What are the features of the genre? Types of literary genres by form

Instructions

Study the epic genre of literature. It includes the following: - 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 action of the story usually takes no more than one or two days in duration. The location of the action may not change throughout the story;
- story: a sufficient work (on average 100 pages), where from 1 to 10 characters are considered. The location 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. Significant changes may occur in the lives of the characters - moves, and meetings;
- novel: large epic form from 200 pages. A novel can trace the lives of characters from birth to death. Includes an extensive system of storylines. Time can touch past eras and carry far into the future;
- an epic novel can examine the life of several generations.

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

The following genres are classified as dramatic literature: - tragedy: a dramatic work in the finale of which there is the death of the hero. Such a ending for a tragedy is the only possible resolution of a dramatic situation;
- Comedy: a dramatic work in which the main meaning and essence is laughter. It may be satirical or kinder in nature, 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 common genre nowadays.

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 lyricism - 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 short story is not characterized by a developed 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 characters’ clashes with the 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 it brings to the fore the inner world of the lyrical hero, 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 lyrical 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.

Nowadays you won’t find any kind of books on store shelves! The basis of the current genre wealth of literature is both the historically shaped legacy of writers of past years and the trends of the present. So today, many trends, trends and genres are presented to the attention of readers.

But literary diversity is especially interesting for writers: after all, it is up to them to decide in which genre to work. And if you are a novice author, then it is especially important for you to be able to understand the features and subtleties of genre literature in order to be sure to understand your future work. And your accuracy and insight in choosing a genre will largely determine the chances of your manuscript being accepted.

To begin with: what is a genre?

First of all, we note that there are two concepts of genre:

- literary criticism (according to the form of the work - story, novel, novel, etc.);

– applied (according to the type of work - detective story, romance novel, action film, etc.).

We will consider in detail exactly applied genres of modern literature.

So, a genre is a type of literary work that has strict boundaries (plot, main conflict and method of its resolution, characteristics of the hero, etc.). Genre is a dynamic phenomenon, and features of one genre often penetrate another, giving rise to subgenres.

What specific characteristics unite works of art into a particular genre? Let's figure it out.

The most common modern genres

A dynamic and, as a rule, bloody genre, the characteristic features of which include:

• maximum action: the heroes do not stand still, even when they find themselves at a fork in the main road, and are constantly moving - along the streets of the city, from city to city, from country to country;
• a minimum of meaning - even at a fork in the road, the hero does not think, but acts according to circumstances that are rarely justified by at least the fact that “the west is where the sun sets”, a minimum of logic, no descriptions other than battles;
• the presence of a positive - the savior of the world, humanity, city, government. The hero is extraordinary, trained to fight, doomed to act in a situation of constant stress and danger, often finds himself in the thick of things completely by accident and at the same time always survives;
• the presence of an antagonist - a negative hero who is opposed by a positive hero. The antagonist, as a rule, is very influential, rich, intelligent, slightly crazy, wants to destroy the world, country, city, government and lives to the end to either die or go to prison;
• descriptions of fights, battles, traps for the hero, various weapons and military technologies make up two-thirds of the book;
• mountains of corpses and a sea of ​​blood with descriptions of injuries, bruises, torture are required; and half of the corpses are from the villain, half from the positive hero.

2. Detective.

A genre based on solving a mystery, murder, kidnapping or theft, with a detailed description of the investigation.

Genre features:

• consistency of construction - accidents are excluded, causes and consequences are interconnected and justified, each assumption has a factual basis and justification;
• completeness of facts - the investigation is based only on the information that is conveyed to the reader, and it must be as complete and reliable as possible. “How I came up with this, you will find out in the finale” is out of the question. It is important for the reader not only to observe the progress of actions, but also to conduct an independent investigation;
• the presence of clear static elements: investigator (detective), assistant detective (partner, trainee), criminal (murderer, kidnapper, thief), victim (killed person, family of the killed person), informant (for example, a grandmother-neighbor who knows everything about everyone), witness (witnesses), suspect (circle of suspects);
• the ordinariness of the situation;
• as a rule, the coverage of the investigation area is small;
• in the finale, all riddles must be solved, and all questions must be answered.

3. Romance novel.

A lyrical story based on the feelings and emotions of lovers, the genre features of which are:

• the presence of an extraordinary main character with a distinctive feature that sets her apart from the crowd: either she is a gray mouse and a blue stocking, or a stunning beauty with a secret defect, or an old maid, or an impulsive adventurer;
• the presence of a main character - a handsome and courageous aristocrat, charming and charming, often with everything else - a scoundrel and a scoundrel, even more often - having a side romantic profession (thief, pirate, robber or Robin Hood);
• the presence of a third wheel (rival) - a loving admirer of the heroine (often from childhood), a beautiful and bright rival (the hero’s former lover, his abandoned fiancee or wife);
• romantic and emotional circumstances that bring future lovers together (marriage of convenience, meeting at a ball);
• love (or carnal desire) - at first sight (or touch);
• many obstacles that the heroes must overcome in the name of love for each other (difference in social status, poverty and pride of one of the heroes, family feud, etc.);
• emotional descriptions of experiences, stormy explanations and showdowns against a beautiful backdrop (nature, ballrooms, balconies, greenhouses) occupy two-thirds of the book;
• vivid and sensual descriptions of first kisses and touches are required, sex scenes - depending on the circumstances;
• In the finale, the heroes must overcome all difficulties and obstacles, stay together (get married, get engaged, sleep together) and look confidently into a bright future.

4. Fantasy (science fiction,).

A genre based on the existence and interaction of unusual or unreal elements or phenomena.

Genre features:

• fictional or altered reality - another planet, an alternative past or future of the Earth, space and the Universe, a parallel world, a game reality, a fairy-tale world, etc.;
• a system of scientific or pseudoscientific knowledge, fictitious (system of magic) or significantly ahead of the development of modern science, as well as the results of scientific achievements (technomagic, magical artifacts, spaceships, etc.);
• non-existent phenomena and biological species of plants, animals, humanoid races, etc.;
• heroes endowed with unusual abilities, and the abilities themselves, which are commonplace in a fictional world;
• wide, often immense (a planet or a system of worlds, the Universe), fantastic laws of the universe (the ability to move into the past, overcome the usual laws of gravity), an unusual structure of the world order, society, order, different from ours.

Each of the four named genres has, as we have already said, many subgenres: for example, fantasy detective, combat science fiction (space opera), romance fantasy and others. Surely you have met similar ones yourself. 🙂

And we will consider such modern genres as mystery, historical novel and adventure (adventure novel).

Stay tuned! 😉

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4. As you know, all literary works, depending on the nature of what is depicted, belong to one of three GENERS: epic, lyric or drama. A literary genre is a generalized name for a group of works depending on the nature of the reflection of reality.

EPOS (from the Greek “narration”;-) is a generalized name for works depicting events external to the author.

LYRICS (from the Greek “performed to the lyre”;-) is a generalized name for works in which there is no plot, but the feelings, thoughts, experiences of the author or his lyrical hero are depicted.

DRAMA (from the Greek “action”;-) is a generalized name for works intended for production on stage; The drama is dominated by character dialogues, and the author's input is kept to a minimum.

The types of epic, lyrical and dramatic works are called types of literary works.

Type and genre are very close concepts in literary criticism.

Genres are variations of a type of literary work. For example, a genre variety of a story can be a fantasy or historical story, and a genre variety of a comedy can be vaudeville, etc. Strictly speaking, a literary genre is a historically established type of artistic work that contains certain structural features and aesthetic quality characteristic of a given group of works.

TYPES (GENRES) OF EPIC WORKS:

Epic, novel, story, story, fairy tale, fable, legend.

EPIC is a major work of fiction telling about significant historical events. In ancient times - a narrative poem of heroic content. In the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, the genre of the epic novel appeared - this is a work in which the formation of the characters of the main characters occurs during their participation in historical events.
A NOVEL is a large narrative work of art with a complex plot, in the center of which is the fate of an individual.
A STORY is a work of art that occupies a middle position between a novel and a short story in terms of volume and complexity of the plot. In ancient times, any narrative work was called a story.
STORY is a small work of fiction based on an episode, an incident from the life of the hero.
TALE - a work about fictional events and characters, usually involving magical, fantastic forces.
A FABLE (from “bayat” - to tell) is a narrative work in poetic form, small in size, of a moralizing or satirical nature.

TYPES (GENRES) OF LYRIC WORKS:

Ode, hymn, song, elegy, sonnet, epigram, message.

ODA (from Greek “song”) is a choral, solemn song.
HYMN (from Greek “praise”) is a solemn song based on programmatic verses.
EPIGRAM (from Greek “inscription”) is a short satirical poem of a mocking nature that arose in the 3rd century BC. e.
ELEGY is a genre of lyrics dedicated to sad thoughts or a lyric poem imbued with sadness. Belinsky called elegy “a song of sad content.” The word "elegy" is translated as "reed flute" or "plaintive song." Elegy originated in Ancient Greece in the 7th century BC. e.
MESSAGE - a poetic letter, an appeal to a specific person, a request, a wish, a confession.
SONNET (from the Provencal sonette - “song”) is a poem of 14 lines, which has a certain rhyme system and strict stylistic laws. The sonnet originated in Italy in the 13th century (the creator was the poet Jacopo da Lentini), in England it appeared in the first half of the 16th century (G. Sarri), and in Russia in the 18th century. The main types of sonnet are Italian (from 2 quatrains and 2 tercets) and English (from 3 quatrains and a final couplet).

LYROEPIC TYPES (GENRES):

Poem, ballad.

POEM (from Greek poieio - “I do, I create”) is a large poetic work with a narrative or lyrical plot, usually on a historical or legendary theme.
BALLAD - a plot song with dramatic content, a story in verse.

TYPES (GENRES) OF DRAMATIC WORKS:

Tragedy, comedy, drama (in the narrow sense).

TRAGEDY (from Greek tragos ode - “goat song”) is a dramatic work depicting an intense struggle of strong characters and passions, which usually ends with the death of the hero.
COMEDY (from Greek komos ode - “funny song”) is a dramatic work with a cheerful, funny plot, usually ridiculing social or everyday vices.
DRAMA (“action”) is a literary work in the form of dialogue with a serious plot, depicting an individual in his dramatic relationship with society. Varieties of drama can be tragicomedy or melodrama.
VAUDEVILLE is a genre type of comedy; it is a light comedy with singing verses and dancing.
Farce is a genre variety of comedy; it is a theatrical play of a light, playful nature with external comic effects, designed for coarse tastes.

A literary genre is a group of literary works that have common historical development trends and are united by a set of properties in their content and form. Sometimes this term is confused with the concepts of “type” and “form”. Today there is no single clear classification of genres. Literary works are divided according to a certain number of characteristic features.

History of genre formation

The first systematization of literary genres was presented by Aristotle in his Poetics. Thanks to this work, the impression began to emerge that the literary genre is a natural, stable system that requires the author to fully comply with the principles and canons a certain genre. Over time, this led to the formation of a number of poetics that strictly prescribed to authors exactly how they should write a tragedy, ode or comedy. For many years these requirements remained unshakable.

Decisive changes in the system of literary genres began only towards the end of the 18th century.

At the same time literary works aimed at artistic exploration, in their attempts to distance themselves as much as possible from genre divisions, gradually came to the emergence of new phenomena unique to literature.

What literary genres exist

To understand how to determine the genre of a work, you need to familiarize yourself with the existing classifications and the characteristic features of each of them.

Below is an approximate table for determining the type of existing literary genres

Division of genres by content

The classification of literary movements based on content includes comedy, tragedy and drama.

Comedy is a type of literature, which provides a humorous approach. Varieties of comic direction are:

There are also comedy of characters and sitcoms. In the first case, the source of humorous content is the internal traits of the characters, their vices or shortcomings. In the second case, comedy is manifested in current circumstances and situations.

Tragedy - dramatic genre with an obligatory catastrophic outcome, the opposite of the comedy genre. Typically, tragedy reflects the deepest conflicts and contradictions. The plot is of the most intense nature. In some cases, tragedies are written in poetic form.

Drama is a special type of fiction, where the events taking place are conveyed not through their direct description, but through monologues or dialogues of the characters. Drama as a literary phenomenon existed among many peoples, even at the level of works of folklore. Originally in Greek, this term meant a sad event that affects one specific person. Subsequently, drama began to represent a wider range of works.

The most famous prose genres

The category of prose genres includes literary works of various lengths, written in prose.

Novel

A novel is a prose literary genre that involves a detailed narrative about the fate of the heroes and certain critical periods of their lives. The name of this genre dates back to the 12th century, when knightly stories arose “in the folk Romance language” as the opposite of Latin historiography. The short story began to be considered a plot type of novel. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, concepts such as detective novel, women's novel, and fantasy novel appeared in literature.

Novella

A short story is a type of prose genre. Her birth was caused by the famous collection "The Decameron" by Giovanni Boccaccio. Subsequently, several collections based on the model of the Decameron were published.

The era of romanticism introduced elements of mysticism and phantasmagorism into the short story genre - examples include the works of Hoffmann and Edgar Allan Poe. On the other hand, the works of Prosper Merimee bore the features of realistic stories.

Novella as short story with a suspenseful plot has become a characteristic genre for American literature.

The characteristic features of the novel are:

1. Maximum brevity of presentation.
2. The poignancy and even paradoxical nature of the plot.
3. Neutrality of style.
4. Lack of descriptiveness and psychologism in the presentation.
5. An unexpected ending, always containing an extraordinary turn of events.

Tale

A story is prose of a relatively small volume. The plot of the story, as a rule, is in the nature of reproducing natural life events. Usually the story reveals the fate and personality of the hero against the backdrop of current events. A classic example is “Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin” by A.S. Pushkin.

Story

A short story is a small form of prose work, which originates from folklore genres - parables and fairy tales. Some literary experts as a type of genre review essays, essays and short stories. Usually the story is characterized by a small volume, one plot line and a small number of characters. Stories are characteristic of literary works of the 20th century.

Play

A play is a dramatic work that is created for the purpose of subsequent theatrical production.

The structure of the play usually includes phrases from the characters and the author's remarks describing the environment or the actions of the characters. At the beginning of the play there is always a list of characters with a brief description of their appearance, age, character, etc.

The whole play is divided into large parts - acts or actions. Each action, in turn, is divided into smaller elements - scenes, episodes, pictures.

The plays of J.B. have won great fame in world art. Moliere (“Tartuffe”, “The Imaginary Invalid”) B. Shaw (“Wait and see”), B. Brecht (“The Good Man from Szechwan”, “The Threepenny Opera”).

Description and examples of individual genres

Let's look at the most common and significant examples of literary genres for world culture.

Poem

A poem is a large work of poetry that has a lyrical plot or describes a sequence of events. Historically, the poem was “born” from the epic

In turn, a poem can have many genre varieties:

1. Didactic.
2. Heroic.
3. Burlesque,
4. Satirical.
5. Ironic.
6. Romantic.
7. Lyrical-dramatic.

Initially, the leading themes for the creation of poems were world historical or important religious events and themes. An example of such a poem would be Virgil's Aeneid., “The Divine Comedy” by Dante, “Jerusalem Liberated” by T. Tasso, “Paradise Lost” by J. Milton, “Henriad” by Voltaire, etc.

At the same time, a romantic poem was also developing - “The Knight in the Leopard’s Skin” by Shota Rustaveli, “The Furious Roland” by L. Ariosto. This type of poem to a certain extent echoes the tradition of medieval chivalric romances.

Over time, moral, philosophical and social themes began to take center stage (“Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” by J. Byron, “The Demon” by M. Yu. Lermontov).

In the 19th-20th centuries the poem increasingly began become realistic(“Frost, Red Nose”, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by N.A. Nekrasov, “Vasily Terkin” by A.T. Tvardovsky).

Epic

An epic is usually understood as a set of works that are united by a common era, nationality, and theme.

The emergence of each epic is conditioned by certain historical circumstances. As a rule, an epic claims to be an objective and authentic account of events.

Visions

This unique narrative genre, when the story is told from a person's point of view ostensibly experiencing a dream, lethargy, or hallucination.

1. Already in the era of antiquity, under the guise of real visions, fictitious events began to be described in the form of visions. The authors of the first visions were Cicero, Plutarch, Plato.
2. In the Middle Ages, the genre began to gain momentum in popularity, reaching its peak with Dante in his “Divine Comedy,” which in its form represents an expanded vision.
3. For some time, visions were an integral part of church literature in most European countries. The editors of such visions were always representatives of the clergy, thus gaining the opportunity to express their personal views, supposedly on behalf of higher powers.
4. Over time, new acute social satirical content was put into the form of visions (“Visions of Peter the Plowman” by Langland).

In more modern literature, the genre of visions has come to be used to introduce elements of fantasy.