Genres of works of literature. Genre of literary work

Which are combined on the basis of formal and substantive characteristics. They develop historically, experiencing emergence, flourishing, and some decline. These include novels, stories, elegies, feuilletons, stories, comedies, etc. The concept of literary genres is narrower than literary genera. Each contains several genres. For example, a story, a short story, a novel are included in the author's epic kind literature.

The first attempt to systematize literary genres was made in his work. He presented them as something natural, established once and for all. The author only had to fit into the norms of the genre to which he turned. This understanding led to the emergence of a kind of textbooks on normative poetics. The most famous among them was the treatise “Poetic Art” by N. Boileau. Of course, since the time of Aristotle, literary types and genres have not remained absolutely unchanged, but theorists have preferred either not to notice innovations or to reject them. This lasted until it became impossible not to notice the processes taking place in literature. Some genres of literary works unexpectedly took off and died out just as quickly, only occasionally flaring up on the creative horizon (as was the case with the ballad). Others, on the contrary, emerged from an undeserved “imprisonment” (for example, an affair).

In Russian literary criticism, the theory that substantiates literary genres and genera belongs to V. G. Belinsky. He identified three types, depending on the author’s approach to the way of presenting the subject of conversation: epic, drama and lyric.

Assigning a work to a specific genre depends on what criterion is taken as a basis. If the literary genre (drama, lyric, epic) is taken into account, then all genres are divided, respectively, into dramatic, lyrical and epic.

Works representing the dramatic genre of literature are comedy, drama and tragedy.

Comedy is designed to reflect something incongruous in life, to ridicule an everyday or social phenomenon, human character traits, and sometimes absurd behavior.

Drama is a work that depicts a complex conflict that has arisen between several characters, a serious opposition between them.

Tragedy is a work in which the character actor reveals itself in a struggle leading to his death, or in conditions from which he sees absolutely no way out.

Literary works representing the epic genre of literature are divided into three groups:

Large (novel and epic);

Middle (story);

Small (short story, essay, short story).

This genre also includes fairy tale, epic, ballad, fable, historical song and myth.

Works representing the lyrical genre of literature are stanzas, odes, elegy and epistle.

An elegy is a short poem completely imbued with slight sadness. The most famous are the elegies of the classics of the 19th century.

An epistle is a work written in the form of a poetic appeal to one person or several persons.

An ode is a poem in honor of a past or upcoming celebration, in honor of a person, characterized by enthusiasm.

In addition, on modern stage Literary scholars identify another, lyric-epic type of literature. It combines the features of the lyrical and epic and is represented by a poem. This work really shows itself ambiguously. On the one hand, it tells in detail about some event or character (like an epic), and on the other hand, it conveys the feelings, moods, experiences of the hero or the narrator himself, inner world, thereby approaching the lyrics.

IN Lately new genres did not appear in literature.

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, but the experience of a 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).

EPOS LYRICS DRAMA
epic Oh yeah tragedy
novel elegy comedy
story hymn drama
story sonnet tragicomedy
fairy tale message vaudeville
fable epigram melodrama

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”) is 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 - a major work of fiction 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, any narrative work was called a story.

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.

Literary genres are groups of works collected according to formal and content characteristics. Works of literature are divided into separate categories by the form of the narrative, by the content and by the type of belonging to a particular style. Literary genres make it possible to systematize everything that has been written since the time of Aristotle and his Poetics, first on “birch bark letters”, tanned skins, stone walls, then on parchment paper and scrolls.

Literary genres and their definitions

Definition of genres by form:

A novel is an extensive narrative in prose, reflecting the events of any period of time, with detailed description the lives of the main characters and all other characters who, to one degree or another, participate in these events.

A story is a form of storytelling that does not have a specific volume. The work usually describes episodes from real life, and the characters are presented to the reader as an integral part of the events taking place.

Short story (short story) - a widespread genre short prose, is defined as "novel fiction". Because the short story format is limited in scope, the writer can usually develop the narrative within the framework of a single event involving two or three characters. An exception to this rule was the great Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, who could describe the events of an entire era with many characters in a few pages.

An essay is a literary quintessence that combines art style narratives and elements of journalism. Always presented in a concise form with high content specifics. The subject of the essay, as a rule, is related to socio-social problems and is of an abstract nature, i.e. does not affect specific individuals.

A play is a special literary genre designed for a wide audience. Plays are written for the theater stage, television and radio performances. In their structural design, the plays are more like a story, since the duration theater performances fits perfectly with a medium-sized story. The genre of the play is different from others literary genres the fact that the narration is told from the perspective of each character. The text indicates dialogues and monologues.

Ode is a lyrical literary genre, in all cases of positive or laudatory content. Dedicated to something or someone, often a verbal monument to heroic events or exploits of patriotic citizens.

An epic is a narrative of an extensive nature, including several stages. state development having historical meaning. The main features of this literary genre are global events of an epic nature. An epic can be written both in prose and in verse, an example of this is Homer's poems "Odyssey" and "Iliad".

An essay is a short piece of prose in which the author expresses his own thoughts and views in an absolutely free form. An essay is a somewhat abstract work that does not claim to be completely authentic. IN in some cases essays are written with a degree of philosophy, sometimes the work has a scientific connotation. But in any case, this literary genre deserves attention.

Detectives and science fiction

Detective stories are a literary genre based on the age-old confrontation between police officers and criminals. Novels and short stories in this genre are action-packed; in almost every detective work, murders occur, after which experienced detectives begin an investigation.

Fantasy is a special literary genre with fictional characters, events and an unpredictable ending. In most cases, the action takes place either in space or in the underwater depths. But at the same time, the heroes of the work are equipped with ultra-modern machines and devices of fantastic power and efficiency.

Is it possible to combine genres in literature?

All of the listed types of literary genres have unique distinctive features. However, there is often a mixture of several genres in one work. If this is done professionally, a rather interesting and unusual creation is born. So the genres literary creativity contain significant potential for updating the literature. But these opportunities should be used carefully and thoughtfully, since literature does not tolerate profanation.

Genres of literary works by content

Each literary work is classified according to its type: drama, tragedy, comedy.


What kinds of comedies are there?

Comedies come in different types and styles:

  1. Farce is a light comedy based on elementary comic techniques. Found both in literature and on theater stage. Farce as a special comedic style is used in circus clowning.
  2. Vaudeville is a comedy play with a lot of dance numbers and songs. In the USA, vaudeville became the prototype of the musical; in Russia, small comic operas were called vaudeville.
  3. An interlude is a small comic scene that was performed between the actions of the main play, performance or opera.
  4. Parody is a comedy technique based on repetition. recognizable signs famous literary characters, texts or music in a deliberately modified form.

Modern genres in literature

Types of literary genres:

  1. Epic - fable, myth, ballad, epic, fairy tale.
  2. Lyrical - stanzas, elegy, epigram, message, poem.

Modern literary genres are periodically updated, for last decades Several new directions in literature have appeared, such as political detective fiction, the psychology of war, as well as paperback literature, which includes all literary genres.

Genre is type of content form that determines integrity 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 (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’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 lyrical genres of troubadour poets arose (serenades, albums), and later the genre of the medieval novel arose (knightly 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 XVI–XVII 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 the division of literary genres into epic, dramatic, and lyrical genres. 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).

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 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 of different types of assimilation (imitation, stylization, etc.).

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

Instructions

Study the epic genre of literature. It includes the following: - story: relatively small in volume prose work(from 1 to 20 pages), describing an incident, a small incident or an acute dramatic situation in which the hero finds himself. The story usually takes no more than one or two days in duration. The location of the action may not change throughout the story;
- story: a sufficient work (on average 100 pages), where from 1 to 10 characters are considered. The location may change. The validity period can cover a significant period, from one month to a year or more. The story in the story unfolds vividly in time and space. Significant changes may occur in the lives of the heroes - moves, and meetings;
- novel: large epic form from 200 pages. A novel can trace the lives of the characters from beginning to end. Includes an extensive system of storylines. Time can touch past eras and carry far into the future;
- an epic novel can examine the life of several generations.

Familiarize yourself with the lyrical genre of literature. It includes the following genres:
- ode: a poetic form whose theme is the glorification of a person or event;
- satire: a poetic form that aims to ridicule any vice, situation or person worthy of ridicule
- sonnet: a poetic form that has a strict compositional structure. For example, the English model of a sonnet, which at its end has two obligatory stanzas containing some kind of aphorism;
- the following poetic genres are also known: elegy, epigram, free verse, haiku, etc.

TO dramatic kind Literature includes the following genres: - tragedy: a dramatic work in the finale of which there is the death of the hero. Such a ending for a tragedy is the only possible resolution of a dramatic situation;
-: a dramatic work in which the main meaning and essence is laughter. It may be satirical or kinder, but every incident makes the viewer/reader laugh;
- drama: a dramatic work in the center of which is the inner world of a person, the problem of choice, the search for truth. Drama is the most common genre nowadays.

note

In some cases, genres may be mixed. This is especially common in drama. You've probably heard such definitions of film genres as comedy melodrama, action comedy, satirical drama, etc. The same processes are possible in the literature.

Helpful advice

Read the works of Aristotle “Poetics”, M.M. Bakhtin “Aesthetics and Theory of Literature” and other works devoted to the problem of genders and genres in literature.

The definition of genre has changed over the years different times. Nowadays this word is commonly used to call unification works of art into groups by common features or correlating it with other works based on the same characteristics. In every kind of art there are various genres.

Instructions

Genres of literature, especially popular: fantasy, science fiction, detective, drama, tragedy, comedy.
Fantasy and science fiction are related; the plot is based on a fictional idea, often impossible for our world. It is typical for science fiction (Lem, Lukyanenko, Strugatsky, Efremov, Garrison) to find logical distance in time and from our time. Fantasy (Tolkien, Howard) does not have such a scientific basis, but comes from myths and fairy tales; many heroes seem illogical for our world.

Drama, tragedy and comedy are literary and dramatic, becoming the basis of theatrical and musical theater productions. The first genre, drama (Sheeler, Shakespeare) has, as a rule, a plot close to everyday life. The source of the conflict is the hero’s disagreement with the guidelines. Tragedy (Shakespeare, Pushkin) differs from drama in a more sublime plot and the death of the hero in the finale.
The plot of the comedy (Beaumarchais, Moliere) is based on an abundance of jokes and happy ending.

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Literary genres are historically developing and developing literary works that are united by common formal and substantive forms.

The term genre (from the French genre - genus, type) can be applied to literary groups, formed by various signs. Most often used in relation to works combined in content (comedy, tragedy, drama). There is a classification of literary genres by form: ode, novel, story, etc. And by type: epic (story, myth, etc.), lyrical (ode, elegy, etc.), lyric-epic (ballad and), dramatic (comedy, tragedy, drama). Can be divided into separate categories - oral genres folk art(, song,) or small genres of folklore (, proverb, ditty). To genres ancient Russian literature include: hagiography (description of the life of secular and clergy), teaching, walking (description of travel, most often to holy places), military, word (artistic prose work of an instructive nature) and chronicle.

Genre is a fairly broad concept, artistic creativity. Even Aristotle, in his treatise “Poetics,” laid the foundation for the theoretical division of works, but to this day there is no generally accepted interpretation of such concepts as genus, type and genre. So, based on the etymological meaning of the word, we can replace genera with genres, and types with forms. It is quite difficult to identify a single principle for dividing the types of poetry and prose into types and genres, especially considering that literary genres are constantly “changing and replacing” over time. However, we can distinguish the most frequently used option, where by the method of depiction (dramatic, lyrical or epic); under the guise - one or another form of dramatic, lyrical and epic work; under genre - certain types of literary works (historical novel, satirical poem).

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Sources:

  • Literary genres

The concept of genre has existed since ancient times, from the very first attempts to understand the phenomenon of art in the works of Aristotle and Plato. Nevertheless, in literary studies there is still no consensus on its essence and functions as a fundamental law of verbal creativity, which, in turn, leads to the problem of classification of works. That is why the modern division into genres, based on certain characteristics, can be considered quite arbitrary.

Most of the currently known genres arose in the ancient era and, despite all the quirks of evolution, still retain a number of stable features. The most important of them is the belonging of an individual literary work to one of three genera - epic, lyric or drama in accordance with Aristotle's Poetics. At the same time, borderline genres are also distinguished: lyric-epic, lyric-dramatic, epic drama(“non-Aristotelian” or archaic).

Modern literary criticism accepts the ancient classification only as a starting point. Moreover, since the time of Aristotle, new genres have arisen, but the old ones have lost their meaning, and with it a number of characteristic features. However, there is still no more harmonious system that allows us to at least approximately explain the nature of the genre.

According to this classification, an epic can be classified as: an epic, a novel, a story, a story, a fable, an epic poem. For lyrics - ode, elegy, ballad, epigram. For drama - drama itself, tragedy, comedy, mystery, farce, vaudeville. The main lyric-epic genre is the poem, the lyric-dramatic genre is “ new drama» late XIX-early XX centuries. (Ibsen, Chekhov).

Along with classical differentiation, genres can be distinguished depending on their content and formal characteristics, as well as on the organization of speech in the work. Thus, since the times of classicism, the fable, unlike the ancient one (Aesop, Phaedrus), has a poetic form, but belongs to the epic, since its plot is based on the transmission of events and characters. The genre does not imply, rather, but meaningful features - motives of loneliness, unrequited love, death. And a ballad (also rondo, sonnet) is both (lyrical) and formal - a refrain at the end of each stanza or a strictly defined number of verses.

Any literary genres appear only at a certain stage in the development of art, they constantly change, disappear and appear again. The principles of identifying individual genres, their types, nature, functions, and significance are also changing. For example, classic tragedy presupposed the presence of “noble” heroes, adherence to the rules of “three unities,” a bloody denouement, and Alexandrian verse. Much later, in the 19th-20th centuries, all these substantive and formal features ceased to be mandatory. Anything began to be considered a tragedy dramatic work, revealing tragic conflict.

Currently, many works have a rather vague, “anti-genre” structure, since they can combine elements of all three genera. This is a kind of response to the widespread dissemination of mass literature over the last two centuries, connecting stable forms and content of works (for example, historical, love, adventure, fantasy, detective novels).

In literary criticism, there is also the concept of “text genres”, which is used to distinguish between historically established forms of works. Thus, genres can be monocultural (Old Icelandic sagas, tales) or multicultural (epic, sonnet). Some of them are characterized by universality, that is, the absence of a direct connection with the specifics national literature(, short story).

In the classification of literary genres main role the criteria by which they are determined play a role. Based on this, genres are divided by gender, content and form.

The above types of classification are not mutually exclusive, but demonstrate different approaches to defining genres. Therefore, the same book can refer to several of them at once.

Classification of literary genres by type

When classifying literary genres by gender, they start from the author’s attitude to what is being presented. The basis for this classification was laid by Aristotle. According to this principle, four major genres are distinguished: epic, lyrical, dramatic and lyric-epic. Each of them has its own “subgenres”.

IN epic genres it tells about events that have already happened, and the author writes them down according to his memories, while he distances himself as much as possible from assessing what was said. These include epic novels, short stories, myths, ballads, fables and epics.

Lyrical genre involves the transmission of feelings experienced by the author in the form of a literary work in poetic form. These include odes, epigrams, epistles and stanzas.

A classic example of stanzas is Byron's Childe Harold.

The lyric-epic genre combines the characteristics of the epic and lyrical genres. These include ballads and poems, in which there is both a plot and author's attitude to what is happening.

The dramatic genre exists at the intersection of literature and theater. Nominally it includes dramas, comedies and tragedies with a list of the characters involved at the beginning and author's notes in the main text. However, in fact, it can be any work written in the form of a dialogue.

Classification of literary genres by content

If we define works by content, they are combined into three large groups: comedies, tragedies and dramas. Tragedy and drama, telling, respectively, about tragic fate heroes and about the emergence and overcoming of conflict are quite homogeneous. Comedies are divided into several types, according to the action taking place: parody, farce, vaudeville, sitcom and character comedy, sketch and sideshow.

Classification of literary genres by form

When classifying genres by form, only formal features such as the structure and volume of the work are taken into account, regardless of their content.

Lyrical works are classified most clearly in this way; in prose, the boundaries are more blurred.

According to this principle, thirteen genres are distinguished: epic, epic, novel, short story, sketch, play, sketch, essay, opus, ode and visions.

Sources:

  • “Theory of Literature”, V. V. Prozorov, 1987
  • « Theoretical poetics: concepts and definitions”, N. D. Tamarchenko, 1999

The word “genre” comes from the French genre, which translates as “genus” or “species”. Literary scholars do not agree on the definition of this term. But most often, literary genres are understood as groups of works united on the basis of a set of formal and substantive properties.

Literary theory of genres

Literary theory operates on three basic concepts: genus, type and genre. There is still no generally accepted interpretation of these concepts. Some are based on the etymological meaning of words and call genres genera. Others adhere to a more common division. In this case, gender refers to the method of depiction (lyrical or epic); under the guise - one or another specific form of lyrical, dramatic or epic poetry (for example, ode, comedy,); and under genre - varieties existing species poetry (for example, satirical or historical novel).

Genre, like other elements of the artistic form, is one of the main means of revealing content. Comparing the two genres of the poem, heroic and satirical, one can notice that in the first, the image of an important event in the life of the people comes to the fore, in the process of which the valor and strength of the representatives of this people are manifested. An example of a heroic poem is “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” In a satirical poem, on the contrary, some low event is depicted, which is ridiculed. Satirical poems include “Tambov Treasurer” by M.Yu. Lermontov. However, in both cases, the genre of a literary work is determined by the nature of what is depicted.

Different typologies of literary genres

Aristotle was the first to attempt to systematize it in his Poetics. Today, different typologies of genres are accepted, based on different criteria.

In this case, the following are distinguished: short story, novel, sketch, essay, ode, poem, play, sketch.

Subjects

Genres differ in thematic features. For example, a novel can be science fiction, gothic, historical, picaresque, psychological. Yes, “Peter I” by A. N. Tolstoy is a historical novel, his “Aelita” is a fantasy novel, and “Hero of Our Time” by M. Yu. Lermontov is a socio-psychological one.
original name of the country. Such a poetic name appeared thanks to the Chinese: it was they who called Japan “The Motherland of the Sun” in the Song Dynasty with the Japanese Emperor. This was due to the fact that Japan is located east of China, on the side where the sun rises.

Korea – “The Land of Morning Freshness”

Korea is called the “Land of Morning Freshness”. This is due to the ancient name of Korea, Joseon. This name consists of two hieroglyphs, the first of which now means, among other things, “morning”, and the second – “freshness”. Scientists are inclined to believe that the word “Joseon” did not initially carry such a poetic meaning. This name has come down to the present day from Chinese manuscripts that distorted the Korean pronunciation. Moreover, the pronunciation Chinese characters changed over time. Now the name "Joseon" for Korea is used only in the DPRK. IN South Korea They call their country “Namkhan”.

China - "The Celestial Empire"

You can often hear China called “The Celestial Empire”. This name first appeared in China before our era and originally denoted the entire world known to the Chinese. Then, “The Celestial Empire” was called only the territory over which the power of the Chinese emperor, who in Confucian ideology was the representative of heaven on earth, extended. Currently, in China, the “Celestial Empire” is understood as the whole world, but in Russia this is what they call China.

England - Foggy Albion

England is called " Foggy Albion" Albion is ancient name British Isles, translated from Latin as “white mountains”. This is how the ancient Romans named the islands they discovered due to the fact that the shores of England are formed from chalk rocks. The epithet "foggy" is explained by the fact that the islands of Great Britain are often shrouded in very thick fog.

Ireland - the emerald isle

Thanks to Ireland's mild year there is a lot of greenery. That is why this country is called the “Emerald Isle”. In addition, green is the national color of Ireland, strongly associated with the most famous national holiday- Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Finland – the land of a thousand lakes

There are approximately 190,000 lakes in Finland, which form an extensive lake system. The lakes are playing special role in nature in Finland. It is not surprising that this country received the poetic name “Land of a Thousand Lakes”.

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