Over the millennia of cultural development, humanity has created countless literary works, among which we can distinguish some basic types that are similar in the way and form of reflecting human ideas about the world around us. These are three types (or types) of literature: epic, drama, lyric.

What is different about each type of literature?

Epic as a type of literature

Epic(epos - Greek, narrative, story) is a depiction of events, phenomena, processes external to the author. Epic works reflect the objective course of life, human existence as a whole. Using various artistic means, the authors of epic works express their understanding of historical, socio-political, moral, psychological and many other problems that live with human society in general and each of its representatives in particular. Epic works have significant visual potential, thereby helping the reader to understand the world around them and comprehend the deep problems of human existence.

Drama as a genre of literature

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

Related to this features of dramatic works :

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

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

Lyrics as a type of literature

Lyrics(lyra - Greek, musical instrument, to the accompaniment of which poetic works and songs were performed) is distinguished by a special type of construction of an artistic image - this is an image-experience in which the individual emotional and spiritual experience of the author is embodied. Lyrics can be called the most mysterious type of literature, because it is addressed to the inner world of a person, his subjective feelings, ideas, and ideas. In other words, a lyrical work serves primarily the individual self-expression of the author. The question arises: why do readers, i.e. other people turn to such works? The whole point is that the lyricist, speaking on his own behalf and about himself, miraculously 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, type) - a historically established type of literary work that has similar typological features. Genre names help the reader navigate the vast sea of ​​literature: some people love detective stories, others prefer fantasy, and still others are a fan of memoirs.

How to determine What genre does a particular work belong to? Most often, the authors themselves help us in this, calling their creation a novel, story, poem, etc. However, some author’s definitions seem unexpected to us: let us remember that A.P. Chekhov emphasized that “The Cherry Orchard” is a comedy, and not a drama at all, but A.I. Solzhenitsyn considered One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich to be a story, not a novella. Some literary scholars 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, still 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 20th century did literary scholars agree to call the brilliant creation of L.N. Tolstoy's epic novel.

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

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

Literature of literary works - see table 1).

Table 1.

Genres of literary works

Epic genres of literature

Epic genres are primarily distinguished by their volume; on this basis they are divided into small ( essay, story, short story, fairy tale, parable ), average ( story ), large ( novel, epic novel ).

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

Story- a small narrative genre, which usually depicts one episode, incident, human character, or an important incident in the life of the hero that influenced his future fate (“After the Ball” by L. Tolstoy). Stories are created both on a documentary, often autobiographical basis (“Matryonin’s Dvor” by A. Solzhenitsyn) and through pure fiction (“The Gentleman from San Francisco” by I. Bunin).

The intonation and content of the stories can be very different - from comic, curious (early stories of 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 Italian news) is in many ways akin to a short story and is considered its variety, but is distinguished by the special dynamism of the narrative, sharp and often unexpected turns in the development of events. Often the narrative in a short story begins with the ending and is built according to the law of inversion, i.e. reverse order, when the denouement precedes the main events (“Terrible Revenge” by N. Gogol). This feature of the construction of the novella 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) referred to laws introduced after the official codification of law (after the Code of Theodosius II in 438). The novellas of Justinian and his successors, published after the second edition of the Justinian Code, later formed part of the code of Roman laws (Corpus iuris civillis). In the modern era, a novel is a law submitted to parliament (in other words, a draft law).

Fairy tale- the most ancient of the small epic genres, one of the main ones in the oral creativity of any people. This is a small work of a magical, adventurous or everyday nature, 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.” Folk tales are usually divided into fairy tales (“The Tale of the Frog Princess”), everyday tales (“Porridge from an Ax”) and tales about animals (“Zayushkina’s Hut”).

With the development of written literature, literary fairy tales arise that use traditional motifs and symbolic possibilities of folk tales. The 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”, “The Shadow”, “Thumbelina” are loved by many generations of readers, both very young and quite mature. And this is far from accidental, because Andersen’s fairy tales are not only extraordinary and sometimes strange adventures of heroes, they contain a deep philosophical and moral meaning contained in beautiful symbolic images.

Among European literary fairy tales of the 20th century, “The Little Prince” (1942) by the French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry became 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 J.R. Tolkien, are written in the fantasy genre, which can be called a modern transformation of an ancient folk tale.

In Russian literature, the fairy tales of A.S., of course, remain unsurpassed. 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”. An excellent storyteller was P. Ershov, the author of “The Little Humpbacked Horse.” E. Schwartz in the 20th century creates the form of fairy tale plays, 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 fairy tales, parables contained written monuments: the Talmud, the Bible, the Koran, the monument of Syrian literature “Teachings of Akahara”. A parable is a work of instructive, symbolic nature, distinguished by sublimity and seriousness of content. Ancient parables, as a rule, are small in volume; they do not contain a detailed account of events or the psychological characteristics of the character of the hero.

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

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

Tale- a medium literary genre, widely represented in world literature. The story depicts several important episodes from the hero's life, usually one storyline and a small number of characters. The stories are characterized by great psychological intensity; the author focuses on the experiences and changes in mood of the characters. Very often the main theme of the story is the love of the protagonist, for example, “White Nights” by F. Dostoevsky, “Asya” by I. Turgenev, “Mitya’s Love” by I. Bunin. Stories 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 extremely diverse: tragic, addressing acute social and moral issues (“Everything Flows” by V. Grossman, “House on the Embankment” by Yu. Trifonov), romantic, heroic (“Taras Bulba” by N. Gogol), philosophical , parables (“The Pit” by A. Platonov), mischievous, comic (“Three in a Boat, Not Counting the Dog” by the English writer Jerome K. Jerome).

Novel(gotap French originally, in the late Middle Ages, any work written in a 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. The novel is the most complex epic genre, which is distinguished by an incredible number of themes and plots: love, historical, detective, psychological, fantasy, historical, autobiographical, social, philosophical, satirical, etc. All these forms and types of the novel are united by its central idea - the idea of ​​personality, human individuality.

The novel is called the epic of private life because it depicts the diverse connections between the world and man, society and the individual. 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 influences a person’s character, how he is formed, how his life develops, whether he managed to find his purpose and realize himself.

Many attribute the origin of the genre to antiquity, such as Long's Daphnis and Chloe, Apuleius's The Golden Ass, and the knightly romance Tristan and Isolde.

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

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

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

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

Of course, none of such listings can claim completeness and exhaustive objectivity, especially when it comes to modern prose. In this case, the most famous works that 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, the hero’s exploits were exalted in an idealized, often hyperbolic form. 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 destiny and the life of the people becomes one of them main ones. The experience of the ancients will be in demand in the 19th-20th centuries, when writers will try to comprehend the dramatic relationship between the era and the individual personality, and talk about the tests to which morality, and sometimes the human psyche, is subjected at the time of the greatest historical upheavals. Let us remember the lines of F. Tyutchev: “Blessed is he who visited this world in its fatal moments.” The poet's romantic formula in reality meant the destruction of all familiar forms of life, tragic losses and unfulfilled dreams.

The complex form of the epic novel allows writers to artistically explore these problems in all their completeness and inconsistency.

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

The very name of the genre indicates a synthesis, a combination of two main principles in it: novel and epic, i.e. related to 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 destinies of the heroes (as a rule, the heroes themselves and their destinies are fictitious, invented by the author) against the backdrop of and in close connection with epoch-making historical events. Thus, in “War and Peace” - these are the fates of individual families (Rostov, Bolkonsky), beloved heroes (Prince Andrei, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha and Princess Marya) in the turning point historical period for Russia and all of Europe at the beginning of the 19th century, the Patriotic War of 1812 . In Sholokhov's book, the events of the First World War, two revolutions and a bloody civil war tragically invade the life of the Cossack farm, the Melekhov family, and the fate of the main characters: Grigory, Aksinya, Natalya. V. Grossman talks about the Great Patriotic War and its main event - the Battle of Stalingrad, about the tragedy of the Holocaust. “Life and Fate” also intertwines historical and family themes: the author traces the history of the Shaposhnikovs, trying to understand why the destinies of the members of this family turned out so differently. Galsworthy describes the life of the Forsyte family during the legendary Victorian era in England. Margaret Mitchell is a central event in US history, the Civil War between North and South, which dramatically 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 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 magical games were played with mummers and satyrs, whom the ancient Greeks imagined as two-legged goat-like creatures. It is assumed that it was precisely this appearance of the satyrs singing hymns to the glory of Dionysus that gave such a strange name in translation to this serious genre. Theatrical performance in Ancient Greece was given 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 spectacle being presented. The heyday of ancient Greek tragedy is associated with the names of three great tragedians: Aeschylus (525-456 BC) - author of the tragedies “Chained Prometheus”, “Oresteia”, etc.; Sophocles (496-406 BC) - author of “Oedipus the King”, “Antigone”, etc.; and Euripides (480-406 BC) - the creator of “Medea”, “Troyanok”, etc. Their creations will remain examples of the genre for centuries; they will be tried to imitate them, but they will remain unsurpassed. Some of them (“Antigone”, “Medea”) are still staged 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 man, his will, free choice, on the other. In the tragedies of later eras, this conflict acquired 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 or compromise, and therefore the ending of the tragedy often involves a lot of death. This is how the tragedies of the great English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) were constructed; let us remember 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, Polyeuctus) and Racine (Andromache, Britannicus), this conflict received a different interpretation - as a conflict of duty and feelings, rational and emotional in the souls of the main characters, i.e. . acquired a psychological interpretation.

The most famous in Russian literature is the romantic tragedy “Boris Godunov” by A.S. Pushkin, created on historical material. In one of his best works, the poet acutely raised the problem of the “real trouble” of the Moscow state - a chain reaction of impostures 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; discussions continue to this day about what Pushkin wanted to say. Based on the tragedy, the opera of the same name by M. P. Mussorgsky was written, which became a masterpiece of Russian opera classics.

Comedy(Greek komos - cheerful crowd, oda - song) - a genre that originated in Ancient Greece a little later than tragedy (5th century BC). The most famous comedian of that time was 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, as a rule, are topical, i.e. They also address social issues, exposing the shortcomings of the authorities. There are sitcoms and character comedies. In the first, a cunning intrigue, a chain of events (Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors) are important; in the second, the characters of the heroes, their absurdity, one-sidedness, as in the comedies “The Minor” by D. Fonvizin, “The Tradesman in the Nobility”, “Tartuffe”, written by the classic genre, French comedian of the 17th century Jean Baptiste Moliere. In Russian drama, satirical comedy with its sharp social criticism turned out to be especially in demand, such as “The Inspector General” by N. Gogol, “The Crimson Island” by M. Bulgakov. A. Ostrovsky created many wonderful comedies (“Wolves and Sheep”, “Forest”, “Mad Money”, etc.).

The comedy genre invariably enjoys success 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, and 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, this is also the most literary of stage genres, for example, the plays of A. Chekhov are largely perceived more as texts for reading, rather than as theatrical performances.

Lyrical genres of literature

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

Elegy(elegos Greek lamentable song) - a poem of medium length, usually of moral, philosophical, love, confessional content.

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

The longed-for moment has arrived: my long-term work is over. Why is this incomprehensible sadness secretly disturbing me?

A. Pushkin

In the poetry of the 19th-20th centuries, the division into couplets is no longer such a strict requirement; now the semantic features that are associated with the origin of the genre are more significant. Content-wise, the elegy goes back to the form of Ancient funeral “laments”, in which, while mourning the deceased, they simultaneously remembered his extraordinary virtues. This origin predetermined the main feature of the elegy - the combination of grief with faith, regret with hope, acceptance of existence through sadness. 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 of faded fun

It's hard for me, like a vague hangover.

But like wine - the sadness of days gone by

In my soul, the older I get, the stronger it is.

My path is sad. Promises me work and grief

The coming troubled sea.

But I don’t want, O friends, to die;

I want to live so that I can think and suffer;

And I know I will have pleasure

Between sorrows, worries and worries:

Sometimes I’ll get drunk again with harmony,

I will shed tears over the fiction,

And maybe - at my sad sunset

Love will flash with a farewell smile.

Sonnet(sonetto Italian song) - the so-called “solid” poetic form, which has strict rules of construction. The sonnet has 14 lines, divided into two quatrains and two tercets. In quatrains only two rhymes are repeated, in terzettos 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 14th century Italian poet Petrarch is considered the luminary of the genre. He dedicated all his sonnets to his beloved Donna Laura.

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

Epigram(epigramma Greek, inscription) - a short mocking poem, usually addressed to a specific person. Many poets write epigrams, sometimes increasing the number of their ill-wishers and even enemies. The epigram on Count Vorontsov turned out to be bad for A.S. Pushkin by the hatred of this nobleman and, ultimately, expulsion from Odessa to Mikhailovskoye:

Popu, my lord, half-merchant,

Half-sage, half-ignorant,

Semi-scoundrel, but there is hope

Which will be complete at last.

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

Could Beach, like Dante, create?

Did Laura go to praise 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. Kony was appointed to the Senate, his ill-wishers spread an evil epigram against him:

Caligula brought his horse to the Senate,

It stands, dressed in both velvet and gold.

But I will say, we have the same arbitrariness:

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

To which A.F. Kony, who was distinguished by his extraordinary literary talent, replied:

(epitafia Greek, gravestone) - a farewell poem to a deceased person, intended for a gravestone. Initially this word was used in a literal sense, but later it acquired a more figurative meaning. For example, I. Bunin has a lyrical miniature in prose “Epitaph”, dedicated to farewell to the Russian estate that was dear to the writer, but forever a thing of the past. Gradually, the epitaph is transformed into a dedication poem, a farewell poem (“Wreath to 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 “Epitaph” by M. Lermontov, dedicated to the memory of Dmitry Venevitinov, a poet and philosopher who died at the age of twenty-two.

The concept of genre. Principles of genre classification

Literary genres (French genre - genus, type) are types of works that have developed in the process of development of artistic literature. Obviously, the problem of genre in its most general form can be formulated as a problem of classifying works, identifying common - genre - features in them. The main difficulties of classification are related to the historical changes in literature and the evolution of genres.

The number and nature of genre features (the volume of a genre) is a variable quantity in the history of literature, which is reflected in the variety of successive genre theories, as well as the prevailing ideas about genres in writing and reading practice. So, for tragedy in realistic drama of the 19th-20th centuries. Many signs of a classic tragedy are not necessary. In the era of realism, a tragedy is considered to be any dramatic work that reveals a tragic conflict and expresses corresponding pathos. Thus, we can talk about a decrease in the genre volume of tragedy from classicism to realism.

Most genres arose in ancient times. Evolving into lit. process, they nevertheless retain some stable substantive and formal features that allow us to talk about a genre tradition. The genre designations themselves, often included in the text of the work, in its title (“Eugene Onegin. A Novel in Verse”), are signs of literature. traditions; they evoke a certain genre expectation in the reader.

When studying genres, one should distinguish between their most stable and transient features. Within the framework of the theoretical and literary course, the main attention is paid to the characteristics of the most stable genre features. However, it is important to remember that lit. In the process, genre always appears as an element of a genre system, the principles of which depend on the specific historical characteristics of artistic thinking. Thus, in ancient literatures, the development of authorial self-awareness was slow, determined by the stability of traditions and the general pace of national life. Therefore, the genre systems of ancient literatures, distinguished by their complexity and ramifications, are characterized by greater stability compared to the literature of modern times.

True liberation from cruel genre regulations became possible only with the development of realism; it was associated with overcoming subjective one-sidedness in creativity itself. And in realistic literature, which correlates the development of characters with circumstances in their historical concreteness, following the tradition of genres could be carried out much more freely, which generally led to a decrease in their volumes. In all European literature of the 19th century. There is a sharp restructuring of the genre system. Genres began to be perceived as aesthetically equivalent types of works that were open to creative exploration. This approach to genres is typical of our time.

Basic principles of genre classification of literary works. Genre features that have the most stable, historically repeatable character are the basis for the literary classification of works. Traditional genre designations are mainly used as literary terms - fable, ballad, poem, etc. - which spontaneously arose in literature and acquired a wide range of associations in the process of genre evolution.

The most important genre feature of a work is its belonging to one or another literary genre: epic, dramatic, lyrical, lyric-epic genres are distinguished. Within genera, there are different types - stable formal, compositional and stylistic structures, which it is advisable to call generic forms. They are differentiated depending on the organization of speech in the work - poetic or prose, and on the volume of the text. In addition, the basis for identifying generic forms in the epic can be the principles of plot composition, in poetic lyrics - solid strophic forms (sonnet, rondo, triolet), in drama - some or other relation to the theater (drama for reading, for puppet theater), etc. .p.

Epic genres. Due to the breadth and versatility of the depiction of characters in epic works, in comparison with drama and lyric poetry, their genre issues are especially clear and vivid. It reveals itself in a variety of generic forms. Thus, a song, a fairy tale, and a story can be national-historical in their problematics.

In the classification of generic forms, differences in the volume of texts of works are important. Along with the small (story) and medium (story) prose forms, there is a large epic form, which is often called novels. The volume of the text of a work in an epic is determined by the completeness of the recreation of characters and relationships, and hence by the scale of the plot. Unlike a story, a story is not characterized by an extensive system of characters, there is no complex evolution of characters and detailed individualization.

Heroic folk song.

Novels, short stories (short stories, essays)

Satirical, everyday tales, fables

Dramatic genres. With their characteristic short performance time on stage and the resulting unity and concentration of the conflict, they create fertile ground for the expression of certain types of pathos in the actions and experiences of the characters. Therefore, the division of drama into genres is associated with the pathos of the play. But pathos comes from conflict.

An additional substantive criterion for division in drama is the peculiarities of genre issues.

1) Tragedy - a conflict between personal aspirations and super-personal “laws” of life occurs in the minds of the main character (heroes) and the entire plot of the play is created to develop and resolve this conflict. The hero of the tragedy is in a state of conflict not only with other characters, he struggles primarily with himself. The tragedy ends with the death of the usual hero, although, as Belinsky wrote, “The essence of the tragic is not in the bloody ending.”

A) moral descriptive - in the tragedies of Aeschylus and Sophocles, the characters act as bearers of certain moral and civil norms, reflect the clashes of old and new, more humane, moral norms.

B) national-historical (“Persians” by Aeschylus, “Boris Godunov” by Pushkin)

2) Drama is the most diverse in subject matter, characterized by a wide range of life conflicts depicted. The pathos of drama is generated by the clashes of characters with forces of life that oppose them from the outside. However, conflict in drama can also be very serious and acute and can lead to suffering and sometimes even death of the hero.

A) national-historical conflict (“Voevoda” by Ostrovsky, “Enemies” by Gorky)

B) socially everyday (romantic) (“The Merchant of Venice” by Shakespeare, “Vassa Zheleznova” by Gorky).

3) Comedy - a play filled with humorous or satirical pathos. Such pathos is generated by the comic contradictions of the characters being recreated. The comedy of the characters is revealed through plot conflicts, often based on chance. At the same time, the characters themselves do not change due to the course of events. There is no character development in comedy. The depiction of the internal inconsistency, absurdity, inferiority of comic characters, their satirical or humorous negation - this is the main ideological orientation of comedy.

Lyrical genres. The originality of the lyrics is that they highlight the inner world of the lyrical hero and his experiences. This is clearly visible not only in works in which there are no visual images of the outside world, but also in descriptive, narrative lyrics, here the experience is conveyed through the emotional expression of speech, the nature of tropes, etc. Therefore, the basis of the meaningful genre division in the lyrics is the character itself experiences. But experience in lyrics can be subjects of typology in a different way. As in epic and drama, in lyric poetry one can trace differences in genre issues - national-historical, moral-descriptive, romantic, which are manifested here through the typification of the very experience of the lyrical hero.

The genres of literary lyrics were formed on the basis of folk lyric song, in its various varieties.

1) Ode is a poem expressing the enthusiastic feelings that some significant object arouses in the poet. In the ode, the poet connects primarily with collective feelings - patriotic, civil. Genre issues in an ode can be national-historical or morally descriptive.

2) Satire is a poem expressing indignation, the poet’s indignation at the negative aspects of society. Satire is morally descriptive in terms of genre issues; the poet in it is like the mouthpiece of the advanced part of society, concerned about its negative state.

3) Elegy is a poem filled with sadness and dissatisfaction with life. Sadness can be caused by some reason (“Sorrowful Elegies” by Ovid). But an elegy is possible in which the recreated experience does not have a specific motivation (“I experienced my desires...” by Pushkin).

4) Epigram, epitaph, madrigal - small forms of lyric poetry. In the history of literature, the broad (ancient Greek) and narrow (later) meanings of the epigram are known. The ancient Greek epigram (literally “inscription”) originates from inscriptions on religious objects. A type of epigram was an epitaph - an inscription on a tombstone. The content and emotional tone of the ancient Greek epigrams were different. The originality of thought and the laconicism of its expression are what have always been valued in the epigram. The second, narrow meaning of the epigram, which has been attached to it since the 1st century AD, is a short humorous or satirical poem, most often ridiculing a certain person. The antipode of an epigram (in the higher meaning of the word) is a madrigal - a short, half-joking poem of a complimentary nature (usually addressed to a lady).

Lyric-epic genres. The combination of lyrical meditation and epic narrative is often found in works of different genres (for example, in a romantic poem). But there are genres whose nature is always lyrical and epic.

1) Fable is a morally descriptive genre that contains a short allegorical narrative and a lesson (“moral”) arising from it. Even if the teaching is not “Formulated” in the text of the fable, it is implied; The relationship between the teaching and the plot of the fable constitutes its lyrical-epic basis.

2) A ballad is a small poetic work of plot in which the narrative itself is permeated with lyricism. Unlike a fable, where it is possible to distinguish lyrical (“moral”) and epic (plot) parts, a ballad represents an indissoluble fusion of lyrical and epic principles. Genre issues in a ballad can be national-historical and romantic.

One of the founders of Russian literary criticism was V.G. Belinsky. And although serious steps were taken in the development of the concept of literary gender back in antiquity (Aristotle), it was Belinsky who owned the scientifically based theory of three literary genera, which you can get acquainted with in detail by reading Belinsky’s article “The Division of Poetry into Genera and Types.”

There are three types of fiction: epic(from Greek Epos, narrative), lyrical(a lyre was a musical instrument, accompanied by chanting poems) and dramatic(from Greek Drama, action).

When presenting this or that subject to the reader (meaning the subject of conversation), the author chooses different approaches to it:

First approach: in detail tell about the object, about the events associated with it, about the circumstances of the existence of this object, etc.; in this case, the author’s position will be more or less detached, the author will act as a kind of chronicler, narrator, or choose one of the characters as the narrator; the main thing in such a work will be the story, narration about the subject, the leading type of speech will be narrative; this kind of literature is called epic;

The second approach: you can tell not so much about the events, but about the impressed, which they produced on the author, about those feelings which they called; image inner world, experiences, impressions and will relate to the lyrical genre of literature; exactly experience becomes the main event of the lyrics;

Third approach: you can depict item in action, show him on stage; present it to the reader and viewer surrounded by other phenomena; this kind of literature is dramatic; in a drama, the author's voice will be heard least often - in stage directions, that is, the author's explanations of the actions and remarks of the characters.

Look at the following table and try to remember its contents:

Types of fiction

Each type of literature in turn includes a number of genres.

GENRE is a historically established group of works united by common features of content and form. Such groups include novels, stories, poems, elegies, short stories, feuilletons, comedies, etc. In literary studies, the concept of literary type is often introduced; this is a broader concept than genre. In this case, the novel will be considered a type of fiction, and genres will be various types of novels, for example, adventure, detective, psychological, parable novel, dystopian novel, etc.

Examples of genus-species relationships in the literature:

• Gender: dramatic; type: comedy; Genre: sitcom.
• Genus: epic; type: story; genre: fantasy story, etc.

Genres, being historical categories, appear, develop and eventually “leave” from the “active stock” of artists depending on the historical era: ancient lyricists did not know the sonnet; in our time, the ode, born in antiquity and popular in the 17th-18th centuries, has become an archaic genre; Romanticism of the 19th century gave rise to detective literature, etc.

Consider the following table, which presents the types and genres related to the various types of word art:

Genera, types and genres of artistic literature

Modern literary criticism also highlights fourth, a related genre of literature that combines the features of the epic and lyrical genres: lyric-epic, which refers to poem. And indeed, by telling the reader a story, the poem manifests itself as an epic; Revealing to the reader the depth of feelings, the inner world of the person telling this story, the poem manifests itself as lyricism.

LYRICAL is a type of literature in which the author’s attention is paid to depicting the inner world, feelings, and experiences. An event in lyric poetry is important only insofar as it evokes an emotional response in the artist’s soul. It is the experience that becomes the main event in the lyrics. Lyrics as a type of literature arose in ancient times. The word "lyric" is of Greek origin, but has no direct translation. In Ancient Greece, poetic works depicting the inner world of feelings and experiences were performed to the accompaniment of the lyre, and this is how the word “lyrics” appeared.

The most important character in the lyrics is lyrical hero: it is his inner world that is shown in the lyrical work, on his behalf the lyricist speaks to the reader, and the external world is depicted in terms of the impressions it makes on the lyrical hero. Pay attention! Do not confuse the lyrical hero with the epic one. Pushkin reproduced the inner world of Eugene Onegin in great detail, but this is an epic hero, a participant in the main events of the novel. The lyrical hero of Pushkin's novel is the Narrator, the one who is familiar with Onegin and tells his story, deeply experiencing it. Onegin becomes a lyrical hero only once in the novel - when he writes a letter to Tatyana, just as she becomes a lyrical heroine when she writes a letter to Onegin.

By creating the image of a lyrical hero, a poet can make him personally very close to himself (poems by Lermontov, Fet, Nekrasov, Mayakovsky, Tsvetaeva, Akhmatova, etc.). But sometimes the poet seems to be “hiding” behind the mask of a lyrical hero, completely far from the personality of the poet himself; for example, A. Blok makes the lyrical heroine Ophelia (2 poems called “Ophelia’s Song”) or the street actor Harlequin (“I was covered in colorful rags…”), M. Tsvetaev - Hamlet (“At the bottom she is, where the mud ..."), V. Bryusov - Cleopatra ("Cleopatra"), S. Yesenin - a peasant boy from a folk song or fairy tale ("Mother walked through the forest in a bathing suit ..."). So, when discussing a lyrical work, it is more competent to talk about the expression in it of the feelings not of the author, but of the lyrical hero.

Like other types of literature, lyrics include a number of genres. Some of them arose in ancient times, others - in the Middle Ages, some - quite recently, one and a half to two centuries ago, or even in the last century.

Read about some LYRIC GENRES:
Ode(Greek "Song") - a monumental solemn poem glorifying a great event or a great person; There are spiritual odes (arrangements of psalms), moralizing, philosophical, satirical, epistle odes, etc. The ode is tripartite: it must have a theme stated at the beginning of the work; development of the theme and arguments, as a rule, allegorical (second part); the final, didactic (instructive) part. Examples of ancient ancient odes are associated with the names of Horace and Pindar; The ode came to Russia in the 18th century, the odes of M. Lomonosov (“On the day of the accession to the Russian throne of Empress Elisaveta Petrovna”), V. Trediakovsky, A. Sumarokov, G. Derzhavin (“Felitsa”, “God”), A. .Radishcheva (“Liberty”). He paid tribute to the ode of A. Pushkin (“Liberty”). By the middle of the 19th century, ode lost its relevance and gradually became an archaic genre.

Hymn- a poem of laudatory content; also came from ancient poetry, but if in ancient times hymns were composed in honor of gods and heroes, then in later times hymns were written in honor of solemn events, celebrations, often not only of a state, but also of a personal nature (A. Pushkin. “Feasting Students” ).

Elegy(Phrygian "reed flute") - a genre of lyrics dedicated to reflection. Originated in ancient poetry; originally this was the name for crying over the dead. The elegy was based on the life ideal of the ancient Greeks, which was based on the harmony of the world, proportionality and balance of being, incomplete without sadness and contemplation; these categories passed into modern elegy. An elegy can embody both life-affirming ideas and disappointment. Poetry of the 19th century continued to develop elegy in its “pure” form; in the lyrics of the 20th century, elegy is found, rather, as a genre tradition, as a special mood. In modern poetry, an elegy is a plotless poem of a contemplative, philosophical and landscape nature.
A. Pushkin. "To the Sea"
N. Nekrasov. "Elegy"
A. Akhmatova. "March Elegy"

Read A. Blok's poem "From Autumn Elegy":

Epigram(Greek “inscription”) - a small poem of satirical content. Initially, in ancient times, epigrams were inscriptions on household objects, tombstones and statues. Subsequently, the content of the epigrams changed.
Examples of epigrams:

Yuri Olesha:

Epistle, or message - a poem, the content of which can be defined as a “letter in verse.” The genre also came from ancient lyrics.
A. Pushkin. Pushchin ("My first friend, my priceless friend...")
V. Mayakovsky. "To Sergei Yesenin"; "Lilichka! (Instead of a letter)"
S. Yesenin. "Letter to Mother"
M. Tsvetaeva. Poems to Blok

Sonnet- this is a poetic genre of the so-called rigid form: a poem consisting of 14 lines, specially organized into stanzas, having strict rhyming principles and stylistic laws. There are several types of sonnet based on their form:

• Italian: consists of two quatrains (quatrains), in which the lines rhyme according to the scheme ABAB or ABBA, and two tercets (tercets) with the rhyme CDС DСD or CDE CDE;
• English: consists of three quatrains and one couplet; the general rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG;
• sometimes French is distinguished: the stanza is similar to Italian, but the terzets have a different rhyme scheme: CCD EED or CCD EDE; he had a significant influence on the development of the next type of sonnet -
• Russian: created by Anton Delvig: the stanza is also similar to Italian, but the rhyme scheme in tercets is CDD CCD.

This lyrical genre was born in Italy in the 13th century. Its creator was the lawyer Jacopo da Lentini; a hundred years later Petrarch's sonnet masterpieces appeared. The sonnet came to Russia in the 18th century; a little later it receives serious development in the works of Anton Delvig, Ivan Kozlov, Alexander Pushkin. Poets of the “Silver Age” showed particular interest in the sonnet: K. Balmont, V. Bryusov, I. Annensky, V. Ivanov, I. Bunin, N. Gumilev, A. Blok, O. Mandelstam...
In the art of versification, the sonnet is considered one of the most difficult genres.
In the last 2 centuries, poets rarely adhered to any strict rhyme scheme, often proposing a mixture of different schemes.

Such content dictates features of sonnet language:
• vocabulary and intonation should be sublime;
• rhymes - accurate and, if possible, unusual, rare;
• significant words should not be repeated with the same meaning, etc.

A particular difficulty - and therefore the pinnacle of poetic technique - is represented by wreath of sonnets: a cycle of 15 poems, the opening line of each being the last line of the previous one, and the last line of the 14th poem being the first line of the first. The fifteenth sonnet consists of the first lines of all 14 sonnets in the cycle. In Russian lyric poetry, the most famous are the wreaths of sonnets by V. Ivanov, M. Voloshin, K. Balmont.

Read “Sonnet” by A. Pushkin and see how the sonnet form is understood:

In school literary criticism, this genre of lyricism is called lyric poem. In classical literary criticism such a genre does not exist. It was introduced into the school curriculum to somewhat simplify the complex system of lyrical genres: if the clear genre features of a work cannot be identified and the poem is not, in the strict sense, an ode, a hymn, an elegy, a sonnet, etc., it will be defined as a lyric poem . In this case, you should pay attention to the individual characteristics of the poem: the specifics of the form, theme, image of the lyrical hero, mood, etc. Thus, lyric poems (in the school understanding) should include poems by Mayakovsky, Tsvetaeva, Blok, etc. Almost all lyric poetry of the twentieth century falls under this definition, unless the authors specifically stipulated the genre of the works.

Satire(Latin “mixture, all sorts of things”) - as a poetic genre: a work whose content is the denunciation of social phenomena, human vices or individual people - through ridicule. Satire in antiquity in Roman literature (satires of Juvenal, Martial, etc.). The genre received new development in the literature of classicism. The content of satire is characterized by ironic intonation, allegory, Aesopian language, and the technique of “speaking names” is often used. In Russian literature, A. Kantemir, K. Batyushkov (XVIII-XIX centuries) worked in the genre of satire; in the 20th century, Sasha Cherny and others became famous as the author of satires. Many poems from “Poems about America” by V. Mayakovsky can also be called satires ( "Six Nuns", "Black and White", "Skyscraper in Section", etc.).

Ballad- lyric-epic plot poem of the fantastic, satirical, historical, fairy-tale, legendary, humorous, etc. character. The ballad arose in ancient times (presumably in the early Middle Ages) as a folk ritual dance and song genre, and this determines its genre features: strict rhythm, plot (in ancient ballads they talked about heroes and gods), the presence of repetitions (entire lines or individual words were repeated as an independent stanza), called refrain. In the 18th century, the ballad became one of the most beloved poetic genres in Romantic literature. Ballads were created by F. Schiller ("Cup", "Glove"), I. Goethe ("The Forest Tsar"), V. Zhukovsky ("Lyudmila", "Svetlana"), A. Pushkin ("Anchar", "Groom") , M. Lermontov ("Borodino", "Three Palms"); at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the ballad was revived again and became very popular, especially in the revolutionary era, during the period of revolutionary romance. Among the poets of the 20th century, ballads were written by A. Blok ("Love" ("The Queen Lived on a High Mountain..."), N. Gumilev ("Captains", "Barbarians"), A. Akhmatova ("The Gray-Eyed King"), M. Svetlov (“Grenada”), etc.

Pay attention! A work can combine the characteristics of some genres: a message with elements of elegy (A. Pushkin, “To *** (“I remember a wonderful moment ...”)), a lyrical poem of elegiac content (A. Blok. “Motherland”), an epigram-message, etc. .d.

1. The creator of Macbeth is William Shakespeare (tragedy "Macbeth").
2. Portuguese poet Luis de Camões (1524-1580).
3. Wordsworth - English romantic poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850).
4. The singer of Lithuania is the Polish romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855).
5. See the material on topic No. 12.

• V.A. Zhukovsky. Poems: "Svetlana"; "Sea"; "Evening"; "Unspeakable"
• A.S. Pushkin. Poems: "Village", "Demons", "Winter Evening", "Pushchina" ("My first friend, my priceless friend...", "Winter Road", "To Chaadaev", "In the depths of the Siberian ores...", "Anchar ", "The flying ridge of clouds is thinning...", "The Prisoner", "Conversation between a bookseller and a poet", "The Poet and the Crowd", "Autumn", "...I visited again...", "Am I wandering along the noisy streets...", " A vain gift, an accidental gift...", "October 19" (1825), "On the hills of Georgia", "I loved you...", "To ***" ("I remember a wonderful moment..."), "Madonna" , “Echo”, “Prophet”, “To the Poet”, “To the Sea”, “From Pindemonti” (“I value loud rights inexpensively...”), “I have erected a monument to myself...”
• M.Yu. Lermontov. Poems: “The Death of a Poet”, “Poet”, “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...”, “Thought”, “Both boring and sad...”, “Prayer” (“I, Mother of God, now with prayer...”) , “We parted, but your portrait...”, “I will not humiliate myself before you...”, “Motherland”, “Farewell, unwashed Russia...”, “When the yellowing field is agitated...”, “No, I’m not Byron, I’m different ...", "Leaf", "Three Palms", "From Under a Mysterious, Cold Half Mask...", "Captive Knight", "Neighbor", "Testament", "Clouds", "Cliff", "Borodino", "Clouds heavenly, eternal pages...", "Prisoner", "Prophet", "I go out alone on the road..."
• N.A. Nekrasov. Poems: “I don’t like your irony...”, “Knight for an hour”, “I will soon die...”, “Prophet”, “Poet and Citizen”, “Troika”, “Elegy”, “Zine” (“You are still on you have the right to life..."); other poems of your choice
• F.I. Tyutchev. Poems: “Autumn Evening”, “Silentium”, “Not what you think, nature...”, “The earth still looks sad...”, “How good you are, O night sea...”, “I met you...”, “ Whatever life teaches us...", "Fountain", "These poor villages...", "Human tears, oh human tears...", "You can't understand Russia with your mind...", "I remember the golden time...", "What are you talking about howling, night wind?”, “The gray shadows have shifted...”, “How sweetly the dark green garden slumbers...”; other poems of your choice
• A.A.Fet. Poems: “I came to you with greetings...”, “It’s still a May night...”, “Whisper, timid breathing...”, “This morning, this joy...”, “Sevastopol rural cemetery”, “A wavy cloud...”, “Learn they have - at the oak, at the birch ...”, “To the poets”, “Autumn”, “What a night, how clean the air is ...”, “Village”, “Swallows”, “On the railway”, “Fantasy”, “The night was shining . The garden was full of the moon..."; other poems of your choice
• I.A.Bunin. Poems: "The Last Bumblebee", "Evening", "Childhood", "It's Still Cold and Cheese...", "And Flowers, and Bumblebees, and Grass...", "The Word", "The Knight at the Crossroads", "The Bird Has a Nest" …", "Twilight"
• A.A.Blok. Poems: “I enter dark temples...”, “Stranger”, “Solveig”, “You are like the echo of a forgotten hymn...”, “The earthly heart grows cold again...”, “Oh, spring without end and without end...”, “ About valor, about exploits, about glory...", "On the Railway", the cycles "On the Kulikovo Field" and "Carmen", "Rus", "Motherland", "Russia", "Morning in the Kremlin", "Oh, I I want to live crazy..."; other poems of your choice
• A.A.Akhmatova. Poems: “Song of the last meeting”, “You know, I’m languishing in captivity...”, “Before spring there are days like this...”, “Tear-stained autumn, like a widow...”, “I learned to live simply, wisely...”, “Native land "; “I have no use for Odic armies...”, “I am not with those who abandoned the earth...”, “Courage”; other poems of your choice
• S.A. Yesenin. Poems: “Go you, my dear Rus'...”, “Don’t wander, don’t crush in the crimson bushes...”, “I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry...”, “Now we are leaving little by little...”, “Letter to mother,” “ The golden grove dissuaded me...", "I left my home...", "Kachalov's dog", "Soviet Rus'", "The hewn horns began to sing...", "Uncomfortable liquid moonlight...", "The feather grass is sleeping...", "Goodbye. , my friend, goodbye..."; other poems of your choice
• V.V. Mayakovsky. Poems: “Could you?”, “Listen!”, “Here!”, “To you!”, “Violin and a little nervously”, “Mom and the evening killed by the Germans”, “Cheap sale”, “Good attitude towards horses ", "Left March", "About rubbish", "To Sergei Yesenin", "Anniversary", "Letter to Tatyana Yakovleva"; other poems of your choice
• 10-15 poems each (of your choice): M. Tsvetaeva, B. Pasternak, N. Gumilyov.
• A. Tvardovsky. Poems: “I was killed near Rzhev...”, “I know, it’s not my fault...”, “The whole point is in one single covenant...”, “In memory of the mother,” “To the bitter grievances of one’s own person...”; other poems of your choice
• I. Brodsky. Poems: “I entered instead of a wild beast ...”, “Letters to a Roman friend”, “To Urania”, “Stanzas”, “You will ride in the darkness ...”, “To the death of Zhukov”, “From nowhere with love ...”, “Notes of a fern "

Try to read all the literary works that are named in the work in a book, and not in electronic form!
When completing tasks for work 7, pay special attention to theoretical materials, since completing the tasks of this work by intuition means dooming yourself to mistakes.
Don’t forget to create a metrical diagram for each poetic passage you analyze, checking it many times.
The key to success when performing this complex work is attention and accuracy.

• Kvyatkovsky I.A. Poetic dictionary. - M., 1966.
• Literary encyclopedic dictionary. - M., 1987.
• Literary criticism: Reference materials. - M., 1988.
• Lotman Yu.M. Analysis of poetic text. - L.: Education, 1972.
• Gasparov M. Modern Russian verse. Metrics and rhythm. - M.: Nauka, 1974.
• Zhirmunsky V.M. Theory of verse. - L.: Science, 1975.
• Poetic structure of Russian lyrics. Sat. - L.: Science, 1973.
• Skripov G.S. About Russian versification. A manual for students. - M.: Education, 1979.
• Dictionary of literary terms. - M., 1974.
• Encyclopedic dictionary of a young literary critic. - M., 1987.

Then to:

a) learn mastery in your genre;
b) know exactly which publisher to offer the manuscript to;
c) study your target audience and offer the book not “to everyone,” but specifically to those people who may be interested in it.

What is fiction?

Fiction refers to all works that have a fictional plot and fictional characters: novels, short stories, stories and plays.

Memoirs belong to non-fiction literature, because we are talking about non-fictional events, but they are written according to the canons of fiction - with a plot, characters, etc.

But poetry, including song lyrics, is fiction, even if the author recalls a past love that actually happened.

Types of Fiction for Adults

Works of fiction are divided into genre literature, mainstream and intellectual prose.

Genre literature

In genre literature, the plot plays the first fiddle, and it fits into certain, pre-known frameworks.

This doesn't mean that all genre novels have to be predictable. The skill of a writer lies precisely in creating, under given conditions, a unique world, unforgettable characters and an interesting way to get from point “A” (the beginning) to point “B” (the outcome).

As a rule, a genre work ends on a positive note; the author does not delve into psychology or other lofty matters and simply tries to entertain readers.

Basic plot schemes in genre literature

Detective: crime - investigation - exposing the criminal.

Romance novel: heroes meet - fall in love - fight for love - connect hearts.

Thriller: the hero lived his ordinary life - a threat arises - the hero tries to escape - the hero gets rid of the danger.

Adventures: the hero sets a goal for himself and, having overcome many obstacles, achieves what he wants.

When we talk about science fiction, fantasy, historical or contemporary romance, we are talking not so much about the plot as about the setting, so when defining the genre, two or three terms are used that allow us to answer the questions: “What happens in the novel?” and “Where is it happening?” If we are talking about children's literature, then a corresponding note is made.

Examples: “modern romance novel”, “fantasy action” (action is an adventure), “historical detective story”, “children’s adventure story”, “fairy tale for primary school age”.

Genre prose is usually published in series - either original or general.

Mainstream

In the mainstream (from English. mainstream- main stream) readers expect unexpected solutions from the author. For this type of book, the most important thing is the moral development of the characters, philosophy and ideology. The requirements for a mainstream author are much higher than for writers working with genre prose: he must not only be an excellent storyteller, but also a good psychologist and a serious thinker.

Another important sign of the mainstream is that such books are written at the intersection of genres. For example, it is impossible to say unequivocally that Gone with the Wind is only romance novel or only historical drama.

By the way, the drama itself, that is, the story about the tragic experience of the heroes, is also a sign of the mainstream.

As a rule, novels of this type are published outside of series. This is due to the fact that serious works take a long time to write and forming a series out of them is quite problematic. Moreover, mainstream authors are so different from each other that it is difficult to group their books into anything other than “good book.”

When specifying a genre in mainstream novels, the emphasis is usually placed not so much on the plot, but on certain distinctive features of the book: historical drama, letter novel, fantasy saga, etc.

Origin of the term

The term “mainstream” itself originated with the American writer and critic William Dean Howells (1837–1920). As editor of one of the most popular and influential literary magazines of his time, The Atlantic Monthly, he gave a clear preference to works written in a realistic vein and focusing on moral and philosophical issues.

Thanks to Howells, realistic literature came into fashion, and for some time it was called the mainstream. The term was fixed in the English language, and from there it passed to Russia.

Intellectual prose

In the vast majority of cases, intellectual prose has a dark mood and is published outside of series.

Main genres of fiction

Approximate classification

When submitting an application to a publishing house, we must indicate the genre so that our manuscript is sent to the appropriate editor.

Below is a rough list of genres as they are understood by publishers and bookstores.

• Avant-garde literature. Characterized by violation of canons and language and plot experiments. As a rule, avant-garde works are published in very small editions. Closely intertwined with intellectual prose.
• Action. Targeted primarily at a male audience. The basis of the plot is fights, chases, saving beauties, etc.
• Detective. The main storyline is solving a crime.
• Historical novel. The time of action is the past. The plot is usually tied to significant historical events.
• Romance novel. Heroes find love.
• Mysticism. The plot is based on supernatural events.
• Adventures. The heroes get involved in an adventure and/or go on a risky journey.
• Thriller/horror. The heroes are in mortal danger, from which they are trying to get rid of.
• Fantastic. The plot takes place in a hypothetical future or in a parallel world. One of the types of fiction is alternative history.
• Fantasy/fairy tales. The main features of the genre are fairy-tale worlds, magic, unprecedented creatures, talking animals, etc. It is often based on folklore.

What is non-fiction?

Non-fiction books are classified by topic (for example, gardening, history, etc.) and type (scientific monograph, collection of articles, photo album, etc.).

Below is a classification of non-fiction books, as it is done in bookstores. When submitting an application to a publisher, indicate the topic and type of book - for example, a textbook on writing.

Classification of non-fiction literature

• autobiographies, biographies and memoirs;
• architecture and art;
• astrology and esoterics;
• business and finance;
• armed forces;
• upbringing and education;
• house, garden, vegetable garden;
• health;
• story;
• career;
• computers;
• local history;
• love and family relationships;
• fashion and beauty;
• music, cinema, radio;
• science and technology;
• food and cooking;
• gift editions;
• politics, economics, law;
• guidebooks and travel books;
• religion;
• self-development and psychology;
• agriculture;
• dictionaries and encyclopedias;
• sport;
• philosophy;
• hobby;
• school textbooks;
• linguistics and literature.