages can be as important as major ones. Some characters seem very simple, others are complex.

The settingof a story is a place and time in which the story unfolds. The details of the setting have an impact on the personages and the general development of the plot.

Focus on point of viewis performed through the voice of the narrator. The story can be written in the first or third person. The tone of the story reflects the author’s attitude toward particular subject.

Any work of fiction has a stated theme that is the main idea, the insight about life, existence that the author reveals in a story. This idea can be delivered to the reader both directly and indirectly.

Most successful stories are created when a writer employs various literary means to support the main idea of the story, to enhance the esthetic effect upon the reader. Authors tend to focus readers’ attention on such powerful devices as a literary symbol, irony, paradox, humour, satire, and fantasy.

Phonetic means– sound reiteration, onomatopoeia (sound imitation), alliteration, euphony, consonance, dissonance, rhythm in prose.

Vocabulary means – the priority of concrete words as ‘artistic spe­ech concretization’, the unlimited choice of vocabulary (inclu­ding non-literary means, jargon and slang words), multi-stylistic cha­rac­ter, a wealth of synonyms and a variety of vocabulary, developed polysemy, no limits in the use of words, which belong to different functional stylistic groups of vocabulary, stylistic re­sour­ces of ‘combinatory semantics’ of language units, normative and irregular combinatory patterns, decorative and other func­tions of phraseology, decom­position of phraseology, rich, genuine imagery, the use of figures of speech or lexical stylistic devices, as a unique textual system.

Grammatical means of the language: in morphology a variety of stylistic effects of morphological forms and categories for ex­pres­sing ‘artistic speech concretization’, a specific use of aspect and temporal meanings of the verb, ‘verbal speech and plot development’ (increase in the role and currency of the verb), a special use of morphological categories of number, case, degrees of comparison for emphatic and emotive purposes; in syntax a variety of syntactical constructions, colloquial speech stylization. Means of expressive syntax: inversion, parallelism, antithesis, parcellation, gradation, detachment, different models of author and character speech presentation, different models of homo­geneous secondary parts of the sentence arrangement with the priority of double and triple patterns.

Compositional textual devices: a three-part compositional canon – introduction, the main part and the ending with a more complex model of prologue and epilogue; deviations from the canon and their stylistic importance, the plot development, the exposition, gradation, the climax and the outcome (the denouement), the exten­sive use of fore­grounding (coupling, antithesis, convergence, the effect of de­cei­ved expectancy), the effect of replenished expec­tancy, parallelism, irony, hyperbole as compositional devices.

The system of stylistic devices: the systemic use of imagery – textual, de­veloped and simple non-developed metaphors, meto­nymies, epit­hets, similes, hyperboles, litotes, puns, oxymorons, zeugmas, different in form (contact and distant) repetitions: anaphoras, epiphoras, framing, anadiplosis, chains, refrains.