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CS92PROD
Theory of Literary Genres
ENGL 355
Fall 2006
Section: 01  

Aristotle classified genres, or the types of literature, into three major categories: lyric, epic or narrative, and drama, mirrored in our modern categories of poetry, novel, and drama. But we also have a proliferation of other literary kinds: epic, tragedy, comedy, satire, biography, essay, pastoral, and so on. What are the rules, the conventions, of the different genres? How do authors and readers use genre to create and either fulfill or flout the expected reading experience? Literary genre has been studied extensively by some literary critics and theorists - the neoclassical critics, the American Chicago critics or neo-Aristotelians, Northrop Frye and his theory of archetypes, structuralists such as Roland Barthes. Our contemporary literary discussions have focused on questions of social, historical, and political contexts, and genre has consequently moved into the background. This class asserts that genre theory remains an important part of literary study in general. We will examine some of the historical discussions of genre and analyze some particular generic types.

Essential Capabilities: None
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: ENGL201
Fulfills a Requirement for: None
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on DEC-11-2024
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