The word genre comes from the French language and it means type or kind. A literary genre is a category of literary compositions and is determined by literary content, tone, technique, and even length. There are different genres, but primary literature genres are drama or play, poetry, short story, novel, and essay. Although the term genre is also used to describe specific or sub-classifications of literature such as tragedy, comedy, epic poetry, science fiction, thriller, romance, etc.
Reading different literature genres has many benefits. It helps with the vocabulary, builds skills and confidence, and most importantly of all, it is fun and can make students who hate reading novels fall in love with reading essays. College students nowadays have access to sites like https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/literary-genre/ that offer free examples, which they can use to research specific information, get an idea or form a summary on a topic or simply read those essays to develop their education. So, let’s dive deeper into the different literary genres.
Main Literary Genres
Literary Fiction: these types of Fiction writings are works with literary merit and artistic value. They include social commentary, reflection on humanity, and political criticism.
Mystery: Mystery novels are also known as detective fiction. They must have a detective who’s solving a case from beginning to end with slowly dropped clues that reveal information which keep the readers interested and turn them into detectives as well.
Thriller: Thriller novels are suspenseful plot-driven stories that are dark and mysterious. They rarely include comedy, but they keep the reader interested with the many red herrings, plot twists, and cliffhangers.
Horror: this kind of novel is meant to shock and scare the readers. And they are focused on titles and themes that include demons, death, evil spirits, etc.
Historical: These novels take place in the past, and they are written with a perfect balance of creativity and research that successfully transports readers to another place and time. And most historical novels tell stories about actual historical events and figures.
Romance: Romantic novels are about love stories between two people. These fictions are optimistic, lighthearted and their endings are emotionally satisfying.
Science Fiction: Science fiction stories include imagined elements that are not existing in the real world. Some examples that they include are time travel, futuristic societies, and space exploration.
Fantasy: Fantasy novels are stories that are based on imaginary universes and imaginary characters. They are inspired by folklore and mythology and sometimes even include magical elements.
Magical Realism: These kinds of novels represent the world as it is but with added elements of magic. Although that magic is not seen as odd because it is considered normal in the story’s words.
Bildungsroman: this literary genre is about stories of a character that is growing morally and psychologically from youth to adulthood. Most of the time, that character experiences big emotional loss, encounters conflicts, and is set out on a journey. But at the end of the story becomes a mature person.
How to study literary Genres
- The first thing you should do before studying the literary genre is to determine the terminology. You should think about what genres you are interested in? In which genres you have understandings and in which ones you do not, so you can pay more attention to them.
- Play 3 truths and a lie with classmates, book club friends, or family members. Write 3 truths and one lie on a piece of paper, and when done, one of you can read them, and the others should discuss until you identify which statements are true and which one is a lie.
- Ask the school librarian to help you collect books from different genre examples and try to determine the genre of the book based on just the information on the cover and back on the book.
- Write some of the main genres as a template and ask the librarian to help you find an interesting book that will fall into each category.
- Incorporate visual texts that will help you understand the genre better.
Conclusion: Literary genres are constantly evolving, changing, and appearing in various new forms. It may be hard to learn all of these genres directly, but once you have learned to use and recognize genres, you have built yourself a background that will help you to cope with all kinds of new and unfamiliar text. All texts are created by the writer with a purpose, and if you start to understand that purpose, you can also learn many pieces of information that will prepare you for a lifetime of reading.