COLEGIO NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA PAZ Asignature: English Teacher: Ana Luisa De Reichert Subject: Literary genre Non-fiction & Drama Student: Pilar Hernández 12° grade Presentation date: Thursday, july 24 of 2019 1 Index 1. Introduction…………………………………………….………….…....page 3 2. Content……………………….………………….…...……………..pages 4-14 2.1Definition and history……………….……………………......pages 4-5 2.2Types & characteristics…………….………………….….....pages 6-14 2.2.1 Poetry………………………….…………………..……....page 6-7 2.2.2 Nonfiction……………….………………….....….……….…page 7 2.2.3 Folklore…………………………………………....……….…page 8 2.2.4 Fiction…………………………………………………....…...page 9 2.2.5Drama……………………………………………….……page 10-14 3.Conclusion………………………………………………..….………...page 15 2 Introduction Literary genre is how we categorize literary composition which is an imaginative or creative writing. It has been so useful for all of the ones who are into the literary world, they give a structure and something to build on, while they offer audiences the pleasure of the familiar and ingenious diversion from it. With this research we’re digging in the literary genre’s history, its subgenres and everything it encompasses. Our objective is to dive into the literary genre which is an important part of the literature of the whole world, it gives us so many tools and it helps at the time that some writers want to write a novel or a piece, with this categorization system they can choose a genre and begin with their story focusing on that specific genre and developing it. 3 The word genre means "artistic category or style". When you use the term literary genre, you make it clear that you're talking about books and writing. The word genre is French, and it means "kind, sort, or style." A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even length. History of the Genres Genre began as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literature. Poetry (odes, epics, etc.), prose, and performance each had a specific and calculated style that related to the theme of the story. Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, and even actors were restricted to their genre under the assumption that a type of person could tell one type of story best. In later periods genres proliferated and developed in response to changes in audiences and creators. Genre became a dynamic tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictable art. Because art is often a response to a social state, in that people write/paint/sing/dance about what they know about, the use of genre as a tool must be able to adapt to changing meanings. Genre is embedded in culture but may clash with it at times. There are occasions in which a cultural group may not be inclined to keep within the set structures of a genre. Anthony Pare's studied Inuit social workers in "Genre and Identity: Individuals, Institutions and Ideology". In this study, Pare described the conflict between the genre of Inuit social workers' record keeping forms and the cultural values that prohibited them from fully being able to fulfill the expectations of this genre. Genre not only coexists with culture but also defines its very components. Genres abound in daily life and people often work within them unconsciously; people often take for granted their prominence and ever present residence in society. 4 A subgenre is a subordinate within a genre. Two stories being the same genre can still sometimes differ in subgenre. For example, if a fantasy story has darker and more frightening elements of fantasy, it would belong in the subgenre of dark fantasy; whereas another fantasy story that features magic swords and wizards would belong to the subgenre of sword and sorcery. A genre is a broad term that translates from the French to mean 'kind' or 'type.' In literature, there are some more defined genres. It is important to know which genre a piece of work falls into because the reader will already have certain expectations before he even begins to read. Genre, in broad terms, refers to any works that share certain characteristics. If enough characteristics are in common, then the pieces are said to be in the same genre. In literature, there are four main genres to help the reader focus their expectations for the piece, though these genres can be broken down even further. Numerous literary genres exist to broaden knowledge and entertain Back in ancient Greece, literature was divided into two main categories: tragedy and comedy. Nowadays the list of possible types and literature genres can seem endless. But it is still possible to narrow down the vast amount of literature available into a few basic groups. The five genres of literature students should be familiar with are Poetry, Drama, Prose, Nonfiction, and Folklore—each of which is explained in more detail below. For example, prose is a broader term that includes both drama and non-fiction. 5 Types & Characteristics of Genres: ● Poetry: writing concerned with the beauty of language. • Imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response • Imagery, word association, and the musical qualities of the language used. Example: Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man. (Homer, The Odyssey) The Greek poet Homer wrote some of the ancient world’s most famous literature. He wrote in a style called epic poetry, which deals with gods, heroes, monsters, and other large-scale “epic” themes. Homer’s long poems tell stories of Greek heroes like Achilles and Odysseus, and have inspired countless generations of poets, novelists, and philosophers alike. A main literary genre is poetry. All poems share specific characteristics. For example, poetry is written in lines and stanzas instead of sentences and paragraphs. Some poems follow strict rules as to the number and length of lines and stanzas, whereas many poems are much more free-flowing. Most poetry is abundant in figurative language. Using devices like a simile, metaphor, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme, and much more, poetry can claim an emphasis on imagination, emotions, and heartfelt ideas. Poetry is usually shorter than the other genres, but some poems are classified as epic poetry, which is a long narrative poetry chronicling heroic deeds and serious subject 6 matter. For example, John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost focuses on Satan's fall from grace and his following pursuit of revenge. ● Nonfiction: is content (sometimes, in the form of a story) whose creator, in good faith, assumes responsibility for the truth or accuracy of the events, people, or information presented. Non fiction subgenres: Persuasive writing: tries to influence the reader Informational writing: explains something Autobiography: life story written by oneself. It have latin roots, its meaning really is:. Auto= self, bio= life, graphy= writing Biography: writing about someone else's life Example: Autobiography: My name is Pilar de Los Milagros Hernández Ricord, I was born on October 13, 2001 in Panama city. I was delivered in tha Nacional Hospital, one month early from the due date ( I was a premature baby). I live with my two parents, Moira de Hernández and Eliecer Hernández, my two brothers, María de Los Ángeles Hernández and Emmanuel Hernández. This 2019 I'm graduating from high scool, I'll study psycology at the Latina University of Panama and later specialize in forensics. 7 ● Folklore: a play or script Folklore subgenres: Folklore/folktales: usually has an “unknown” author or will be “retold” or “adapted” by the author. Fable: a short story with personified (given the traits of people) animals and a moral (lesson or message of a fable) Myth: has gods/goddesses and usually accounts for the creation of something. Example: Fable: One day a rabbit was boasting about how fast he could run. He was laughing at the turtle for being so slow. Much to the rabbit’s surprise, the turtle challenged him to a race. The rabbit thought this was a good joke and accepted the challenge. The fox was to be the umpire of the race. As the race began, the rabbit raced way ahead of the turtle, just like everyone thought. The rabbit got to the halfway point and could not see the turtle anywhere. He was hot and tired and decided to stop and take a short nap. Even if the turtle passed him, he would be able to race to the finish line ahead of him. All this time the turtle kept walking step by step by step. He never quit no matter how hot or tired he got. He just kept going. However, the rabbit slept longer than he had thought and woke up. He could not see the turtle anywhere! He went at full speed to the finish line but found the turtle there waiting for him. Moral: never underestimate the weakest opponent. 8 ● Fiction: imaginative or made up writing Fiction subgenre: Historical fiction: set in the past and based on real people and/or events. Science fiction: has aliens, robots, futuristic technology and/or space ships. Realistic fiction:has not elements of fantasy; could be true but isn´t. Fantasy: has monsters, magic or characters with super powers. Example: Fantasy: Angels & Demons by Dan Brown: When world-renowned Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to a Swiss research facility to analyze a mysterious symbol—seared into the chest of a murdered physicist—he discovers evidence of the unimaginable: the resurgence of an ancient secret brotherhood known as the Illuminati ... the most powerful underground organization ever to walk the earth. The Illuminati has now surfaced to carry out the final phase of its legendary vendetta against its most hated enemy—the Catholic Church. Langdon’s worst fears are confirmed on the eve of the holy conclave, when a messenger of the Illuminati announces they have hidden an unstoppable time bomb at the very heart of Vatican City. With the countdown under way, Langdon jets to Rome to join forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to assist the Vatican in a desperate bid for survival. 9 ● Drama: writing that is true What are dramas? Stories written in script form. • It is a story written to be performed by actors in front of an audience. • The script includes stage directions that explain how characters should look, speak, move, and behave. • Plays are often divided into acts, which might be divided into scenes, indicating a change in location or the passage of time. It subgenres are: Comedy: has a happy ending. It's a deliberate presentation of events/experiences drawn from real life. It usually have a happy ending. For ancient Greeks and Romans a comedy was a stage-play with a happy ending. In the Middle Ages, the term expanded to include narrative poems with happy endings and a lighter tone. In ancient Greece, comedy seems to have originated in songs or recitations apropos of fertility festivals or gatherings, or also in making fun at other people or stereotypes. In the Poetics, Aristotle states that comedy originated in phallic rituals and festivals of mirth. It is basically an imitation of 'the ridiculous, which is a species of the ugly.' However, Aristotle taught that comedy is a good thing. It brings forth happiness, which for Aristotle is the ideal state, the final goal in any activity. He does believe that we humans feel pleasure oftentimes by doing the wrong thing, but he does not necessarily believe that comedy and humor is the wrong thing. It is also not true for Aristotle that a comedy must involve sexual humor to qualify as a comedy. A comedy is 10 about the fortunate arise of a sympathetic character. A happy ending is all that is required in his opinion. On the contrary, the Greek Philosopher Plato taught that comedy is a destruction to the self. He believed it produces an emotion that overrides rational self-control and learning. In The Republic (Plato), he says that the Guardians of the state should avoid laughter, "for ordinarily when one abandons himself to violent laughter, his condition provokes a violent reaction." Plato says comedy should be tightly controlled if one wants to achieve the ideal state. Northrop Frye described the comic genre as a drama that pits two societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. He depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old", The Anatomy of Criticism. 1957, but this dichotomy is seldom described as an entirely satisfactory explanation. A later view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes; in this sense, the youth is understood to be constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to take recourse to ruses which engender very dramatic. Tragedy: ends in death and sadness. They are used to describe personal misfortunes that do nor concern the rest of the society. From its origins in the theatre of ancient Greece 2500 years ago, from which there survives only a fraction of the work of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, as well as a large number of fragments from other poets; through its singular articulations in the works of Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, Jean Racine, and Friedrich Schiller to the more 11 recent naturalistic tragedy of Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg; Samuel Beckett's modernist meditations on death, loss and suffering. Aristotle provides the earliest-surviving explanation for the origin of the dramatic art form in his Poetics, in which he argues that tragedy developed from the improvisations of the leader of choraldithyrambs. Aristotle attempts to provide a scholastic definition of what tragedy is: Tragedy is, then, an enactment of a deed that is important and complete, and of [a certain] magnitude, by means of language enriched [with ornaments], each used separately in the different parts [of the play]: it is enacted, not [merely] recited, and through pity and fear it effects relief (catharsis) to such [and similar] emotions. — Poetics, VI 1449b 2–3 12 musical drama: an opera in which the action is not interrupted by formal song divisions (such as recitatives or arias) and the music is determined solely by dramatic appropriateness. Melodrama: A melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, which is typically sensational and designed to appeal strongly to the emotions, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Characters are often simply drawn, and may appear stereotyped. Example: Tragedy: HAMLET: O, that this too too sullied flesh would melt, Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew, Or that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon ‘gainst self-slaughter! O God, God, How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable Seem to me all the uses of this world! Fie on ‘t! ah fie! ‘Tis an unweeded garden That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature Possess it merely. (Hamlet by William Shakespeare) 13 William Shakespeare is one of the most noted dramatists in all of history. He is known to have written thirty-three plays, divided into the categories of comedy, tragedy, and history. All of these are examples of drama in the original sense in that they each present a story onstage to the audience in real time. Shakespeare’s tragedy of Hamlet is one of his most enduring narratives for the stage, characterized by deep psychological insight and memorable soliloquy and monologue examples, such as the one above. 14 Conclusion To perform this assay was necesary to recollect all the posible information online all about of the essential genres, its subgenres and characteristics, and pose them in the assay, it was concluded that it really is indispensable, for what we know as literature and even more because genres are not only for books or reading material; it's useful for movies and music clasiffication. However, even though it's useful many people don´t really care about this. Schools are introducing the topic to their students and hopefully future generations will leave high school having knowledge about this subject. But what we really know about genre? We know after this extensive research all its applications or variables which are necessary to be able to write something correctly, after developing this essay it could be said that you are sufficiently qualified to write something on your own. For example, this essay would be classified as nonfiction, with subgenre: informative writing, which is the one that is responsible for explaining something. 15
