Over the millennia of cultural development, mankind has created countless literary works, among which some basic types can be distinguished, similar in the way and form of reflection of a person's ideas about the world around him. These are three kinds (or types) of literature: epic, drama, lyrics.

What is the difference between each type of literature?

Epic as a kind of literature

Epos(epos - Greek, narration, story) is an image of events, phenomena, processes external to the author. Epic works reflect the objective course of life, human being in general. Using various artistic means, the authors of epic works express their understanding of the historical, socio-political, moral, psychological and many other problems that human society in general and each of its representatives in particular lives with. Epic works have significant pictorial capabilities, thereby helping the reader to learn about the world around him, to comprehend the deep problems of human existence.

Drama as a kind of literature

Drama(drama - Greek, action, action) is a kind of literature, the main feature of which is the scenic nature of works. Plays, i.e. dramatic works are created specifically for the theater, for staging on stage, which, of course, does not exclude their existence in the form of independent literary texts intended for reading. Like the epic, the drama reproduces the relationship between people, their actions, the conflicts that arise between them. But unlike the epic, which has a narrative nature, the drama has a dialogical form.

Associated with this features of dramatic works :

2) the text of the play consists of the conversations of the characters: their monologues (speech of one character), dialogues (conversation of two characters), polylogs (simultaneous exchange of remarks by several participants in the action). That is why the speech characteristic turns out to be one of the most important means of creating a memorable character of the hero;

3) the action of the play, as a rule, develops quite dynamically, intensively, as a rule, 2-3 hours of stage time are allotted to it.

Lyrics as a kind of literature

Lyrics(lyra - Greek, a musical instrument, to the accompaniment of which poetic works, songs were performed) is distinguished by a special type of construction of an artistic image - it is an image-experience in which the individual emotional and spiritual experience of the author is embodied. Lyrics can be called the most mysterious kind of literature, because it is addressed to the inner world of a person, his subjective sensations, ideas, ideas. In other words, a lyric work primarily serves the individual self-expression of the author. The question arises: why the readers, i.e. other people refer to such works? The thing is that the lyricist, speaking on his own behalf and about himself, surprisingly embodies universal human emotions, ideas, hopes, and the more significant the author's personality, the more important his individual experience is for the reader.

Each type of literature also has its own system of genres.

genre(genre - French genus, species) is a historically developed type of literary works that has similar typological features. Names of genres help the reader navigate the boundless sea of ​​literature: someone loves detective stories, another prefers fantasy, and the third is a fan of memoirs.

How to determine What genre does a particular work belong to? Most often, the authors themselves help us with this, calling their creation a novel, story, poem, etc. However, some of the author's definitions seem unexpected to us: remember that A.P. Chekhov emphasized that "The Cherry Orchard" is a comedy, and not a drama at all, but A.I. Solzhenitsyn regarded One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich as a story, not a story. Some literary critics call Russian literature a collection of genre paradoxes: the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", the prose poem "Dead Souls", the satirical chronicle "The History of a City". There was a lot of controversy regarding "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy. The writer himself said only about what his book is not: “What is“ War and Peace ”? This is not a novel, even less a poem, still less a historical chronicle. "War and Peace" is what the author wanted and could express in the form in which it was expressed. " And only in the XX century literary critics agreed to call the brilliant creation of L.N. Tolstoy's epic novel.

Each literary genre has a number of stable features, the knowledge of which allows us to classify a particular work in one or another group. Genres develop, change, die out and are born, for example, literally before our eyes, a new genre of blog (web loq) - a personal Internet diary - has emerged.

However, for several centuries there have been stable (they are also called canonical) genres

Literature literary works - see table 1).

Table 1.

Genres of literary works

Epic genres of literature

Epic genres primarily differ in volume, according to this criterion they are divided into small ( sketch, story, short story, fairy tale, parable ), average ( story ), large ( novel, epic novel ).

Feature article- a small sketch from nature, the genre is both descriptive and narrative. Many essays are created on a documentary, life-based basis, often they are combined into cycles: the classic example is "A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy" (1768) by the English writer Laurence Stern, in Russian literature it is "A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" (1790) A Radishchev, "Frigate Pallas" (1858) by I. Goncharov "" Italy "(1922) by B. Zaitsev and others.

Story- a small narrative genre, which usually depicts one episode, an incident, a human character, or an important incident from the hero's life that influenced his further destiny ("After the Ball" by L. Tolstoy). The stories are created both on a documentary, often autobiographical basis ("Matryonin Dvor" by A. Solzhenitsyn), and thanks to pure fiction ("The Lord from San Francisco" by I. Bunin).

The intonation and content of the stories are very different - from comic, curious (early stories by A.P. Chekhov) to deeply tragic (Kolyma stories by V. Shalamov). Stories, like essays, are often combined into cycles ("Notes of a Hunter" by I. Turgenev).

Novella(novella ital. news) is in many ways akin to the story and is considered its kind, but it is distinguished by a special dynamism of the narrative, sharp and often unexpected turns in the development of events. Often, the narrative in a novel begins with the ending, is built according to the law of inversion, i.e. the reverse order, when the denouement precedes the main events ("Terrible revenge" by N. Gogol). This feature of the construction of the novel will later be borrowed by the detective genre.

The word "novella" has another meaning that future lawyers need to know. In ancient Rome, the phrase "novellae leges" (new laws) was the name given to laws introduced after the official codification of law (after the release of the Code of Theodosius II in 438). The novels of Justinian and his successors, published after the second edition of the Code of Justinian, later formed part of the corpus of Roman laws (Corpus iuris civillis). In the modern era, a novel is called a law submitted to parliament (in other words, a draft law).

Fairy tale- The oldest of the small epic genres, one of the main in the oral work of any people. This is a small work of a magical, adventurous or everyday character, where fiction is clearly emphasized. Another important feature of a folk tale is its edifying nature: "A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows." It is customary to divide folk tales into magic ("The Tale of the Frog Princess"), everyday ("Porridge from the Ax") and tales about animals ("Zayushkina's hut").

With the development of written literature, literary tales appear in which traditional motives and symbolic possibilities of a folk tale are used. Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) is rightfully considered a classic of the genre of literary fairy tales, his wonderful "The Little Mermaid", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Snow Queen", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Shadow", "Thumbelina" are loved by many generations of readers, both very young and quite mature. And this is far from coincidental, because Andersen's tales are not only extraordinary, and sometimes even strange adventures of heroes, they contain a deep philosophical and moral meaning, enclosed in beautiful symbolic images.

From the European literary tales of the 20th century, The Little Prince (1942) by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry has become a classic. And the famous "Chronicles of Narnia" (1950 - 1956) by the English writer Cl. Lewis and "The Lord of the Rings" (1954-1955), also by the Englishman JR Tolkien, are written in the fantasy genre, which can be called a modern transformation of an ancient folk tale.

In Russian literature, unsurpassed, of course, are the tales of A.S. Pushkin: "About the dead princess and the seven heroes", "About the fisherman and the fish", "About Tsar Saltan ...", "About the golden cockerel", "About the priest and his worker Balda." The replacement storyteller was P. Ershov, the author of The Little Humpbacked Horse. E. Schwartz in the XX century creates the form of a fairy tale play, one of them "The Bear" (another name is "An Ordinary Miracle") is well known to many thanks to the wonderful film directed by M. Zakharov.

Parable- also a very ancient folklore genre, but, unlike the fairy tale, the parables contained written monuments: the Talmud, the Bible, the Koran, a monument of Syrian literature "Teaching to Akhara". A parable is an instructive, symbolic work, distinguished by its sublimity and seriousness of content. Ancient parables, as a rule, are small in volume; they do not contain a detailed story about the events or psychological characteristics of the character of the hero.

The purpose of the parable is edification or, as they once said, the teaching of wisdom. In European culture, the most famous are the parables from the Gospels: about the prodigal son, about the rich man and Lazarus, about the unrighteous judge, about the insane rich man and others. Christ often spoke allegorically to his disciples, and if they did not understand the meaning of the parable, he explained it.

Many writers turned to the genre of the parable, not always, of course, investing in it a high religious meaning, but rather trying to express some moralistic edification in an allegorical form, as, for example, L. Tolstoy in his later work. Carry it. V. Rasputin - Farewell to Mother ”can also be called a detailed parable, in which the writer speaks with alarm and sorrow about the destruction of the“ ecology of conscience ”of a person. The story "The Old Man and the Sea" by E. Hemingway is also considered by many critics to be a literary parable tradition. The famous modern Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho also uses the parable form in his novels and stories (the novel "The Alchemist").

The story- an average literary genre, widely represented in world literature. The story depicts several important episodes from the life of the hero, as a rule, one storyline and a small number of characters. The stories are characterized by great psychological saturation, the author focuses on the experiences and changes in the moods of the characters. Very often the main theme of the story becomes the love of the protagonist, for example, "White Nights" by F. Dostoevsky, "Asya" by I. Turgenev, "Mitya's Love" by I. Bunin. Novels can also be combined into cycles, especially those written on autobiographical material: "Childhood", "Adolescence", "Youth" by L. Tolstoy, "Childhood", "In People", "My Universities" by A. Gorky. The intonations and themes of the stories are very diverse: tragic, addressing acute social and moral issues ("Everything flows" by V. Grossman, "House on the Embankment" by Y. Trifonov), romantic, heroic ("Taras Bulba" by N. Gogol), philosophical , parable ("The Foundation Pit" by A. Platonov), mischievous, comic ("Three in a boat, not counting a dog" by the English writer Jerome K. Jerome).

novel(French gotap. Originally, in the late Middle Ages, any work written in the Romance language, as opposed to those written in Latin) is a major epic work in which the narrative is focused on the fate of an individual person. The novel is the most difficult epic genre, which is distinguished by an incredible number of themes and plots: love, historical, detective, psychological, fantastic, historical, autobiographical, social, philosophical, satirical, etc. All these forms and types of the novel are united by its central idea - the idea of ​​a person's personality, individuality.

The novel is called the epic of private life, because it depicts the diverse connections between the world and man, society and personality. The reality surrounding a person is presented in the novel in different contexts: historical, political, social, cultural, national, etc. The author of the novel is interested in how the environment affects a person's character, how he is formed, how his life develops, whether he managed to find his purpose and realize himself.

The emergence of the genre is attributed by many to antiquity, these are Long's "Daphnis and Chloe", Apuleius's "Golden Donkey", the chivalrous novel "Tristan and Isolde".

In the works of the classics of world literature, the novel is represented by numerous masterpieces:

Table 2. Examples of the classic novel of foreign and Russian writers (XIX, XX centuries)

Famous novels of Russian writers of the 19th century .:

In the 20th century, Russian writers develop and multiply the traditions of their great predecessors and create no less remarkable novels:

Of course, none of these enumerations can pretend to be complete and exhaustive, especially in contemporary prose. In this case, the most famous works that have glorified both the country's literature and the name of the writer are named.

Epic novel... In ancient times, there were forms of heroic epic: folklore sagas, runes, epics, songs. These are the Indian "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata", the Anglo-Saxon "Beowulf", the French "Song of Roland", the German "Song of the Nibelungs", etc. In these works in an idealized, often exaggerated form, the hero's deeds were exalted. The later epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" by Homer, "Shah-name" by Ferdowsi, while retaining the mythological character of the early epic, nevertheless, had a pronounced connection with real history, and the theme of the intertwining of human fate and the life of the people becomes one of the main ones. The experience of the ancients will be in demand in the XIX-XX centuries, when writers will try to comprehend the dramatic relationship between the era and the individual personality, talk about what tests are subjected to morality, and sometimes the human psyche at the time of the greatest historical upheavals. Let us recall the lines of F. Tyutchev: "Blessed is he who visited this world in its fateful moments." The poet's romantic formula in reality meant the destruction of all habitual forms of life, tragic losses and unrealized dreams.

The complex form of the epic novel allows writers to artistically explore these problems in their entirety and contradictions.

When we talk about the genre of an epic novel, of course, we immediately recall "War and Peace" by L. Tolstoy. Other examples can be named: "Quiet Don" by M. Sholokhov, "Life and Fate" by V. Grossman, "The Forsyte Saga" by the English writer Galsworthy; the book "Gone with the Wind" by the American writer Margaret Mitchell can also be classified with this genre with great reason.

The name of the genre itself indicates a synthesis, a combination of two basic principles in it: the novel and the epic, i.e. associated with the theme of the life of an individual and the theme of the history of the people. In other words, the epic novel tells about the fates of the heroes (as a rule, the heroes themselves and their fates are fictional, invented by the author) against the background and in close connection with epoch-making historical events. So, in "War and Peace" - these are the fates of individual families (Rostovs, Bolkonskys), beloved heroes (Prince Andrei, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha and Princess Marya) in the historical period of the beginning of the 19th century, the Patriotic War of 1812, a turning point for Russia and all of Europe ... In Sholokhov's book - the events of the First World War, two revolutions and a bloody civil war tragically intrude into the life of a Cossack farm, the Melekhov family, the fate of the main characters: Grigory, Aksinya, Natalia. V. Grossman talks about the Great Patriotic War and its main event - the Battle of Stalingrad, about the tragedy of the Holocaust. Historical and family themes are also intertwined in Life and Fate: the author traces the history of the Shaposhnikovs, trying to understand why the fates of the members of this family have developed so differently. Galsworthy describes the life of the Forsyte family during the legendary Victorian era in England. Margaret Mitchell is the central event in US history, the North-South Civil War, which drastically changed the lives of many families and the fate of the most famous heroine of American literature - Scarlett O'Hara.

Dramatic genres of literature

Tragedy(tragodia Greek goat song) is a dramatic genre that originated in ancient Greece. The emergence of the ancient theater and tragedy is associated with the worship of the cult of the god of fertility and wine, Dionysus. A number of holidays were dedicated to him, during which ritual magic games were played with mummers, satyrs, whom the ancient Greeks represented in the form of two-legged goat-like creatures. It is assumed that it was precisely this appearance of the satyrs who performed hymns to the glory of Dionysus that gave such a strange name to this serious genre in translation. Theatrical performance in Ancient Greece was given a magical religious significance, and theaters, built in the form of large open-air arenas, were always located in the very center of cities and were one of the main public places. Spectators sometimes spent the whole day here: eating, drinking, loudly expressing their approval or censure of the presented show. The heyday of the ancient Greek tragedy is associated with the names of three great tragedians: this is Aeschylus (525-456 BC) - the author of the tragedies "Chained Prometheus", "Oresteia", etc .; Sophocles (496-406 BC) - the author of "King Oedipus", "Antigone" and others; and Euripides (480-406 BC) - the creator of Medea, Troyanok, etc. Their creations will remain examples of the genre for centuries, they will try to imitate them, but they will remain unsurpassed. Some of them ("Antigone", "Medea") are staged on the stage today.

What are the main features of the tragedy? The main one is the presence of an insoluble global conflict: in ancient tragedy, this is the confrontation between fate, fate, on the one hand, and a person, his will, free choice, on the other. In the tragedies of later eras, this conflict took on a moral and philosophical character, as a confrontation between good and evil, loyalty and betrayal, love and hatred. It has an absolute character, the heroes who embody the opposing forces are not ready for reconciliation, compromise, and therefore there are often many deaths at the end of the tragedy. This is how the tragedies of the great English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) are constructed, let us recall the most famous of them: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, etc.

In the tragedies of the 17th century French playwrights Corneille (Horace, Polyeuct) and Racine (Andromache, Britannica), this conflict received a different interpretation - as a conflict of duty and feeling, rational and emotional in the souls of the protagonists, that is ... acquired a psychological interpretation.

The most famous in Russian literature is the romantic tragedy "Boris Godunov" by A.S. Pushkin, based on historical material. In one of his best creations, the poet sharply raised the problem of the "real trouble" of the Moscow state - a chain reaction of impostors and "terrible atrocities" that people are ready for for the sake of power. Another problem is the attitude of the people to everything that happens in the country. The image of the “silent” people in the finale of “Boris Godunov” is symbolic, and discussions continue to this day about what Pushkin wanted to say. The opera of the same name by M.P. Mussorgsky was written based on the tragedy, which has become a masterpiece of Russian opera classics.

Comedy(Greek komos - a cheerful crowd, oda - a song) - a genre that originated in Ancient Greece a little later than the tragedy (V century BC). The most famous comedian of that time is Aristophanes ("Clouds", "Frogs", etc.).

In comedy with the help of satire and humor, i.e. comic, moral vices are ridiculed: hypocrisy, stupidity, greed, envy, cowardice, complacency. Comedies are usually topical, i.e. are also addressed to social issues, exposing the shortcomings of the authorities. Distinguish between sitcoms and comedies of characters. In the first, the cunning intrigue, the chain of events ("The Comedy of Errors" by Shakespeare) are important, in the second - the characters of the heroes, their absurdity, one-sidedness, as in the comedies "The Minor" by D. Fonvizin, "Bourgeois in the Nobility", "Tartuffe", belonging to the classics genre, 17th century French comedy writer Jean Baptiste Moliere. In Russian drama, the satirical comedy with its sharp social criticism, such as, for example, "The Inspector General" by N. Gogol, "Crimson Island" by M. Bulgakov, turned out to be especially in demand. Many wonderful comedies were created by A. Ostrovsky ("Wolves and Sheep", "Forest", "Mad Money", etc.).

The genre of comedy is invariably popular with the public, perhaps because it affirms the triumph of justice: in the finale, vice must certainly be punished, and virtue must triumph.

Drama- a relatively "young" genre that appeared in Germany in the 18th century as lesedrama (German) - a play for reading. The drama is addressed to the everyday life of a person and society, everyday life, family relationships. Drama is primarily interested in the inner world of a person; it is the most psychological of all dramatic genres. At the same time, it is the most literary of the stage genres, for example, the plays of A. Chekhov are largely perceived more as texts for reading, and not as theatrical performances.

Lyric genres of literature

The division into genres in the lyrics is not absolute, since the differences between genres in this case are conditional and not as obvious as in epic and drama. More often, we distinguish lyric works by their thematic features: landscape, love, philosophical, friendly, intimate lyrics, etc. However, you can name some genres that have pronounced individual characteristics: elegy, sonnet, epigram, message, epitaph.

Elegy(elegos Greek. plaintive song) - a poem of medium length, as a rule, moral-philosophical, love, confessional content.

The genre originated in antiquity, and the elegiac distich was considered its main feature, i.e. dividing a poem into couplets, for example:

The longed-for moment has come: my work of many years is over, Why is an incomprehensible sadness secretly disturbing me?

A. Pushkin

In the poetry of the 19th-20th centuries, division into couplets is no longer such a strict requirement, now semantic features that are associated with the origin of the genre are more significant. Essentially, the elegy goes back to the form of the Ancient funeral "lamentation", in which, mourning the deceased, at the same time recalled his extraordinary merits. This origin predetermined the main feature of the elegy - the combination of sorrow with faith, regret with hope, acceptance of being through sorrow. The lyrical hero of the elegy is aware of the imperfection of the world and people, his own sinfulness and weakness, but does not reject life, but accepts it in all its tragic beauty. A striking example is "Elegy" by A.S. Pushkin:

Crazy years faded fun

It's hard for me like a vague hangover.

But like wine is the sadness of days gone by

In my soul, the older the stronger.

My path is dull. Promises me labor and sorrow

The coming agitated sea.

But I don’t want to die, oh friends;

I want to live in order to think and suffer;

And I know I will enjoy

Between sorrows, worries and worries:

Sometimes I'll revel in harmony again,

I will shed tears over fiction,

And maybe - to my sad sunset

Love will shine with a farewell smile.

Sonnet(sonetto ital. song) - the so-called "solid" poetic form, which has strict rules of construction. The sonnet has 14 lines, divided into two quatrains (quatrains) and two three verses (tercets). In quatrains, only two rhymes are repeated, in tercets, two or three. The methods of rhyming also had their own requirements, which, however, varied.

The birthplace of the sonnet is Italy; this genre is also represented in English and French poetry. The coryphaeus of the genre is considered the Italian poet of the XIV century Petrarch. He dedicated all his sonnets to his beloved Donna Laura.

In Russian literature, the sonnets of A.S. Pushkin remain unsurpassed, beautiful sonnets were also created by the poets of the Silver Age.

Epigram(Greek epigramma, inscription) is a short, mocking poem, usually addressed to a specific person. Epigrams are written by many poets, sometimes increasing the number of their ill-wishers and even enemies. The epigram on Count Vorontsov turned around for A.S. Pushkin's hatred of this nobleman and, ultimately, the expulsion from Odessa to Mikhailovskoe:

Popu-my lord, half-merchant,

Half-sage, half-ignorant,

Half a scoundrel, but there is hope

That will be complete at last.

Mocking verses can be dedicated not only to a specific person, but also to a generalized addressee, as, for example, in the epigram of A. Akhmatova:

Could Biche like Dante create,

Went Laura to glorify the heat of love?

I taught women to speak ...

But, God, how to silence them!

There are even known cases of a kind of duel of epigrams. When the famous Russian lawyer A.F. Horses were appointed to the Senate, ill-wishers extended an evil epigram to him:

Caligula brought a horse to the Senate,

He stands, tucked away in velvet and gold.

But I will say, we have the same arbitrariness:

I read in the newspapers that Koni is in the Senate.

To which A.F. Horses, distinguished by an outstanding literary talent, replied:

(Greek epitafia, tombstone) - a poem-farewell to a deceased person, intended for a tombstone. Initially, this word was used literally, but later acquired a more figurative meaning. For example, I. Bunin has a lyrical miniature in prose "Epitaph", dedicated to parting with the road for the writer, but forever receding into the past Russian estate. Gradually, the epitaph is transformed into a dedication poem, a farewell poem ("Wreath for the Dead" by A. Akhmatova). Perhaps the most famous poem of this kind in Russian poetry is The Death of a Poet by M. Lermontov. Another example is M. Lermontov's Epitaph, dedicated to the memory of Dmitry Venevitinov, a poet and philosopher who died at the age of twenty-two.

Instructions

Explore the epic genre of literature. It includes the following: - a story: a relatively small 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 scene may not change throughout the story;
- story: a work is enough (on average 100 pages), where from 1 to 10 heroes are considered. The scene 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. In the lives of heroes, significant changes can occur - moving, and meeting;
- novel: large epic form from 200 pages. A novel can trace the lives of characters from birth to death. Includes an extensive storyline system. Time can touch past eras and be carried far into the future;
- an epic novel can consider the life of several generations.

Check out the lyrical genre of literature. It includes the following genres:
- ode: a poetic form, the theme of which 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 with a strict compositional structure. For example, the English model of a sonnet, which has at its end two obligatory stanzas containing some kind of aphorism;
- the following poetic genres are also known - elegy, epigram, free verse, hokku, etc.

The following genres belong to the dramatic genre of literature: - tragedy: a dramatic work, in the finale of which there is the death of the hero. Such an ending for the tragedy is the only possible solution to the dramatic situation;
- comedy: a dramatic work in which the main meaning and essence is laughter. It can be satirical or kinder in character, but every incident in a comedy 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 widespread genre these days.

note

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

Helpful advice

Check out the works of Aristotle "Poetics", M.М. Bakhtin "Aesthetics and Theory of Literature" and other works devoted to the problem of genres and genres in literature.

The definition of the genre has changed at different times. Now it is customary to call this word the unification of works of art into groups according to common characteristics or its correlation with other works according to the same characteristics. There are different genres in every kind of art.

Instructions

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

The plot of a detective story (Doyle, Christie, Stout) is based on the solution of a certain riddle, a mystery, usually a crime. A good detective helps develop logical and analytical thinking.

Drama, tragedy and comedy are literary and dramatic works that become the foundations of theatrical and musical theater performances. The first genre, drama (Shiler, Shakespeare), has, as a rule, a plot close to everyday life. The source of the conflict is the hero's disagreement with the attitudes of society. The tragedy (Shakespeare, Pushkin) differs from the 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 a happy ending.

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

The term genre (from the French genre - genus, species) can be applied to literary groups formed according to various characteristics. Most often it is 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 birth: epic (, story, myth, etc.), lyric (ode, elegy, etc.), lyric-epic (ballad and), dramatic (comedy, tragedy, drama). They can be divided into separate categories - genres of oral folk art (, song,) or small genres of folklore (riddle, proverb, ditty). The genres of Old Russian literature include: life (description of the life of secular and clergy), teaching, walking (description of a journey, most often to holy places), military tale, word (fictional prose work of an instructive nature) and chronicle.

Genre is a fairly broad concept in artistic creation. Even Aristotle, in his treatise "Poetics", laid the foundation for the theoretical division of works, but until now there is no generally accepted interpretation of such concepts as genus, species and genre. So, based on the etymological meaning of the word, you can replace genera with genres, and species with forms. It is rather difficult to identify a single principle of dividing the genres of poetry and prose into types and genres, especially considering the fact that literary genres are constantly "changing and changing" over time. However, one can single out the most frequently used variant, where the genus is understood as a way of depiction (dramatic, lyrical or epic); under the guise - one form or another of a dramatic, lyrical and epic work; under the genre - a variety of certain types of literary works (historical novel, satirical poem).

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• Literary genres

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

Most of the genres known today arose in the ancient era and, despite all the quirks of evolution, still retains 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 the "Poetics" of Aristotle. At the same time, borderline genres stand out: 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 emerged, while 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 at least approximately to explain the nature of the genre.

According to this classification, the epic includes: an epic, a novel, a story, a story, a fable, an epic poem. Lyrics - ode, elegy, ballad, epigram. For drama - actually drama, tragedy, comedy, mystery, farce, vaudeville. The main lyric-epic genre is the poem, the lyric-dramatic genre is the "new drama" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Ibsen, Chekhov).

Along with the classical differentiation, genres can be distinguished depending on their content and formal characteristics, as well as on the organization of speech in the work. So, since the time of classicism, the fable, in contrast to the ancient (Aesop, Phaedrus), has a poetic form, but belongs to the epic, since its plot is based on the transmission of events and characters of the characters. The genre implies, rather, not, but substantial signs - the motives of loneliness, unrequited love, death. 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 genre appears only at a certain stage in the development of art, constantly changing, disappearing and reappearing. The principles of distinguishing individual genres, their types, nature, functions, and significance are also changing. For example, classic tragedy presupposed the presence of “noble” heroes, observance of the rules of the “three unities”, a bloody denouement, and the Alexandrian verse. Much later, in the 19th-20th centuries, all these substantive and formal features ceased to be obligatory. Any dramatic work that reveals a tragic conflict began to be considered a tragedy.

Currently, many works have a rather vague, "anti-genre" structure, since they can combine elements of all three kinds. This is a kind of response to the wide distribution over the past two centuries of mass literature, linking stable forms and content of works (for example, historical, love, adventure, fantasy, detective novel).

In literary criticism, there is also the concept of "genres of texts", which is used to distinguish between historically established forms of works. So, genres can be monocultural (Old Icelandic sagas, skaz) or polycultural (epic, sonnet). Some of them are inherent in universality, that is, there is no direct connection with the specifics of national literature (, short story).

The word "genre" comes from the French genre, which translates as "genus" or "species". Literary scholars have no unity in 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 substantial properties.

Literary theory about genres

Literary theory operates with three basic concepts: genus, species and genre. Until now, there is no generally accepted interpretation of these concepts. Some are based on the etymological meaning of words and call genres genres. Others adhere to a more common division. In this case, genus is understood as a way of depicting (lyrical, or epic); under the guise - this or that certain form of lyric, dramatic or epic poetry (for example, an ode, comedy,); and under the genre - the varieties of existing types of poetry (for example, satirical or historical novel).

Genre, like other elements of an art form, is one of the main means of revealing content. Comparing the two genres of the poem, heroic and satirical, it can be noted that in the first place 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 Lay of Igor's Host. In a satirical poem, on the contrary, a low event is depicted, which is ridiculed. The 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 the depicted.

Different typologies of literary genres

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

In this case, the following literary genres stand out: short story, story, story, novel, essay, essay, ode, poem, play, sketch.

Subject

Genres differ in thematic features. For example, a novel can be sci-fi, gothic, historical, rogue, psychological. That, "Peter I" by A. N. Tolstoy is a historical novel, his "Aelita" is a fantastic novel, and "A Hero of Our Time" by M. Yu. Lermontov is a socio-psychological one.

Literary genres are also divided according to the characteristics of their ideological and emotional assessment. For example, A. P. Chekhov's early stories are humorous, and Yu. P. Kazakov's are lyrical.

Contemporary literary genres are not part of any system or typology. They are aimed at new artistic searches and often deliberately move away from genre specificity.

Japan - "Land of the Rising Sun"

Poetic names of Asian countries are especially common. So, Japan is known as the "Land of the Rising Sun". The Japanese call their country "Nippon" or "Nihon", which translates as "Homeland of the sun." Thus, "Land of the Rising Sun" is almost the exact original name of the country. Such a poetic name appeared thanks to the Chinese: it was they who called Japan "the homeland 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 - "Country of Morning Freshness"

Korea is called "the country of morning freshness". This is due to the ancient name of Korea, Joseon. This name consists of two hieroglyphs, the first of which now also means "morning", and the second - "freshness". Scientists are inclined to believe that the word "Joseon" did not initially carry such a poetic semantic load. This name has come down to the present day from Chinese manuscripts that distorted the Korean pronunciation. In addition, the pronunciation of Chinese characters has changed over time. Now the name "Joseon" for Korea is used only in the DPRK. In South Korea, their country is called "Namkhan".

China - "Celestial Empire"

You can often hear how China is called "Celestial Empire". This name first appeared in China before our era and originally meant the entire world known to the Chinese. Then "Celestial Empire" was called only the territory in which the power of the Chinese emperor, who in Confucian ideology was the representative of heaven on earth, was spreading. At present, in China, the "Celestial Empire" is understood as the whole world, but in Russia this is precisely what China is called.

England - "Foggy Albion"

England is called "Foggy Albion". Albion is the oldest name of the 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 coast of England was formed of 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 island

Thanks to the mild year in Ireland, 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 - St. Patrick's Day.

Finland - the land of a thousand lakes

There are about 190,000 lakes in Finland, which form an extensive lake system. Lakes play a special role in Finnish nature. It is not surprising that this country received the poetic name "Land of a Thousand Lakes".

Literary genres are groups of works collected according to formal and substantive criteria. Literature works are subdivided into separate categories according to the form of the narrative, according to the content and according to the nature 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", dressed 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 a certain period of time, with a detailed description of the life of the main characters and all other characters who, to one degree or another, participate in the aforementioned events.

A story is a form of narration that does not have a certain 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.

The story (short story) is a widespread genre of short prose, it is defined as "short story". Since the format of the story is limited in length, the writer usually manages to unfold the narrative within the framework of one event with the participation of two or three characters. The 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 several pages.

An essay is a literary quintessence that combines the artistic style of storytelling and elements of journalism. It is always presented in a concise form with a high content of specificity. The subject of the essay, as a rule, is connected with social and social problems and is of an abstract nature, i.e. does not affect specific individuals.

The play is a special literary genre designed for a wide audience. Plays are written for the theater stage, television and radio performances. In terms of their structural design, the plays are more similar to a story, since the duration of theatrical performances is in the best possible way correlated with a medium-sized story. The genre of the play differs from other literary genres in that it is narrated from the perspective of each character. The text contains dialogues and monologues.

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

An epic is a narrative of an extensive nature, which includes several stages of state development that are of historical importance. The main features of this literary genre are global events of an epic nature. The epic can be written both in prose and in verse, an example of which is Homer's poem "The 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 to some extent an abstract work that does not claim to be completely accurate. In some cases, essays are written with a grain of philosophy, sometimes the work has a scientific connotation. But in any case, this literary genre deserves attention.

Detectives and fiction

Detectives are a literary genre based on the eternal confrontation between police officers and criminals, the stories and stories of this genre are of an action-packed nature, murders take place in almost every detective story, after which experienced detectives begin an investigation.

Science fiction is a special genre of literature with fictional characters, events and an unpredictable ending. In most cases, the action takes place either in space or in the depths of the underwater. 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 features of distinction. However, there is often a mixture of several genres in one work. If this is done professionally, a rather interesting, unusual creation is born. Thus, the genres of literary creativity contain a significant potential for the renewal of literature. But these opportunities should be used carefully and thoughtfully, since literature does not tolerate profanity.

Genres of literary works by content

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

What comedies are

Comedies come in different types and styles:

1. Farce is a light comedy based on elementary comic techniques. It is found both in literature and on the theatrical stage. Farce as a special comedic style is used in circus clownery.
2. Vaudeville is a comedy play with many dance numbers and songs. In the United States, 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 acted out between the actions of the main play, performance or opera.
4. Parody is a comedy technique based on the repetition of recognizable features of famous literary characters, texts or music in a deliberately modified form.

Contemporary genres in literature

Types of literary genres:

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

Modern literary genres are periodically updated, over the past decades, several new directions in literature have appeared, such as political detective, psychology of war, as well as paperback literature, which includes all 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 "Poetics" of the Greek philosopher, 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, because what is written is a person's thoughts, a reflection of his desires and aspirations. Lectures, petitions, church texts were written in abundance, and thus the first literary genre appeared - birch bark. With the development of writing, the chronicle genre arose. More often than not, what was written already bore some literary signs, graceful turns of speech, figurative allegories.

The next genre of literature was epics, epic legends about heroes and other heroes of historical plots. Religious literature, descriptions of biblical events, and the lives of the higher clergy can be considered separate.

The advent of book printing in the 16th century marked the beginning of the rapid development of literature. Styles and genres took shape throughout the 17th century.

Literature of the 18th century

The question of what genres are in can be answered unequivocally, that the literature of that time is conditionally divided into three main directions: drama, narration 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 more and more deadly. Alas, the conjuncture of the literary market dictated its conditions even then. The genre of calm storytelling also found its readers. Novels, novellas and short stories were considered the "middle link", while tragedies, poems and odes belonged to the "high" genre of literature, and satirical works, fables and comedies - to the "low" genre.

Verses are a primitive form of poetry that was used at balls, social events and other events of the highest nobility of the capital. Poems in the verse genre had signs of syllogistics, the verse was divided into rhythmic segments. The mechanical syllable, deadly for real poetry, dictated fashion for a long time.

Literature 19-20 centuries

Literature of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century is distinguished by several genres that were most in demand in the golden age of Pushkin and Gogol, and then in the silver age of Alexander Blok and Sergei Yesenin. Drama, epic and lyric poetry - this is what genres are in the literature of the past and the century before last.

The lyrics had to have an emotional coloring, to be meaningful and purposeful. Its categories were ode and elegy, and an ode - with enthusiastic surprise, chanting 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 reason - or the disharmony of the universe.

What are genres in contemporary literature?

There are a lot of genres in modern literature, among them the most popular ones demanded by a wide readership can be distinguished:

• Tragedy is a kind of literary genre of drama, characterized by extreme emotional stress, with the obligatory death of the heroes.
• Comedy is another kind of drama genre, the opposite of tragedy, with a fun plot and a happy ending.
• The fairy tale genre is a literary direction for children, their creative development. There are many literary masterpieces in the genre.
• The epic is a literary genre of historical sense, describes individual events of past times in the style of heroism, is distinguished by a large number of characters.
• The novel genre is an extensive narrative, with several storylines, describing in detail the life of each character separately and all together, and is distinguished by a tendency to analyze the events taking place.
• The story is a genre of medium form, written according to the same scheme as the novel, but in a more concise context. In the story, one character is usually singled out as the main character, the rest are described in "binding" to him.
• Story - a genre of short storytelling, a summary of one event. Its plot cannot have a continuation, it represents the quintessence of the author's thought, it always has a complete form.
• The novella is a genre similar to the story, the difference is only in the sharpness of the plot. The story has an unexpected, unpredictable ending. This genre is well suited to thrillers.
• The genre of the essay is the same story, but in a non-artistic manner of presentation. In the essay, there are no flowery turns of speech, grandiloquent phrases and pathos.
• Satire as a literary genre is rare, its accusatory orientation does not contribute to its popularity, although satirical plays in theatrical production are well received.
• The detective genre is the most popular literary trend in recent times. Millions of paperback books by popular authors such as Alexandra Marinina, Daria Dontsova, Polina Dashkova and dozens of others have become tabletop for many Russian readers.

Conclusion

They are diverse, each contains the potential for further creative development, which will certainly be used by modern writers and poets.