Essential Literary Terms: Genres

1. Essential Literary Terms: Genres Novels, Short Stories, Poetry

2. 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

3. 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

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

5. 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 protagonist’s thoughts, feelings, and motives and in the ways that the characters develop.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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”

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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 speaker’s 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

18. 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

19. 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 serpent’s tooth/It is to have a thankless child

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. The Novel