Recognizing  Genre  The  following  is  an  a3empt  to  write  down  a  lecture  I  have  given  frequently,  which  offers  a  structuralist  approach  to  genre  fic@on.    It  is  aimed  at  undergraduates  and  is  lecture  1,  in  a  course  which  then  builds  on  these  ideas.      It  argues:      1.  Genre  fic@ons  exist  in  an  overlapping  discourse  in  which  reader  expecta@on  is  a  key  factor.  What  

genre  a  reader  understands  a  text  to  fall  into  is  constructed  in  nego@a@on  with  literary  and  cultural  expecta@ons,  author  intent,  and  reader  posi@on.  

2.  That  we  can  divide  the  genre  fic@ons  into  two  rough  (not  exclusive  or  dis@nct)  categories:  the  genres  of    Morality  and  the  Sen@mental,  and  the  genres  of  the  Ra@onal  and  Ego@s@cal.  

3.  That  3  is  expressed  in  literature,  art,  ligh@ng,  food,  language  and  pre3y  much  anywhere  so  that  when  we  construct  genre  fic@on  we  operate  both  with  an  accumulated  body  of  plot  expecta@ons  but  also  draw  from  a  pool  of  sound  and  image  that  are  associated  with  these.  

     What  is  a  genre?      Genre  is  a  system  of  expecta@on  and  interac@on.    What  we  “see”  is  more  than  what  is  on  the  page.      Take  fonts.  Fonts  are  ‘generic’,  they  carry  expecta@ons  with  them.  

   The  strength  of  fonts  as  genre  are  such  that  my  students  can  tell  me  what  they  might  use  each  of  these  for  (in  order:  wedding  invita@on,  western  wanted  poster,  for  a  birthday  card,  and  to  indicate  in  a  text  something  was  

being  typed.  This  last  is  par@cularly  interes@ng  as  none  of  them  have  ever  seen  a  typewriter.        

•  The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog.

•  The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog

•  The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog

•  The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog

Genre  works  for  buildings  also.    We  can  iden@fy  churches  in  the  UK  (or  at  least  Anglican  ones)  because  they  (almost  always)  have  steeples.    

 

American  government  offices  are  almost  always  classical  in  style.    

 Civic  railway  sta@ons  have  two  basic  forms:  large  railway  “sheds”…    

 

and  disguising  palaces  

We  can  divide  the  genre  fic@ons  into  two  rough  (not  exclusive  or  dis@nct)  categories:    the  genres  of    Morality  and  the  Sen@mental  

&  the  genres  of  the  Ra@onal  and  Ego@s@cal.  

 

Genres of Morality and Sentiment  

Horror, Fantasy and Romance (and some Crime Fiction)

What do we mean when we talk about morality?  

•  A sense of right and wrong. •  A sense of the way the world should work. •  A belief that the outcome of the story will have a

meaning. •  A belief that human beings have a moral

narrative. •  That the universe has a moral narrative. •  That there are places one should and shouldn’t

go and things one should and shouldn’t do and that transgressing this brings punishment.

What don’t we mean?

•  That right always has to win. •  That nasty things can’t happen. •  That the good can’t lose.

Forms of “Moral” narrative you might recognise •  Parable

•  Epic •  Allegory •  Tragedy

What do we mean when we talk about sentiment?

•  Feelings come before rationality. •  The evidence of one’s visceral response takes

precedence over the evidence of one’s physical senses.

•  Correlation may be more important than causation. –  Correla@on  is  when  two  things  always  appear  to  happen  at  the  same  @me.  

•  I  wake  up  and  the  sun  appears.    •  This  is  not  causa@on.  •  But  in  the  sen@mental  narra@ve  it  may  be  significant  ie  in  the  prophecy  of  a  new  king  such  as  “if  the  king  is  good  the  harvest  will  be  good”.  

What don’t we mean?

•  Hysterics, weeping, romantic language and beautiful landscape are none of them necessarily an indication of a narrative of sentiment.

An example of a “narrative of sentiment” is the Kirk-Spock interaction

in the original Star Trek.

In each of the interactions the dynamic is roughly as follows:

Kirk appeals to sentiment. Spock answers with logic.

Outcome of adventure: Spock admits that “sentiment” proved a better guide to action than “logic”.

Rhetorical  affects  of  Sen@ment  

•  O^en  told  from  “inside”  the  character.  •  Emphasis  on  what  the  character  feels  or  suspects.  

•  O^en  a  conscious  avoidance  of  a3empts  to  actually  assemble  evidence.    

•  Valuing  aesthe@cs  over  prac@cali@es.  

Genres  of  the    Ra@onal  and  the  Ego@s@cal  

Crime,  Science  Fic@on  and  most  Historical  fic@on  

What  do  we  mean  when  we  talk  about    “the  ra@onal”?  

•  That  the  world  is  subject  to  logical  and  ra@onal  explana@ons.  –  You  have  a  heart  a3ack  because  you  have  been  living  on  cream  and  brandy.  

–  The  sun  rises  in  the  east  and  sets  in  the  west  because  the  earth  revolves  around  the  sun.  

–  If  you  walk  under  a  ladder  you  may  get  a  pot  of  paint  on  your  head  but  it  won’t  bring  you  bad  luck.  

Things  don’t  just  happen.  

•  They  are  subject  to  causa-on.  – Poverty  is  not  an  act  of  G-­‐d  it  is  the  result  of  the  working  of  the  market.  

– Disease  is  not  the  working  of  fate,  it  is  due  to  genes,  bacteria,  viruses  etc.  etc.  

– There  is  a  flood  because  of  weather  pa3erns  

How  we  understand  the  world  in  ra@onal  texts.  

•  We  look  for  evidence.  •  We  look  for  causa@on.  •  We  know  the  difference  between  causal  rela@onships  and  correlated  rela@onships.  

.  •  A  person  has  migraine.  •  They  eat  cheese.  •  They  no@ce  (correlate)  that  they  get  a  migraine  the  next  day.  Every  @me.  

•  They  monitor  this  and  cut  out  all  other  possibili@es  (perhaps  by  ea@ng  cheese  once  a  week,  but  a  different  day  each  week,  so  as  to  rule  out  @redness).  

•  They  note  that  yes,  eat  cheese  one  day.  Migraine  the  next.  

•  I  wake  up  and  the  sun  appears.    –  This  is  not  causa@on.  

Causa@on  and  Correla@on  and  the  Difference  Ma3er  Enormously  in:  

•  Historical  fic@on  (what  happened)    •  Crime  fic@on  (clues)  •  Science  Fic@on  (if  this  goes  on…)  

   

In  all  cases  encounters  with  the  world  will  be  structured  around  cause  and  

effect.        •  Even  if  the  par@cipants  are  irra@onal,  the  author  

will  remain  in  this  ra@onal  mode.  •  Only  when  emo@on  is  evidence  will  it  be  incorporated  into  this  pa3ern.  

•  With  the  excep@on  of  historical  fic@on,  there  is  an  assump@on  that  the  logical  and  ra@onal  response  will  generally  be  more  helpful  than  the  emo@onal  one.  

Effects  of  the  Ra@onal  Structure.  

•  There  are  no  moral  narra@ves  with  one  excep@on….  

•  The  character  who  most  accepts  the  fundamental  structures  of  their  world  (whether  we  are  talking  physics,  biology,  psychology,  engineering  or  even  “the  natural  order  of  things”)  will  win.  

•  The  “villain”  tends  to  be  the  person  mo@vated  by  sen@ment.  

Rhetorical  affect.  

•  Facts  ma3er.  •  Details  ma3er.  •  If  x  then  y  is  the  standard  way  of  describing  any  problem,  whether  outright,  or  in  the  contextual  material.  

•  We  are  more  likely  to  be  outside  the  character  but  if  first  person  is  used,  it  is  outward  directed  to  what  is  done,  rather  than  what  is  felt.  

Rhetorical  Tradi@ons  This  is  not  absolute:  many  a  writer  has  used  this  divide  precisely  to  subvert  

expecta-on.  

Ra#onal  •  Tends  to  be  paratac@c:  this  

happened  then  this  happened.    

•  Tension  is  achieved  through  sentence  length,  o^en  shortening  the  sentence  as  you  approach  the  pay  off.  

•  The  focus  is  on  how,  why,  explana@ons  of  events.  

•  O^en  involved  in  the  crea@on  of  knowledge.  

Sen#mental  •  Tends  to  be  hypotac@c,  

using  the  technique  to  draw  out  the  pay  off.  

•  Tension  is  achieved  through  delay.  

•  The  focus  is  on  how  one  feels  about  events.  

•  O^en  engaged  in  the  rediscovery  of  knowledge.  

Genre  associa@ons  Genre  is  expressed  in  sound,  and  image.  This  is  just  a  sma3ering  of  associa@on…  

 (interes@ngly  smell  doesn’t  quite  work  here:  it’s  the  contextualisa@on/reac@on  to  the  

smell  that  sorts  the  genre  Ra#onal  •  Blue  ligh@ng  •  Concrete/Metal/bare  stone  •  Clear  day  light  •  Electronic  music  

Sen#mental  •  Yellow  ligh@ng  •  Green  grass/wood/

decora@on  •  Dusk,  dawn,  deep  night.  •  Violins/Flutes  etc  •  Minor  key  (for  horror)  

Exercise    

This  is  the  task  I  set  my  students  at  the  end  of  this  talk.  

•  Describe  a  supermarket:  –  A)  in  the  sen@mental  mode  –  B)  in  the  ra@onal  mode  

•  You  may  not  write  a  story.  

But…of  course  it  isn’t  that  simple.  

•  A  useful  test  case  is  the  short  story  ‘A  Boy  and  His  God’  by  Charlie  Stross.  This  story  quite  deliberately  uses  all  the  tropes  of  fantasy  to  construct  a  piece  of  science  fic@on.  

•  Also  useful  is  Eternal  Sunshine  of  the  Spotless  Mind,  which  can  be  understood  as  many  genres  and  straddles  all  of  what  is  discussed  here.  

•  In  the  end,  genre  is  what  is  understood  by  the  reader/audience.