Genre

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A genre [ˈʒã:rə], (French: "kind" or "sort") is a division of a particular form of art or utterance according to criteria particular to that form. In all art forms, genres are vague categories with no fixed boundaries. Genres are formed by sets of conventions, and many works cross into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. The scope of the word "genre" is usually confined to art and culture, particularly literature. In genre studies the concept of genre is not compared to originality. Rather, all works are recognized as either reflecting on or participating in the conventions of genre.

1 Subgenre
2 Generic conventions
3 Genre and audiences
4 "Hierarchy of Genres"
5 Genre in philosophy
6 See also
- 6.1 Genre articles by field
- 6.2 Lists of media by genre
7 Relevant links

[edit] Subgenre

Genres are never divided into subgenres. Literature, for instance, can be organized according to the "poetic genres" and the "prose genres". Poetry might then be subdivided into epic, lyric, and dramatic. Further subdivisions of dramatic poetry might include comedy, tragedy, melodrama, while comedy itself has subgenres, including farce, comedy of manners, burlesque, satire, and so on. However, any of these terms would be called "genre", and its possible more general terms implied.

Science fiction has perhaps more generally recognized subgenres than many other fields of literature.^{[citation needed]} A science fiction story may be rooted in real scientific possibilities as they are understood at the time of writing (see Hard science fiction), or be highly and speculatively imaginative tales set in an extraterrestrial civilization, a parallel universe, an alternate history, or outright fantasy, all recognized subgenres of science fiction. A more general term, coined by Robert A. Heinlein, is "speculative fiction," an umbrella term covering all such genres that depict alternate realities. Thus, even fiction that depicts innovations ruled out by current scientific theory, such as stories about or based on faster-than-light travel, may still be classified as science fiction. More recently, the term science fantasy, which covers stories which have elements of both hard science and fantasy, has come into play as a subgenre.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Generic conventions

This term describes traditions for each genre people. These conventions help to define each genre; for example, they differentiate between an essay and journalistic writing or an autobiography and political writing.

[edit] Genre and audiences

Although most genres are often only vaguely definable, genre considerations are one of the most important factors in determining what a person will see or read. Many genres have built-in audiences and corresponding publications that support them, such as magazines and websites. Books and movies that are difficult to categorize into a genre are often less successful commercially.

Genre has generated interest in categorization of web pages. When genre is applied in this media the audience is really unknown and consequently genres or, in this case, cybergenres, are very difficult to identify. Cataloging cybergenre is problematic and various attempts have resulted in thousands of potential cybergenres. Of most interest are those genres that arise with the rise of the internet, that do not exist in an earlier media, like home pages, blogs, FAQ's. Some search engines like Vivisimo try to group found web pages into categories in an attempt to show various genres the search hits might fit.

[edit] "Hierarchy of Genres"

In the field of painting, there exists a "hierarchy of genres" associated with the Académie française which once held a central role in academic art. These genres in hierarchical order are:

These categories played an important role between the 17th century and the modern era, when painters and critics began to rebel against the many rules of the Académie française, including the Académie's preference for history painting.

[edit] Genre in philosophy

The concept of "genre" has played a notable role among philosophers of language, figuring very prominently in the works of philosopher and literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin. Bakhtin's basic observations were of "speech genres" (the idea of heteroglossia), modes of speaking or writing that people learn to mimic, weave together, and manipulate (such as "formal letter" and "grocery list", or "university lecture" and "personal anecdote"). The work of Georg Lukács also touches on the nature of literary genres, appearing separately but around the same time (1920s–1930s) as Bakhtin.