Genre

Genre is a way of categorizing various art forms. In literature, genres may be defined by narrative structure (e.g., the plot of novels, such as romance or mystery); literary style (e.g., lyric poetry); conventions of form, symbolism, and purpose (e.g., comedy of manners, utopias); specifics of character (e.g., the magical girl) or setting (e.g., Regency romance; space opera; Western); source, whether general (such as mythology, or very specific, such as production company or style (e.g., Hammer horror, spaghetti western); audience (e.g., YA, lesbian fiction, Christian fiction); or virtually any combination of the above. Genre is often medium-specific (e.g., "film noir") although over time, genres tend to not stay specific to their medium (e.g., noir).

In other words, genre is a loose system of classifying cultural products according to perceived criteria. Classifications are usually post hoc, after the fact, a recognition that a genre has already developed, or a retrospective grouping of works. As with any classification scheme, defining a genre may be controversial, particularly at the boundaries, as it offers an opportunity for hierarchical ranking and ghettoization.

Genres may be defined and created through popular cultural trends, mass production, and/or reviewers and academic study. The academic study of genre is genre studies.

In literature, SF has been particularly identified and marked as a "genre", along with romances, mysteries, and Westerns. This has led to a certain snobbishness among literary critics, although Joanna Russ argued in 1975 as SF studies was just getting underway that the failure, to that point, of literary criticism to engage effectively with science fiction was due primarily to the fact that science fiction is, in fact, a distinct genre, a type of didactic literature hearkening back to medieval literature.

Whatever its state as respected or disrespected, SF fans and academics have developed an enormous number of genre and subgenre classifications. (See List of genres and sub-genres.) This might be due in part to the nature of SF, which has always been vague and nebulous; defined in part by publishers who marketed science fiction and fantasy together; defined in part by audiences who sought out both science fiction and fantasy; and by authors who created works in science fiction and fantasy. It might also be due to the nature of SF studies. Initially a somewhat-less-than-respected field of academic inquiry, SF studies developed along with cultural studies and genre studies, and the various influences are likely one factor in the obsessive classification of SF works. Finally, one might speculate that the detail-oriented, scientific-minded, imaginative, passionate, and somewhat academically-inclined people that comprise the dedicated members of the broader SF community are perhaps inclined toward obsessive classifications and analysis by their own natures and habits. An observation which hails back to Joanna Russ' 1975 discussion about science fiction as didactic literature.

Further reading

• Northrop Frye (1957) The Anatomy of Criticism
• Joanna Russ, (1975), "Towards an Aesthetic of Science Fiction"
• Roland Barthes (1975), S/Z
• Jacques Derrida, 1980, "The Law of Genre", Critical Inquiry (Autumn 1980, v.1, n.1, p.55)
• Ursula K. Le Guin's essay on genrification.
• Carolyn R. Miller (1984) "Genre as Social Action", Quarterly Journal of Speech, v.70, pp. 151-167.
• Ralph Cohen, 1986, "History and Genre"
• Jane Feuer, 1986, "Jane Feuer Replies to David Thorburn", Cinema Journal, v.25, n.3 (Spring 1986), pp. 74-76.
• Jane Feuer (1992) "Genre Study and Television," in Channels of Discourse (ed., Allen)
• Deborah Knight (1994) "Making Sense of Genre", Film and Philosophy 2 (available at http://www.hanover.edu/philos/film/vol_02/knight.htm)
• Daniel Chandler (1997) An Introduction to Genre Theory
• Monika Fluternik (2000) "Genres, Text Types, or Discourse Modes? Narrative Modalities and Generic Categorization", Style, Summer 2000, v.34, n.2, pp. 274
• Jed Hartman, 2001, "Where Does Genre Come From?", Strange Horizons, http://www.strangehorizons.com/2001/20011203/editorial.shtml
• Mary Anne Mohanraj, 2001, "Avoiding the Potholes: Adventures in Genre-Crossing", http://www.strangehorizons.com/2001/20010702/editorial.shtml
• Hayden White, 2003, "Anomalies of Genre: The Utility of Theory and History for the Study of Literary Genres," New Literary History, Summer 2003, v.34, n.3, p. 597.
• Amy Devitt, 2004, Writing Genres (genre as rhetorical device)
• Carolyn Williams, 2006, "Genre Matters: Response (Analysis of Literary Genres)", Victorian Studies, Winter 2006, v.48, n.2, pp. 295.
• Genre theory
• List of SF genres and sub-genres