Genres of literary works table. Literary genres

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?

Genres in modern literature quite a lot, among them we can highlight the most popular ones, in demand by a wide readership:

• 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.
• The fairy tale genre is a literary direction for children and their creative development. There are many literary masterpieces in the genre.
• Epic - a literary genre of a historical sense, describes individual events of past times in the style of heroism, is different big amount characters.
• The novel genre is an extensive narrative, with several storylines, describing in detail the life of each character individually and all together, and is distinguished by a penchant for analyzing current events.
• Story - genre medium shape, is 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.
• A short story is a genre of short-form storytelling, 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.

The short story genre is one of the most popular in literature. Many writers turned to him and continue to turn to him. After reading this article, you will learn what the features of the short story genre are, examples of the most famous works, as well as popular mistakes that authors make.

A short story is one of the small literary forms. It is a short narrative work with a small number of characters. In this case, short-term events are depicted.

A Brief History of the Short Story Genre

V. G. Belinsky (his portrait is presented above) back in the 1840s distinguished sketches and stories as small prose genres from the story and novel as larger ones. Already at this time, the predominance of prose over poetry was fully evident in Russian literature.

A little later, in the 2nd half of the 19th century, the essay received the widest development in the democratic literature of our country. At this time, there was an opinion that it was documentary that distinguished this genre. The story, as it was believed then, is created using creative imagination. According to another opinion, the genre we are interested in differs from the essay in the conflicting nature of the plot. After all, an essay is characterized by the fact that it is mainly a descriptive work.

Unity of time

In order to more fully characterize the short story genre, it is necessary to highlight the patterns inherent in it. The first of them is the unity of time. In a story, the time of action is always limited. However, not necessarily only one day, as in the works of classicists. Although this rule is not always followed, it is rare to find stories in which the plot covers the entire life of the main character. Even less often are works created in this genre, the action of which lasts for centuries. Usually the author depicts some episode from the life of his hero. Among the stories in which the entire fate of a character is revealed, one can note “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” (author - Lev Tolstoy) and It also happens that not the whole life is presented, but a long period of it. For example, in Chekhov's "The Jumper" a series of significant events in the fate of the heroes, their environment, the difficult development of relationships between them. However, this is given in an extremely condensed and condensed manner. It is the conciseness of the content, greater than in the story, that is common feature story and, perhaps, the only one.

Unity of action and place

There are other features of the short story genre that need to be noted. The unity of time is closely connected and conditioned by another unity - action. A short story is a genre of literature that should be limited to describing a single event. Sometimes one or two events become the main, meaning-forming, culminating events in it. This is where the unity of the place comes from. Usually the action takes place in one place. There may be not one, but several, but their number is strictly limited. For example, there may be 2-3 places, but 5 are already rare (they can only be mentioned).

Character Unity

Another feature of the story is the unity of the character. As a rule, in the space of a work of this genre there is one main character. Occasionally there may be two of them, and very rarely - several. Concerning minor characters, there can be quite a lot of them, but they are purely functional. A short story is a genre of literature in which the task minor characters limited to creating a background. They can hinder or help the main character, but nothing more. In the story "Chelkash" by Gorky, for example, there are only two characters. And in Chekhov’s “I Want to Sleep” there is only one, which is impossible neither in a story nor in a novel.

Unity of the center

Like the genres listed above, one way or another they come down to the unity of the center. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine a story without some defining, central sign that “pulls together” all the others. It doesn’t matter at all whether this center will be some static descriptive image, a climactic event, the development of the action itself, or significant gesture character. Main image must be in any story. It is due to him that the entire composition is held together. It sets the theme of the work and determines the meaning of the story being told.

The basic principle of constructing a story

The conclusion from thinking about “unities” is not difficult to draw. The thought naturally suggests itself that the main principle of constructing the composition of a story is the expediency and economy of motives. Tomashevsky called the smallest element a motive. This could be an action, a character or an event. This structure can no longer be decomposed into components. This means that the author’s greatest sin is excessive detail, oversaturation of the text, a pile-up of details that can be omitted when developing this genre of work. The story should not dwell on details.

You need to describe only the most significant things to avoid a common mistake. It is very typical, oddly enough, for people who are very conscientious about their works. They have a desire to express themselves to the maximum in each text. Young directors often do the same thing when they stage their graduation films and performances. This is especially true for films, since the author’s imagination in this case is not limited to the text of the play.

Imaginative authors love to fill the story with descriptive motifs. For example, they depict how the main character of the work is being chased by a pack of cannibal wolves. However, if dawn begins, they always stop at describing long shadows, dim stars, reddened clouds. The author seemed to admire nature and only then decided to continue the chase. Genre fantastic story gives maximum scope to the imagination, so avoiding this mistake is not at all easy.

The role of motives in the story

It must be emphasized that in the genre we are interested in, all motives should reveal the theme and work towards meaning. For example, the gun described at the beginning of the work must certainly fire in the finale. Motives that lead astray should not be included in the story. Or you need to look for images that outline the situation, but do not overly detail it.

Features of the composition

It should be noted that it is not necessary to adhere to traditional construction techniques literary text. Breaking them can be spectacular. A story can be created almost on descriptions alone. But it’s still impossible to do without action. The hero simply must at least raise his hand, take a step (in other words, make a significant gesture). Otherwise, the result will not be a story, but a miniature, a sketch, a poem in prose. Another important feature of the genre that interests us is a meaningful ending. For example, a novel can last forever, but a story is constructed differently.

Very often its ending is paradoxical and unexpected. This is precisely what was associated with the appearance of catharsis in the reader. Modern researchers (in particular, Patrice Pavy) view catharsis as an emotional pulsation that appears as one reads. However, the significance of the ending remains the same. The ending can radically change the meaning of the story and prompt a rethinking of what is stated in it. This must be remembered.

The place of the story in world literature

A story that occupies an important place in world literature. Gorky and Tolstoy turned to him both in their early and mature periods of creativity. Chekhov's short story is his main and favorite genre. Many stories have become classics and, along with major epic works (stories and novels), are included in the treasury of literature. Such are, for example, Tolstoy’s stories “Three Deaths” and “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, Turgenev’s “Notes of a Hunter”, Chekhov’s works “Darling” and “Man in a Case”, Gorky’s stories “Old Woman Izergil”, “Chelkash”, etc.

Advantages of the short story over other genres

The genre that interests us allows us to highlight particularly clearly this or that typical case, this or that aspect of our life. It makes it possible to depict them so that the reader's attention is completely focused on them. For example, Chekhov, describing Vanka Zhukov with a letter “to his grandfather in the village,” full of childish despair, dwells in detail on the contents of this letter. It will not reach its destination and because of this it becomes especially strong from the point of view of exposure. In the story “The Birth of Man” by M. Gorky, the episode with the birth of a child, which occurs on the road, helps the author in revealing the main idea - the affirmation of the value of life.

All literary genres unique, each of which has a set of qualities and characteristics unique to it. The first known classification of them was proposed by Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher and naturalist. In accordance with it, basic literary genres can be compiled into a small list that is not subject to any changes. An author working on any work must simply find similarities between his creation and the parameters of the specified genres. Over the next two millennia, any changes in the classifier developed by Aristotle were met with hostility and were considered a deviation from the norm.

In the 18th century, a large-scale literary restructuring began. The established types of the genre and their system began to undergo major modifications. The current conditions became the main prerequisite for the fact that some genres of literature have sunk into oblivion, others have gained incredible popularity, and others have only just begun to take shape. We can see the results of this transformation, which continues even now, with our own eyes - types of genres that are dissimilar in meaning, gender and many other criteria. Let's try to figure out what genres there are in literature and what their features are.

A genre in literature is a historically established set of literary creations, united by a set of similar parameters and formal characteristics.

All existing species and genres of literature can be visually represented in a table in which in one part there will appear large groups, and in the other - its typical representatives. There are 4 main groups of genres by genre:

• epic (mostly prose);
• lyrical (mostly poetry);
• dramatic (plays);
• lyroepic (something between lyric and epic).

Also types literary works can be classified by content:

• comedy;
• tragedy;
• drama.

But it will become much easier to understand what types of literature there are if you understand their forms. The form of a work is the method of presenting the author’s ideas that form the basis of the work. There are external and internal forms. The first, in essence, is the language of the work, the second is the system of artistic methods, images and means with which it was created.

What are the genres of books by form: essay, vision, short story, epic, ode, play, epic, sketch, sketch, opus, novel, story. Let's look at each in detail.

Essay

An essay is a short prose composition with a free composition. His the main objective– show the author’s personal opinion and concepts on a specific issue. In this case, the essay does not have to fully disclose the problem of presentation or clearly answer the questions. Basic properties:

• figurativeness;
• closeness to the reader;
• aphorism;
• associativity.

There is an opinion that the essay - separate species works of art. This genre dominated XVIII-XIX centuries in British and Western European journalism. Famous representatives of that time: J. Addison, O. Goldsmith, J. Wharton, W. Godwin.

Epic

Epic is simultaneously a genus, type and genre of literature. It is a heroic tale of the past, showing the life of people at that time and the reality of the characters from an epic perspective. Often the epic talks in detail about a certain person, about an adventure with his participation, about his feelings and experiences. It also talks about the hero's attitude towards what is happening around him. Representatives of the genre:

• "Iliad", "Odyssey" Homer;
• "The Song of Roland" Turold;
• "The Song of the Nibelungs", author unknown.

The ancestors of the epic are the traditional poem-songs of the ancient Greeks.

Epic

Epic – large works with heroic overtones and those that are similar to them. What kind of literature is there in this genre?

• narration of important historical moments in poetry or prose;
• a story about something, including several descriptions of various significant events.

There is also a moral epic. This is a special type of storytelling in literature, distinguished by its prosaic nature and ridicule of the comical state of society. It includes “Gargantua and Pantagruel” by Rabelais.

Sketch

A sketch is a short play in which there are only two (rarely three) main characters. Today, the sketch is used on the stage in the form of a comedy show with miniatures lasting no more than 10 minutes. Such shows regularly appear on television in Britain, the USA and Russia. Well-known example programs on TV are “Unreal Story”, “6 Frames”, “Our Russia”.

Novel

The novel is a separate literary genre. It presents a detailed account of the development and life of key characters (or one hero) in the most crisis and difficult periods. The main types of novels in literature are those belonging to a specific era or country, psychological, chivalric, classical, moral and many others. Known examples:

• "Eugene Onegin" Pushkin;
• "Doctor Zhivago" Pasternak;
• "The Master and Margarita" Bulgakov."

Novella

A short story or short story is a key genre of fiction, which has a smaller volume than a story or novel. The main properties of the work include:

• the presence of a small number of heroes;
• the plot has only one line;
• cyclicality.

The creator of the stories is a short story writer, and the collection of stories is a short story.

Play

The play is a representative of dramaturgy. It is intended for display on the theater stage and in other performances. The play consists of:

• speeches of the main characters;
• author's notes;
• descriptions of the places where the main actions take place;
• characteristics of the appearance of the persons involved, their behavior and character.

The play includes several acts, which consist of episodes, actions, and pictures.

Tale

The story is a work of prosaic nature. It has no special limitations in terms of volume, but is located between a short story and a novel. Usually the plot of a story has a clear chronology and shows the natural course of the character’s life without intrigue. All attention belongs to the main person and the specifics of his nature. It is worth noting that there is only one plot line. Famous representatives of the genre:

• “The Hound of the Baskervilles” by A. Conan Doyle;
• “Poor Liza” by N. M. Karamzin;
• “The Steppe” by A.P. Chekhov.

In foreign literature, the concept of “story” is equal to the concept of “short novel”.

Feature article

Essay – concise, truthful artistic tale about several events and phenomena thought out by the author. The basis of the essay is an accurate understanding of the subject of observation directly by the writer. Types of such descriptions:

• portraits;
• problematic;
• travel;
• historical.

Opus

An opus in the general sense is a play accompanied by music. Main characteristics:

• internal completeness;
• individuality of form;
• thoroughness.

IN literary sense opus – any scientific work or creation of an author.

Oh yeah

Ode is a poem (usually solemn) dedicated to a specific event or person. At the same time the ode may be a separate work with a similar theme. IN Ancient Greece All poetic lyrics, even the singing of the choir, were considered odes. Since the Renaissance, this name began to be given to exclusively high-flown lyrical poems, focusing on the images of antiquity.

Vision

Vision is a genre of literature of the Middle Ages, which is based on a “clairvoyant” who talks about the afterlife and unreal images that appear to him. Many modern researchers attribute visions to narrative didactics and journalism, since in the Middle Ages a person could convey his thoughts about the unknown in this way.

These are the main types of literature in form and what their variations are. Unfortunately, it is difficult to fit all genres of literature and their definitions into a short article - there are really a lot of them. In any case, everyone understands the need and importance of reading a wide variety of works, because they are real vitamins for the brain. With the help of books, you can increase your level of intelligence, expand your vocabulary, improve memory and attentiveness. BrainApps is a resource that will help you develop in this direction. The service offers more than 100 effective exercise machines that will easily pump up your gray matter.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. The question of genre as a variety of a particular sphere of art 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 of literary works, 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:

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

All genres of literature can be represented this way:

These are three typology options that help to 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:

1. spiritual culture, the center of which was monasteries;
2. 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 writings are gradually being replaced by new forms of storytelling.

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

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

Dramatic art has a powerful influence on the formation of the genre system. Setting for theatricality changes the appearance of such genres familiar to the average reader as a poem, a story, a short story, and even a small lyric poem (in the era of the “sixties” poets).

In modern literature, the genre canon 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, it is necessary 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:

1. The oldest “whale” is considered epic. Its progenitor, who split into legend and tale.
2. appeared when humanity stepped over the stage of collective thinking and turned to the individual experiences of each member of the community. The nature of lyrics - personal experience author.
3. 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:

1. philosophical;
2. psychological;
3. social;
4. intellectual;
5. historical;
6. love;
7. detective;
8. 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 “Overcoats” by N.V. Gogol. V.G. Belinsky spoke about the primacy of narrative literature in XIX culture century.

Small epic forms(story, sketch, novella, essay) have one storyline, a limited number of characters and are characterized 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 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:

1. philosophical lyrics;
2. love lyrics;
3. landscape lyrics.

IN Lately Urban lyrics also emerged as a separate subtype.

Dramatic genres

Drama gives us three classic genres:

1. comedy;
2. tragedy;
3. actual drama.

All three types of performing arts originated in Ancient Greece.

Comedy was initially associated with religious cults of purification, 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.

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 variety literary kind. There is another approach to the generic connection: – genre – genre variety, modification or form; V 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 (6th–5th centuries BC) and Euripides (5th century 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 believed that the goal of the composition was in accordance with 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 (chivalrous 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 sonnet genre (“Book of Songs,” 1327–1374), Giovanni Boccaccio canonized the short story genre (“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 French poet Nicolas Boileau-Dépreaux's The 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” by V. A. . Zhukovsky, 1808); Comedy prevailed in the drama (“Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboedov, 1825).

Prose genres flourished: the epic novel, the story, the short story. The most common type of epic literature of the 19th century V. was considered a novel, which was called the “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 of the genre system of literature” according to the Russian scientist M. M. Bakhtin - the novel.
Within popular literature new genres have emerged: love story, 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 author's ideas in verbal and artistic works.

The origins of the appearance of genre varieties

The appearance of genre varieties can be associated both with a literary direction, movement, school - romantic poem, classicist ode, 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.