Essential Literary Terms: Genres

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Essential Literary Terms Genres

• Novels, Short Stories, Poetry

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Fiction

• Fiction is any narrative, whether in verse or
  prose, about invented characters and events
• Fiction encompasses three major genres
• The novel
• The short story
• The novella

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Common Traits

• All three genres share certain traits
• They focus on a character or characters that
  interact in a given social setting
• They are narrated from a particular point of view
• They are based on some sort of plot
• The predominant tone may be comic, tragic,
  satiric, or romantic

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The Novel

• Much more complex than the short story due to its
  length and scope
• A major forerunner of the novel is Miguel de
  Cervantess Don Quixote (1605)
• In English literature, the novel as we know it
  was introduced in the 18th century
• Some distinctive works include Daniel Defoes
  Robinson Crusoe (1719), Samuel Richardsons
  Pamela (1740), and Henry Fieldings Tom Jones
  (1749)

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Genres of Novels

• Novel of Incident
• the main focus is on the course and outcome of
  events in the plot
• Novel of Character
• the primary interest is in the protagonists
  thoughts, feelings, and motives and in the ways
  that the characters develop.

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Genres of Novels

• Realistic Novel
• The predominant type
• Depicts a fictional world that closely resembles
  the events, social interactions, settings,
  motivations, and feelings encountered in everyday
  life.
• Romance Novel
• Focuses on characters that are less
  three-dimensional and more likely to be depicted
  as either heroic or villainous
• Often the protagonist is isolated and outside the
  mainstream because of his or her iconoclastic
  convictions or extraordinary goals
• The setting is either heightened or distanced in
  a way that distinguishes it from the ordinary and
  the familiar
• Usually revolves around a quest
• Events may be exaggerated or melodramatic
• Often dreamlike or mythical

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Genres of Novels

• The Bildungsroman
• Depicts the intellectual and emotional
  development of the protagonist from childhood
  into adulthood
• The Historical Novel
• Set in a time, and often, a place removed from
  the period and location in which it was written
• Typically describes the atmosphere and mores of
  the past setting in vivid detail and depicts the
  influence of those historical factors on the
  characters and events

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Genres of Novels

• Epistolary Novel
• Comprised of a series of letters between
  characters
• Antinovel
• A work that derives its effects from eschewing
  such standard features of the genre as coherent
  plot, established setting, and sustained
  character development

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Genres of Novels

• Metafiction
• Incorporates into the narrative the process by
  which the author creates the work and the ways
  that the reader responds to it
• Addresses the reader as a confidante

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Short Story

• Shorter than the novel with fewer characters,
  focusing on the protagonist
• Simpler plot, usually centered on a single major
  conflict
• Limited depiction of setting
• Edgar Allan Poe stated that a short story could
  be defined as, a work that could be read in one
  session of no more than two hours

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Short Story

• Originated with narratives in the Old and New
  Testaments
• Inspired by oral forms such as the folktale and
  the fable and by collections of tales such as The
  Arabian Nights and The Canterbury Tales
  (1387-1400)
• The modern short story emerged in the early 19th
  century

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Novella

• Falls between the novel and the short story in
  both length and complexity
• May be substantial enough to be published in a
  separate volume, like a novel, or, in other
  circumstances, concise enough to be included in a
  collection of other short pieces

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Poetry

• A poem is a composition written for performance
  by the human voice (Jon Stallworthy)
• Responding to a poem fully requires not only
  understanding the sense of the words but also
  perceiving the ways that their sounds, rhythms,
  and arrangement interact
• One of the most valuable means of access is to
  hear the poem read aloud
• There are three main categories
• Epic
• Dramatic
• Lyric

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Epic Poetry

• An epic is a long narrative poem on a serious and
  exalted subject, usually recounting the exploits
  of a cultural hero
• They combine legend, oral history, and moral
  exemplum to inspire and guide future generations
• Began as oral performances, chanted or sung to
  the accompaniment of an instrument like the lyre

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Dramatic Poetry

• Dramatic poetry is that in which the writer
  creates the voice of an invented character or
  characters
• In its simplest form it is a monologue
• The most complex form of dramatic poetry is the
  full-length verse play, in which multiple
  speakers are given distinctive voices

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Lyric Poetry

• Lyric poetry is the most varied and widespread
  kind of poetry
• An individual speaker expresses what he or she
  feels, perceives, and thinks
• Includes sonnets and odes
• The speaker is not the author, but an invented
  character
• Usually short

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Dramatic Monologue

• A dramatic monologue is a poem that is spoken by
  a fictional narrator who is clearly different
  from the author in age, situation, or gender
• Set at some significant point in the speakers
  life, and it is often addressed to another
  character, whose presence is implied by what the
  speaker says
• The major purpose is for the speaker to reveal
  significant aspects of his or her qualities,
  values, and experiences, which are inferred by
  the reader

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Epigram

• An epigram is a witty saying either in verse or
  prose, concisely phrased and often satiric
• What is an Epigram? A dwarfish wholeIts body
  brevity, and wit its soul
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Originated in ancient Greece where it was a brief
  verse intended for inscription on a monument,
  such as a tombstone or a building

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Aphorism

• Easily confused with the epigram
• A terse statement on a serious subject
• The Old and New Testaments are full of aphorisms
• The love of money is the root of all evil
• How sharpest than a serpents tooth/It is to have
  a thankless child

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Satire

• Satire is a genre of comedy that is directed at
  ridiculing humanity and its vices such as vanity,
  hypocrisy, stupidity, and greed
• Differs from pure comedy in that the aim is not
  simply to evoke laughter, but to expose and
  censure such faults, often with the aim of
  correcting them

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Satire

• Direct Satire (Formal)
• The first-person narrator addresses a specific
  audience, either the reader or an invented
  listener, whom he or she expects will sympathize
  with the views expressed
• Indirect Satire
• The usual mode of ridicule in satiric plays and
  fiction
• Not cast in the form of direct address to the
  audience
• The indictment of the characters vices and
  follies is implied by simply representing their
  thoughts, words, and actions

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Satire

• Horatian Satire
• Tolerant and urbane, indulgently mocking faults
  with the aim of evoking wry amusement rather than
  repulsion or indignation in the audience
• Juvenalian satire
• Harsh and censorious, bitterly condemning vices
  and foibles and inciting the audience to feelings
  of indignation and even disgust

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The Novel