Disentangling Genres Essay -- Literature Essays Literary Criticism

When asked to explain what distinguishes one literary musical style from another, aficionados of a particular musical style sometimes answer, I know it when I see it. It whitethorn be true that some devotees develop a sixth sense in identifying a literary work as belonging to a detail genre. However, uncommunicated intuitive knowledge does little to either define relatively bran-new or fledgling genres, or distinguish break- away genres, such as exploration and science fiction from the similar or closely tie in parent genres of travel and adventure, and fantasy, respectively. The better defined a genre, the less apparent a reader will be to mistake one genre for another and the more likely a selection will taking into custody a persons expectations. However, the age old literary function of genre, to provide an informative framework for readers, is sometimes secondary to the business imperative that a textual matter be marketed in the most profitable manner. Since some g enres have a higher readership than other, publishers may have a financial motivation for marketing a novel in a particular genre although readers may be mislead. To increase interest, authors also frequently write books which exploit creation interest or current trends. Edgar Allan Poes only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, capitalizes on the new-made expeditions to the South Pole. However, the novels journey and destination are largely superfluous to the challenge of the plot. The story is a suspenseful fantasy of dark visions, darker actions and ghostly visitations from the documentation dead. Although some readers and critics consider it a science fiction novel, Pym is primarily a compilation of the many gothic plot devices of Poes short... ...orks Cited Abrahams, M.H. A Glossary of literary Terms. Ft. Worth TX harcourt, Brace College Publishers, 1999. Aldiss, Brian and Wingrove, David. The Trillion Year Spree. Poughkeepsie, NY House of Stratus, 2001. Disch, Thomas M. The Dreams Our bar is Made Of.NY, NY Simon and Schuster, 2000. Freedman, Car. Critical Theory and Science Fiction. Hanover, NH UP of New England, 2000. Macpherson, James. E-Library. 1.2 (2002 ) Online. Internet. 14 April 2002 http//www.encyclopedia.com/html/M/MacphersJ.asp Mann, George. The Mammoth Encyclopedia. NY,NY Carrol and Graf, 2001. Nelson, Brain R. Western Political Thought. Inglewood Cliffs NJ Prentice-Hall,1982. White, Craig. Syllabus LITR5738Literature of Space and Exploration ts. University of Houston Clear Lake. Houston TX.