YEAR 12 ENGLISH EXTENSION 1

1. YEAR 12 ENGLISH EXTENSION 1 CRIME FICTION ELECTIVE INTRODUCTION TO GENRE THEORY

2. GENRE • GENRE: A kind or category of text. Shared ideas about genre are a normal part of a culture, and the agreement on codes and conventions acts as a barometer of the social assumptions within a culture. (JanneSchill, 2007) • Historically, the idea of genre can be traced to the Greek philosopher Aristotle who tried to identify and analyse the characteristics of different styles of literature in ancient Greek culture. According to this classical theory texts are divided into genres of epic, tragedy, lyric, comedy and satire

3. During the Renaissance the classical rules were subverted and new subgenres began to emerge • In the 1920’s the genre of crime fiction was born. The 1920’s became for crime fiction what is called today the ‘Golden Age’ of crime fiction. The generic structure of crime fiction of this time included: • A crime (usually a murder) • A detective-dominated investigation (with many twists and intellectual challenges) • A result of the investigation where order (usually within an upper class world) is restored • When we read crime fiction through time from the 1920’s it is possible to see how the classical generic structure has been manipulated

4. In the 1920’s the dominant form of crime fiction was the short story. New forms have emerged since including the novel, film, television and video game. As new markets for the genre emerge, the fiction genre’s boundaries have become blurred as composers borrow conventions of different genres, such as romance, gothic, or science fiction, creating generic hybrids and new subgenres. • In the 1960’s and 1970’s Genre criticism emerged. Genre criticism gives us an understanding of the concept of genre and the way classification of texts into and within genre function in society and across cultural and historical boundaries.

5. DEFINITIONS OF GENRE • Genres are categories set up by the interaction of textual features and reading practices, which shape and limit the meaning readers can make with a text Brian Moon • Genre means family resemblances, a set of similarities some (but by no means all) of which are shared by those works classified together Ludwig Wittgenstein

6. Generic assumptions play a role both in shaping the work that an author composes, and in establishing expectations that alter the way that a reader will interpret and respond to a particular work M H Abrams • Genre is a very loose kind of unity, and its constituent elements travel many places carrying often the crucial echo of a character type, performance style, visual mode, aspect of tone, or whatever Carol Laseur

7. Genres are not systems: they are processes of systematisation Stephen Neale • Traditionally genres tended to be regarded as fixed forms, but contemporary theory emphasises that both their forms and functions are dynamic Daniel Chandler • Genre is not simply given by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change David Buckingham

8. No firm classification of genre is possible. The demarcation is always historical, that is to say, it is correct only for a specific moment in history Boris Tomashevsky • Genre defines a moral and social world Andrew Taylor • Generic conventions embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular John Fiske

9. Genres first and foremost provide frameworks within which texts are produced and interpreted. Communication is impossible without the agreed codes of genre Alistair Fowler • Every genre positions those who participate in a text…to be someone to be instructed or as someone who instructs Gunther Kress • The genre may be considered as a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers Denis McQuail