Three genres of literature. What are the literary genres? Types of fiction

Then to:

a) learn mastery in your genre;
b) know exactly which publisher to offer the manuscript to;
c) study your target audience and offer the book not “to everyone”, but specifically to those people who may be interested in it.

What is fiction?

Fiction refers to all works that have a fictional plot and fictional characters: novels, short stories, stories and plays.

Memoirs are classified as non-fiction because we're talking about about non-fictional events, but they are written according to the canons fiction- with plot, characters, etc.

But poetry, including song lyrics, is fiction, even if the author recalls a past love that actually happened.

Types of Fiction for Adults

Works of fiction are divided into genre literature, mainstream and intellectual prose.

Genre literature

IN genre literature The plot plays the first fiddle, while it fits into certain, pre-known frameworks.

This does not mean that everything genre novels must be predictable. The skill of a writer lies precisely in given conditions create unique world, unforgettable heroes and interesting way get from point “A” (the beginning) to point “B” (the outcome).

Usually, genre work ends on a positive note, the author does not delve into psychology and other lofty matters and tries to simply entertain readers.

Basic plot schemes in genre literature

Detective: crime - investigation - exposing the criminal.

Love story: heroes meet - fall in love - fight for love - connect hearts.

Thriller: the hero lived his ordinary life- a threat arises - the hero tries to escape - the hero gets rid of the danger.

Adventures: the hero sets a goal for himself and, having overcome many obstacles, achieves what he wants.

When we talk about science fiction, fantasy, historical or modern novel, we are talking not so much about the plot as about the scenery, so when defining the genre, two or three terms are used that allow us to answer the questions: “What happens in the novel?” and “Where is it happening?” If we are talking about children's literature, then a corresponding note is made.

Examples: "modern" love story", "fantastic action movie" (action movie is an adventure), "historical detective story", "children's adventure story", "fairy tale for primary school age".

Genre prose is usually published in series - either original or general.

Mainstream

In the mainstream (from English. mainstream- main flow) readers expect from the author unexpected decisions. For this type of book, the most important thing is the moral development of the characters, philosophy and ideology. The requirements for a mainstream author are much higher than for writers working with genre prose: he must be not only an excellent storyteller, but also a good psychologist and a serious thinker.

Another important sign of the mainstream is that such books are written at the intersection of genres. For example, it is impossible to say unequivocally that Gone with the Wind is only romance novel or only historical drama.

By the way, the drama itself, that is, the story about the tragic experience of the heroes, is also a sign of the mainstream.

As a rule, novels of this type are published outside of series. This is due to the fact that serious works take a long time to write and forming a series out of them is quite problematic. Moreover, mainstream authors are so different from each other that it is difficult to group their books into anything other than “good book.”

When specifying a genre in mainstream novels, the emphasis is usually placed not so much on the plot, but on certain distinctive features of the book: historical drama, letter novel, fantasy saga, etc.

Origin of the term

The term “mainstream” itself arose thanks to American writer and criticism to William Dean Howells (1837–1920). As editor of one of the most popular and influential literary magazines of his time, The Atlantic Monthly, he gave a clear preference to works written in a realistic vein and focusing on moral and philosophical issues.

Thanks to Howells realistic literature became fashionable, and for some time it was called the mainstream. The term stuck in English language, and from there moved to Russia.

Intellectual prose

In the vast majority of cases, intellectual prose has a dark mood and is published outside of series.

Main genres of fiction

Approximate classification

When submitting an application to a publishing house, we must indicate the genre so that our manuscript is sent to the appropriate editor.

Below is a rough list of genres as they are understood by publishers and bookstores.

• Avant-garde literature. Characterized by violation of canons and language and plot experiments. As a rule, avant-garde works are published in very small editions. Closely intertwined with intellectual prose.
• Action. Targeted primarily at a male audience. The basis of the plot is fights, chases, saving beauties, etc.
• Detective. Main story line- solving a crime.
• Historical novel. The time of action is the past. The plot is usually tied to significant historical events.
• Love story. Heroes find love.
• Mystic. The plot is based on supernatural events.
• Adventures. The heroes get involved in an adventure and/or go on a risky journey.
• Thriller/horror. The heroes are in mortal danger, from which they are trying to get rid of.
• Fantastic. The plot takes place in a hypothetical future or parallel world. One of the types of fiction is alternative history.
• Fantasy/fairy tales. The main features of the genre are fairy worlds, magic, unseen creatures, talking animals, etc. Often based on folklore.

What is non-fiction?

Non-fiction books are classified by topic (for example, gardening, history, etc.) and type (scientific monograph, collection of articles, photo album, etc.).

Below is a classification of non-fiction books, as it is done in bookstores. When submitting an application to a publisher, indicate the topic and type of book - for example, a textbook on writing.

Classification of non-fiction literature

• autobiographies, biographies and memoirs;
• architecture and art;
• astrology and esoterics;
• business and finance;
• armed forces;
• upbringing and education;
• house, garden, vegetable garden;
• health;
• story;
• career;
• computers;
• local history;
• love and family relationships;
• fashion and beauty;
• music, cinema, radio;
• science and technology;
• food and cooking;
• gift editions;
• politics, economics, law;
• guidebooks and travel books;
• religion;
• self-development and psychology;
• Agriculture;
• dictionaries and encyclopedias;
• sport;
• philosophy;
• hobby;
• school textbooks;
• linguistics and literature.

Genres of literature

Literary genres- historically developing groups literary works, united by a set of formal and substantive properties (in contrast to literary forms, the identification of which is based only on formal features). The term is often wrongfully identified with the term “type of literature.”

Kinds, types and genres of literature do not exist as something unchangeable, given from time to time and eternally existing. They are born, theoretically realized, historically develop, change, dominate, freeze or retreat to the periphery depending on the evolution of artistic thinking as such. The most stable, fundamental thing is, of course, the utmost general concept“genus”, the most dynamic and changeable is the much more specific concept of “genre”.

The first attempts to theoretically substantiate gender make themselves felt in the ancient doctrine of mimesis (imitation). Plato in the Republic, and then Aristotle in the Poetics, came to the conclusion that poetry is of three types, depending on what, how and by what means it imitates. In other words, the generic division of fiction is based on the subject, means and methods of imitation.

Separate remarks on the methods of organizing artistic time and space (chronotope), scattered throughout Poetics, constitute the prerequisites for further division into types and genres of literature.

Aristotle's idea of birth characteristics traditionally called formal. His successors are representatives of German aesthetics of the 18th-19th centuries. Goethe, Schiller, Aug. Schlegel, Schelling. Around the same time, the principles of the opposite - a substantive approach to the generic division of fiction - were laid down. Its initiator was Hegel, who proceeded from the epistemological principle: the object of artistic knowledge in the epic is the object, in the lyrics - the subject, in drama - their synthesis. Accordingly, the content of an epic work consists of being in its entirety, dominating the will of people, therefore the event plan predominates in it; the content of a lyrical work is the state of mind, the mood of the lyrical hero, therefore the eventfulness in it recedes into the background; the content of a dramatic work is aspiration towards a goal, the volitional activity of a person, manifested in action.

Derived from the category of genus, or rather, concepts that clarify and concretize it, are the concepts of “type” and “genre”. We traditionally call stable structural formations inside a species. literary kind, grouping even smaller genre modifications. For example, an epic consists of small, medium and large types, such as a story, an essay, a short story, a story, a novel, a poem, an epic. However, they are often called genres, which in a strict terminological sense specify types either in a historical, or thematic, or structural aspect: an ancient novel, a Renaissance short story, a psychological or industrial essay or novel, a lyrical story, an epic story (“Fate person" by M. Sholokhov). Some structural forms combine specific and genre characteristics, i.e. kinds genre varieties do not have (such, for example, are the types and at the same time genres of the medieval theater soti and morality). However, along with synonymous word usage, the hierarchical differentiation of both terms is relevant. Accordingly, types are divided into genres according to a number of different characteristics: thematic, stylistic, structural, volume, in relation to the aesthetic ideal, reality or fiction, basic aesthetic categories, etc.

Genres of literature

Comedy- type of dramatic work. Displays everything ugly and absurd, funny and absurd, ridicules the vices of society.

Lyric poem (in prose)- a type of fiction that emotionally and poetically expresses the author’s feelings.

Melodrama- a type of drama whose characters are sharply divided into positive and negative.

Fantasy- a subgenre of fantastic literature. Works of this subgenre are written in an epic fairy-tale style, using motifs from ancient myths and legends. The plot is usually built around magic, heroic adventures and journeys; the plot usually involves magical creatures; The action takes place in a fairy-tale world reminiscent of the Middle Ages.

Feature article- the most reliable type of narrative, epic literature, displaying facts from real life.

Song or chant- most ancient look lyric poetry; a poem consisting of several verses and a chorus. Songs are divided into folk, heroic, historical, lyrical, etc.

Tale - medium shape; a work that highlights a number of events in the life of the main character.

Poem- type of lyric epic work; poetic story telling.

Story - small form, a work about one event in the life of a character.

Novel- large shape; a work in which many people usually take part characters whose destinies are intertwined. Novels can be philosophical, adventure, historical, family, social.

Tragedy- a type of dramatic work telling about the unfortunate fate of the main character, often doomed to death.

Utopia- a genre of fiction, close to science fiction, describing a model of an ideal, from the author’s point of view, society. Unlike dystopia, it is characterized by the author’s faith in the impeccability of the model.

Epic- a work or a series of works depicting a significant historical era or a major historical event.

Drama– (in the narrow sense) one of the leading genres of drama; a literary work written in the form of a dialogue between characters. Intended for performance on stage. Focused on spectacular expressiveness. The relationships between people and the conflicts that arise between them are revealed through the actions of the heroes and are embodied in a monologue-dialogue form. Unlike tragedy, drama does not end in catharsis.

Types of literature- this is a community of verbal and artistic works according to the type of attitude of the author to the artistic whole.

In literature, three types are defined: drama, epic, lyric.

Epic- (translated from ancient Greek - word, narrative) - an objective image of reality, a story about events, the fate of heroes, their actions and adventures, an image outside what's happening. The text has a mainly descriptive-narrative structure. The author directly expresses his attitude to the events depicted.

Drama- (from ancient Greek - action) - depiction of events and relationships between characters on stage in actions, clashes, conflicts; features are: expression author's position through stage directions (explanations), characters are created through the heroes’ remarks, monologue and dialogic speech.

Lyrics(from the ancient Greek “performed to the sounds of the lyre, sensitive”) experiencing events; image of feelings, inner world, emotional state; the feeling becomes the main event; external life is presented subjectively, through perception lyrical hero. Lyrics have a special linguistic organization (rhythm, rhyme, meter).

Each type of literature in turn includes a number of genres.

Genre- characteristic of a certain genus. This is a historically established group of works united by common features of content and form. Literary genres are divided into epic, dramatic and lyrical.

Epic genres:

• epic novel - comprehensive portrayal folk life at a turning point in history;
• a novel is a depiction of life in all its fullness and diversity;
• story - a depiction of events in their natural sequence;
• essay - a documentary depiction of events in the life of one person;
• short story - an action-packed story with an unexpected ending;
• a story is a short work with a limited number of characters;
• a parable is a moral lesson in allegorical form.

Drama genres:

• tragedy - literal translation - goat's song, an insoluble conflict that causes suffering and death of the heroes in the finale;
• drama - combines the tragic and the comic. At its core is an acute but solvable conflict.

Lyrical genres:

• ode - (classicism genre) a poem, a song of praise, glorifying the achievements and virtues of an outstanding person, hero;
• elegy - a sad, sorrowful poem containing philosophical reflections about the meaning of life;
• sonnet - a lyric poem of strict form (14 lines);
• song - a poem consisting of several verses and a chorus;
• message - a poetic letter addressed to one person;
• epigram, epithalam, madrigal, epitaph, etc. - small forms of apt short poems dedicated to the specific goals of the writer.

Lyric-epic genres: works that combine elements of poetry and epic:

• ballad - a plot poem on a legendary, historical theme;
• poem - a voluminous poem with a detailed plot, with big amount characters with lyrical digressions;
• novel in verse - a novel in poetic form.

Genres, being historical categories, appear, develop and eventually “leave” from the “active stock” of artists depending on historical era: ancient lyricists did not know the sonnet; in our time, an archaic genre has become one that was born in ancient times and popular in XVII-XVIII centuries Oh yeah; romanticism XIX century brought to life detective literature, etc.

Literature refers to works of human thought that are enshrined in the written word and have social significance. Any literary work, depending on HOW the writer depicts reality in it, is classified as one of three literary families: epic, lyric or drama.

Epic (from the Greek “narration”) is a generalized name for works that depict events external to the author.

Lyrics (from the Greek “performed to the lyre”) - a generalized name for works - usually poetic, in which there is no plot, but reflects the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of the author (lyrical hero).

Drama (from Greek “action”) - a generalized name for works in which life is shown through conflicts and clashes of heroes. Dramatic works are intended not so much for reading as for dramatization. In drama it is not important external action, and the experience conflict situation. In drama, epic (narration) and lyrics are fused together.

Within each type of literature there are genres- historically established types of works, characterized by certain structural and content features (see table of genres).

Tragedy (from Greek “goat song”) – dramatic work with an insurmountable conflict, where an intense struggle is depicted strong characters and passions, ending with the death of the hero.

Comedy (from Greek “funny song”) - a dramatic work with a cheerful, funny plot, usually ridiculing social or everyday vices.

Drama is a literary work in the form of a dialogue with a serious plot, depicting an individual in his dramatic relationship with society.

Vaudeville - a light comedy with singing couplets and dancing.

Farce – a theatrical play of a light, playful nature with external comic effects, designed for coarse taste.

Oh yeah (from Greek “song”) - a choral, solemn song, a work glorifying, praising some significant event or heroic personality.

Hymn (from Greek “praise”) is a solemn song based on programmatic verses. Initially, hymns were dedicated to the gods. Currently, the anthem is one of national symbols states.

Epigram (from Greek “inscription”) is a short satirical poem of a mocking nature that arose in the 3rd century BC. e.

Elegy - a genre of lyrics dedicated to sad thoughts or a lyric poem imbued with sadness. Belinsky called elegy “a song of sad content.” The word "elegy" is translated as "reed flute" or "plaintive song." Elegy arose in Ancient Greece in the 7th century BC e.

Message – a poetic letter, an appeal to a specific person, a request, a wish.

Sonnet (from Provence “song”) is a poem of 14 lines, which has a certain rhyme system and strict stylistic laws. The sonnet originated in Italy in the 13th century (the creator was the poet Jacopo da Lentini), in England it appeared in the first half of the 16th century (G. Sarri), and in Russia in the 18th century. The main types of sonnet are Italian (of 2 quatrains and 2 tercets) and English (of 3 quatrains and a final couplet).

Poem (from the Greek “I do, I create”) is a lyric-epic genre, a large poetic work with a narrative or lyrical plot, usually on a historical or legendary theme.

Ballad - lyric-epic genre, plot song with dramatic content.

Epic – large piece of art, telling about significant historical events. In ancient times - a narrative poem of heroic content. In the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, the genre of the epic novel appeared - this is a work in which the formation of the characters of the main characters occurs during their participation in historical events.

Novel - a large narrative work of art with a complex plot, in the center of which is the fate of the individual.

Tale - a work of fiction that occupies a middle position between a novel and a short story in terms of volume and complexity of the plot. In ancient times, anything was called a story narrative work.

Story - a work of art of small size, based on an episode, an incident from the life of the hero.

Fairy tale - a work about fictional events and characters, usually involving magical, fantastic forces.

Fable is a narrative work in poetic form, small in size, of a moralizing or satirical nature.

Genre is a type of meaningful form that determines the integrity of a literary work, which is determined by the unity of theme, composition and style; a historically established group of literary works, united by a set of characteristics of content and form.

Genre in literature

IN artistic structure genre category is a modification literary type; a species, in turn, is a type of literary genus. There is another approach to the generic connection: – genre – genre variety, modification or form; in some cases it is proposed to distinguish only gender and genre.
Genres belonging to traditional literary families(epic, lyric, drama, lyric-epic) determines their content and thematic focus.

Genre in ancient literature

IN ancient literature the genre was the ideal artistic norm. Ancient ideas about genre norms were focused primarily on poetic forms; prose was not taken into account, as it was considered trivial reading. Poets often followed the artistic models of their predecessors, trying to surpass the pioneers of the genre. Ancient Roman literature relied on the poetic experience of ancient Greek authors. Virgil (1st century BC) continued the epic tradition of Homer (8th century BC), since the Aeneid is focused on the Odyssey and the Iliad. Horace (1st century BC) owns odes written in the manner of the ancient Greek poets Arion (VII–VI centuries BC) and Pindar (VI–V centuries BC). Seneca (1st century BC) developed dramatic art, reviving the work of Aeschylus (VI–V centuries BC) and Euripides (V centuries BC).

The origins of the systematization of genres go back to the treatises of Aristotle “Poetics” and Horace “The Science of Poetry”, in which a genre denoted a set of artistic norms, their natural and fixed system, and the author’s goal was considered to correspond to the properties of the chosen genre. The understanding of genre as a constructed model of a work led to the subsequent emergence of a number of normative poetics, including dogmas and laws of poetry.

Renewal of the European genre system in the 11th–17th centuries

The European genre system began its renewal in the Middle Ages. In the 11th century new ones have arisen lyrical genres troubadour poets (serenades, albums), later the genre of the medieval novel arose ( chivalric novels about King Arthur, Lancelot, Tristan and Isolde). In the XIV century. Italian poets had a significant influence on the development of new genres: Dante Alighieri wrote the poem “ The Divine Comedy"(1307–1321), connecting narrative and the genre of vision, Francesco Petrarch approved the genre of the sonnet (“Book of Songs,” 1327–1374), Giovanni Boccaccio canonized the genre of the short story (“Decameron,” 1350–1353). At the turn of the 16th–17th centuries. genre varieties of drama were expanded by the English poet and playwright W. Shakespeare, whose famous plays - “Hamlet” (1600–1601), “King Lear” (1608), “Macbeth” (1603–1606) - contain themselves have the characteristics of tragedy and comedy and are classified as tragicomedies.

Code and hierarchy of genres in classicism

The most complete, systematic and significant set of genre norms was formed in the 17th century. with the advent of the treatise poem by the French poet Nicolas Boileau-Depreo " Poetic art"(1674). The essay defines the genre system of classicism, regulated by reason, a generally understandable style with division literary genres into epic, dramatic, lyrical categories. The structure of the canonical genres of classicism goes back to ancient forms and images.

The literature of classicism was characterized by a strict hierarchy of genres, dividing them into high (ode, epic, tragedy) and low (fable, satire, comedy). Mixing genre characteristics was not allowed.

Genres of literary aesthetics of romanticism

Literature of the Romantic era in the 18th century. did not obey the canons of classicism, as a result of which the traditional genre system lost its advantage. In the context of a change in literary trends, deviations from the rules of normative poetics, a rethinking of classical genres occurs, as a result of which some of them ceased to exist, while others, on the contrary, became entrenched.

At the turn of the 18th–19th centuries. at the center of the literary aesthetics of romanticism were lyrical genres - ode (“Ode to the Capture of Khotin” by M. Lomonosov, 1742; “Felitsa” by G. R. Derzhavin, 1782, “Ode to Joy” by F. Schiller, 1785 .), romantic poem(“Gypsies” by A. S. Pushkin, 1824), ballad (“Lyudmila” (1808), “Svetlana” (1813) by V. A. Zhukovsky), elegy (“ Rural cemetery"V. A. Zhukovsky, 1808); Comedy prevailed in the drama (“Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboedov, 1825).

Reached the heyday prose genres: epic novel, story, short story. The most common type of epic literature of the 19th century V. was considered a novel that was called " eternal genre" The novels of Russian writers L. N. Tolstoy (“War and Peace,” 1865–1869; “Anna Karenina,” 1875–1877; “Resurrection,” 1899) and F. M. had a significant influence on the European epic. Dostoevsky (“Crime and Punishment”, 1866; “The Idiot”, 1868; “Demons”, 1871–1872; “The Brothers Karamazov”, 1879–1880).

Formation of genres in literature of the twentieth century

The formation of mass literature in the twentieth century, its need for stable thematic, compositional and stylistic prescriptions led to the formation new system genres, based primarily on the “absolute center genre system literature" according to the Russian scientist M. M. Bakhtin - a novel.
Within the framework of popular literature, new genres have emerged: romance novel, sentimental novel, crime novel (action, thriller), dystopian novel, anti-novel, Science fiction, fantasy, etc.

Modern literary genres are not part of a predetermined structure, they arise as a result of the embodiment of the author's ideas in verbal and artistic works.

The origins of the appearance of genre varieties

The emergence of genre varieties can be associated with both literary direction, movement, school - a romantic poem, a classicist ode, a symbolist drama, etc., and with the names of individual authors who introduced genre-stylistic forms of the artistic whole into literary circulation (Pindaric ode, Byron's poem, Balzac's novel, etc. .), forming traditions, and this means the possibility different types their assimilation (imitation, stylization, etc.).

The word genre comes from French genre, which means genus, species.