Genre and genre features. Literary genre. History of genre formation

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. The question of genre as a variety of one or another is quite complex. This term is found in music, painting, architecture, theater, cinema, and literature.

Determining the genre of a work is a task that not every student can cope with. Why is genre division necessary at all? Where are the boundaries separating a novel from a poem, and a short story from a story? Let's try to figure it out together.

Genre in literature - what is it?

The word "genre" comes from the Latin genus ( species, genus). Literary reference books report that:

A genre is a historically established variety, united by a certain set of formal and substantive features.

From the definition it is clear that in the process of genre evolution it is important to highlight three points:

each genre of literature is formed over a long period of time (each of them has its own history);
the main reason for its appearance is the need to express new ideas in an original way (substantive criterion);
distinguish one type of work from another helps external signs: volume, plot, structure, (formal criterion).

All genres of literature can be represented this way:

These are three typology options that help classify a work into a particular genre.

The history of the emergence of literary genres in Rus'

The literature of European countries was formed according to the principle of movement from the general to the particular, from the anonymous to the author. Artistic creativity both abroad and in Russia, it was fed from two sources:

spiritual culture, the center of which was monasteries;
in folk speech.

If you look closely at the history of literature in Ancient Rus', one can notice how chronicles, patericons, lives of saints and patristic works are gradually being replaced by new ones.

At the turn of the XIV-XV centuries such genres ancient Russian literature , as a word, walking (the ancestor of the travel novel), (everyday “splinter” of a moral parable), heroic poem, spiritual verse. Based on the material oral traditions, released separately during the period of decay ancient myth on fairy tale epic and a realistic war story.

By interacting with foreign written traditions, Russian literature is enriched new genre forms: novel, secular philosophical story, author's fairy tale, and in the era of romanticism – , lyric poem, ballad.

The realistic canon brings to life a problematic novel, story, story. On turn of XIX-XX centuries, genres with blurred boundaries have become popular again: essay (), essay, short poem, symbolist. Old forms are filled with original meaning, transform into each other, and destroy given standards.

Powerful influence on development genre system provides dramatic art. Setting for theatricality changes the appearance of genres familiar to the average reader such as poem, story, short story and even short lyric poem(in the era of the “sixties” poets).

IN modern literature remains open. There is a prospect of interaction not only within individual genres, but also within various types art. Every year appears new genre in literature.

Literature by genus and species

The most popular classification breaks down works “by type” (all of its components are shown in the third column in the figure shown at the beginning of this publication).

To understand this genre classification, you need to remember that literature, like music, is worth on “three pillars”. These whales, called genera, are in turn divided into species. For clarity, let's present this structure in the form of a diagram:

The oldest “whale” is considered epic. Its progenitor, who split into legend and tale.
appeared when humanity stepped beyond the stage of collective thinking and turned to the individual experiences of each member of the community. The nature of lyrics - personal experience author.
older than epic and lyric poetry. Its appearance is associated with the era of antiquity and the emergence of religious cults - mysteries. Drama became the art of the streets, a means of releasing collective energy and influencing masses of people.

Epic genres and examples of such works

The largest epic forms known to modern times are the epic and the epic novel. The ancestors of the epic can be considered a saga, widespread in the past among the peoples of Scandinavia, and a legend (for example, the Indian “The Tale of Gilgamesh”).

Epic is a multi-volume narrative about the fate of several generations of heroes in historically established and fixed cultural tradition circumstances.

A rich socio-historical background is required against which events unfold privacy heroes. For an epic, such features as a multicomponent plot, connections between generations, and the presence of heroes and antiheroes are important.

Because it depicts large-scale events over the course of centuries, it rarely features careful psychological portrayal, but the epics created in the last few centuries combine these attitudes with achievements contemporary art. “The Forsyte Saga” by J. Galsworthy not only describes the history of several generations of the Forsyte family, but also gives subtle, vivid images of individual characters.

Unlike the epic epic novel covers a shorter period of time (no more than a hundred years) and tells the story of 2-3 generations of heroes.

In Russia, this genre is represented by the novels “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, " Quiet Don» M.A. Sholokhov, “Walking through torment” by A.N. Tolstoy.

To medium forms Epic includes novel and story.

The term " novel" comes from the word "Roman" and is reminiscent of the ancient prose narrative that gave birth to this genre.

The Satyricon of Petronius is considered an example of an ancient novel. IN medieval Europe The picaresque novel is spreading. The era of sentimentalism gives the world a travel novel. Realists develop the genre and fill it with classical content.

On turn of XIX-XX centuries the following appear types of novels:

philosophical;
psychological;
social;
intellectual;
historical;
love;
detective;
adventure novel.

IN school curriculum many novels. Giving examples, name the books by I.A. Goncharova " An ordinary story", "Oblomov", "Cliff", works by I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons", " Noble Nest", "On the Eve", "Smoke", "New". The genre of “Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”, “The Brothers Karamazov” by F. M. Dostoevsky is also a novel.

Tale does not affect the fate of generations, but has several storylines developing against the backdrop of one historical event.

« The captain's daughter» A. S. Pushkin and “The Overcoat” by N.V. Gogol. V.G. Belinsky spoke about championship narrative literature V XIX culture century.

Small epic forms(story, essay, short story, essay) have one plot line, a limited number of characters and are distinguished by a compressed volume.

Examples include stories by A. Gaidar or Y. Kazakov, short stories by E. Poe, essays by V.G. Korolenko or essay by W. Wulf. Let’s make a reservation: sometimes it “works” as a genre of scientific style or journalism, but has artistic imagery.

Lyrical genres

Large lyrical forms represented by a poem and a wreath of sonnets. The first is more plot-driven, which makes it similar to the epic. The second one is static. The wreath of sonnets, consisting of 15 14-verse lines, describes a topic and the author’s impressions of it.

In Russia, poems have a socio-historical character. " Bronze Horseman" and "Poltava" A.S. Pushkin, “Mtsyri” by M.Yu. Lermontov, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” N.A. Nekrasov, “Requiem” by A.A. Akhmatova - all these poems lyrically describe Russian life and national characters.

Small forms of lyrics numerous. This is a poem, ode, canzone, sonnet, epitaph, fable, madrigal, rondo, triolet. Some forms originated in medieval Europe (the sonnet genre was especially loved by lyricists in Russia), some (for example, the ballad) became the legacy of the German romantics.

Traditionally small Poetic works are usually divided into 3 types:

philosophical lyrics;
love lyrics;
landscape lyrics.

IN Lately Urban lyrics also emerged as a separate subtype.

Dramatic genres

Drama gives us three classic genres:

comedy;
tragedy;
actual drama.

All three types of performing arts originated in Ancient Greece.

Comedy originally associated with religious cults purifications, mysteries, during which carnival action unfolded on the streets. The sacrificial goat “comos”, which was later called the “scapegoat”, walking through the streets along with the artists, symbolized all human vices. According to the canon, they are what comedy should make fun of.

Comedy is the genre of “Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboyedov and “Nedoroslya” D.I. Fonvizina.

In the era of classicism, 2 types of comedy developed: comedy provisions and comedy characters. The first played with circumstances, passed off one hero as another, and had an unexpected ending. The second one was pushing characters in the face of an idea or task, generating a theatrical conflict on which the intrigue rested.

If during a comedy the playwright expected the healing laughter of the crowd, then tragedy I set out to bring tears to my eyes. It was bound to end with the death of the hero. Empathizing with the characters, the viewer or purification.

"Romeo and Juliet" and also "Hamlet" by W. Shakespeare were written in the tragedy genre.

Actually drama- This is a later invention of dramaturgy, removing therapeutic tasks and focusing on subtle psychologism, objectivity, and play.

Determining the genre of a literary work

How was the poem "Eugene Onegin" called a novel? Why did Gogol define the novel “Dead Souls” as a poem? And why Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard"Is it a comedy? Genre designations are clues that remind you that in the world of art there are right directions, but, fortunately, there are no forever beaten paths.

Just above is a video that helps determine the genre of a particular literary work.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

The art of words

Traditionally, when an individual talks about literature, he means fiction. This concept (the synonym “the art of words” is often used) arose on the fertile soil of oral folk art. However, unlike it, literature in given time exists not verbally, but in writing(from Latin lit(t)eratura - literally “written”, from lit(t)era - literally “letter”). Fiction uses words and structures of written (natural human) language as unit material. Literature and other forms of art are similar to each other. But its specificity is determined in comparison with types of art that use other material instead of linguistic-verbal ( art, music) or together with it (songs, theater, cinema), on the other hand - with other types of verbal text: scientific, philosophical, journalistic, etc. In addition, fiction unites any author’s (including anonymous) works, in difference from works of folklore that clearly do not have a specific author.

Three main genera

Types and kinds of literature are significant associations according to the category of the relationship of the “speaker” (speaker) to the artistic whole. Officially, there are three main genera:

Types and genres of literature

In the most common classification, all types fiction distributed within They can be epic, which includes a story, a novel and a short story; lyrical poems include; ballads and poems are lyroepic; dramaturgical ones can be divided into drama, tragedy and comedy. Literary types can be distinguished from each other by the number of characters and storylines, volume, functions and content. In different periods of literary history, one type can be represented in different genres. For example: philosophical and psychological novels, detective novels, social and picaresque. Aristotle began to theoretically divide works into types of literature in his treatise called “Poetics”. His work was continued in modern times by the French poet-critic Boileau and Lessing.

Typification of literature

Editorial and publishing preparation, i.e., the selection of written works for subsequent publications, is usually carried out by the publishing editor. But it is quite difficult for an ordinary user to accurately navigate the vast sea. It is more advisable to use systematic approach, namely, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between the types of literature and their purpose.

A novel is an impressive form of work, having a huge number of heroes with a fairly developed and closely connected system of relationships between them. A novel can be historical, family, philosophical, adventure and social.
An epic is a series of works, less often a single one, invariably covering a significant historical era or a significant large-scale event.

A short story is the primary genre of narrative prose, much shorter than a novel or story. The set of stories is usually called a short story, and the writer is called a short story writer.

Not the least significant

Comedy is a creation that makes fun of individual or social shortcomings, focusing on particularly awkward and ridiculous situations.

Song - oldest species poetry, without which the category “types of fiction” would not be complete. The work is in poetic form with many verses and choruses. There are: folk, lyrical, heroic and historical.

A fable is a prosaic, but more often poetic, work of a moralistic, moralizing and satirical nature.

A story is a literary work of a certain, often small, size, which tells about a separate event in the life of a character.

Myth - narration is also included in the section “types of literature” and brings to future generations the idea of ancestors about the universe, heroes and gods.

A lyric poem is an expression of the author’s emotional experiences in a poetic form convenient for him.

An essay is a narrative, a subtype of epic, which reliably tells about real events and facts.

A story is a work similar in structure to a short story, but differs in volume. A story can tell about several events in the life of the main characters at once.

Melodrama - deservedly continues the list of the category “types of literature”, this is narrative dramatic work, characterized by a categorical division of heroes into positive and negative.

Literature and modernity

Every day life itself more and more persistently convinces one and all that the level of consistency and unity of book publications, newspaper and magazine materials is one of the main criteria for the effectiveness of society's education. Naturally, First stage acquaintance with literature (not counting children's literature) starts at school. Therefore, any literature literature for teachers contains a variety of literature that helps convey the necessary knowledge in a form that is understandable to the child.

Individual choice

It is difficult to overestimate the role of literature in life modern man, because books have educated more than one generation. They were the ones who helped people understand and the world, and themselves, were encouraged by the desire for truth, moral principles and knowledge, and were taught to respect the past. Unfortunately, literature and other forms of art in modern society often underestimated. There is a certain category of individuals who declare that literature has already outlived its usefulness, it has been completely replaced by television and cinema. But whether to take advantage of the opportunity that books provide or not is an individual choice for everyone.

The main genres of literature are groups of works that are identical formally and in style of presentation. Even in the time of Aristotle, literature was divided into genres; evidence of this is the Greek philosopher’s “Poetics,” a treatise on literary evolution written three hundred years before the birth of Christ.

in literature?

Literature dates back to biblical times; people have always written and read. containing at least some text is already literature, for what is written is a person’s thoughts, a reflection of his desires and aspirations. Reports, petitions, and church texts were written in abundance, and thus the first literary genre appeared - birch bark. With the development of writing, the genre of chronicle arose. Most often, what was written was already worn by some literary features, graceful figures of speech, figurative allegories.

The next genre of literature was epics, epic tales about heroes and other heroes of historical subjects. Religious literature, descriptions of biblical events, and the lives of the highest clergy can be considered separate.

The advent of printing in the 16th century marked the beginning of the rapid development of literature. Throughout the 17th century, styles and genres were formed.

18th century literature

To the question of what genres are, one can answer unequivocally that the literature of that time is conditionally divided into three main directions: drama, storytelling and poetic verses. Dramatic works often took the form of tragedy, when the heroes of the plot died, and the struggle between good and evil became increasingly deadly. Alas, the conditions of the literary market dictated its terms even then. The genre of calm storytelling also found its reader. Novels, novellas and short stories were considered “middle level”, while tragedies, poems and odes belonged to the “high” genre of literature, and satirical works, fables and comedies - to “low”.

Virshi is a primitive form of poetry that was in use at balls, social events and other events of the highest metropolitan nobility. Poems in the verse genre had signs of syllogistics; the verse was divided into rhythmic segments. Mechanical syllable, deadly for real poetry, for a long time dictated fashion.

Literature19-20 centuries

The literature of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th is distinguished by several genres, most in demand in the golden Pushkin-Gogol age, and then in silver Age Alexander Blok and Sergei Yesenin. Drama, epic and lyricism - these are the genres in the literature of the past and the centuries before last.

The lyrics had to have an emotional connotation, be meaningful and purposeful. Its categories were ode and elegy, and ode - with enthusiastic surprise, glorification and elevation to the rank of heroes.

The lyrical elegy was built on the principle of the sad tonality of the verse, sadness, as a result of the hero’s experiences, regardless of what was the cause - or the disharmony of the universe.

What are genres in modern literature?

There are quite a lot of genres in modern literature, among them the most popular ones, in demand by a wide readership, can be identified:

Tragedy is a type of literary drama genre, characterized by extreme emotional tension, with the obligatory death of the heroes.
Comedy is another type of drama genre, the opposite of tragedy, with a funny plot and a happy ending.
Fairy tale genre - literary direction for children, their creative development. There are many literary masterpieces in the genre.
Epic is a literary genre of a historical sense, describes individual events of past times in the style of heroism, and is distinguished by a large number of characters.
The novel genre is an extensive narrative, with several storylines, which describes in detail the life of each character individually and all together, is distinguished by its penchant for analyzing current events.
The story is a genre of medium form, written according to the same scheme as the novel, but in a more condensed context. In a story, one character is usually singled out as the main one, the rest are described in connection with him.
Short story - a genre of storytelling small form, summary one event. Its plot cannot have a continuation, it represents the quintessence of the author’s thoughts, and always has a finished form.
A short story is a genre similar to a short story, the only difference being the sharpness of the plot. The novella has an unexpected, unpredictable ending. This genre lends itself well to thrillers.
The genre of the essay is the same story, but in a non-fictional manner of presentation. There are no flowery turns of phrase, pompous phrases or pathos in the essay.
Satire as a literary genre is rare; its accusatory orientation does not contribute to popularity, although satirical plays V theatrical production are well received.
The detective genre is the most popular literary trend of recent times. Millions of paperback books by popular authors such as Alexandra Marinina, Daria Dontsova, Polina Dashkova and dozens of others have become reference books for many Russian readers.

Conclusion

Diverse, each contains the potential for further creative development, which will definitely be used modern writers and poets.

Literary genre - this is a model according to which the text of a literary work is built. A genre is a set of certain characteristics that allow a literary work to be classified as an epic, lyric or drama.

Main types literary genres

Literary genres are divided into: epic, lyrical and dramatic. Epic genres: fairy tale, epic, epic, novel-epic, story, novel, sketch, story, anecdote. Lyrical genres: ode, ballad, elegy, epigram, message, madrigal. Dramatic genres: tragedy, drama, comedy, melodrama, farce and vaudeville.

Genres in literature have a number of specific characteristics, divided into: genre-forming and additional. Genre-forming features serve to determine the specifics of a particular genre. For example, a genre-forming feature of a fairy tale is an orientation toward fiction. The events occurring in the fairy tale are perceived by the listener as magical, fictitious, and not directly related to reality. The genre-forming feature of a novel is its connection with objective reality, the coverage of events that happened in reality or those that could happen, a large number of acting characters, paying special attention inner world heroes.

Development of literary genres

Literary genres do not tend to stand still. They develop all the time and never stop changing. When forming or changing literary genres, attention is paid to real historical reality, in the aura of which the creation takes place literary works.

What is a literary genre for?

We have figured out what a genre in literature is, but it would not be amiss to consider why a literary genre is needed - what function does it perform?

The genre is able to give the reader a fairly holistic idea of the work. That is, if the word “novel” is present in the title of a work, then the reader immediately begins to tune in to a significant amount of text, in contrast, for example, to a small “story” that evokes a corresponding association with approximate quantity pages in a book.

Genre can also give the reader an idea of the content of the work. For example, if it is defined as “drama,” then we can imagine in advance that the person in the work will be shown in a dramatic relationship with society and, most likely, we will observe tragic events at the end of the book.

Together with the article “What is a genre in literature?” read:

The ancient genres that had developed before this turn were then energetically rethought under its influence.

Notes

List of literary genres

By shape
- Short story
by content

Literature

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Elegy (έλεγεία) is a lyrical poem of a sad, thoughtful mood: this is the content that is now usually put into a word that had a different meaning in previous poetics. Its etymology is controversial: it is derived from the supposed refrain έ λέγε ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Currently, the most popular and richest form of literary works, reflecting modern life with all the variety of issues that concern her. To achieve such a universal meaning, the novel needed... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Lamentation is one of the ancient literary genres, characterized by lyrical and dramatic improvisation on the themes of misfortune, death, etc. It can be written in both poetry and prose. The style of crying is used, in particular, in some texts of the Bible... Wikipedia

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Genre- GENRE (poetic) a certain type of literary work. The main genres can be considered epic, lyrical and dramatic, but it would be more correct to apply this term to their individual varieties, such as the adventure novel,... ... Dictionary literary terms

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GENRE- literary (from the French genre genus, type), historically developing type of literary work (novel, poem, ballad, etc.); V theoretical concept about J. the features characteristic of a more or less extensive group of works are generalized... ... Literary encyclopedic dictionary