Introduction to Literary Genres

Posted on Sep 24, 2024 in Latin

Literary Texts and Communication

Literary texts utilize various diaphasic indications within their composition. A fundamental concept is that literature serves as a distinct form of communication. Consequently, its characteristics, in terms of the communication process, are as follows:

  • Issuer: This is the author, possessing an individual character. The primary functions of literary texts are expressive, referential, and poetic.
  • Receiver: This is multiple, indeterminate, and universal. The receiver’s presence influences the interpretation of the text.
  • Channel: This is deferred (neither sender nor receiver are directly present).
  • Message: This is aesthetic in nature. Literature is defined as an art form through language.
  • Context: The literary text often presents a fictional world. However, due to the referential function, the author also conveys their own perspective, influenced by the historical context.
  • Code: This will be literary in nature.

Therefore, a literary work is a verbal artistic creation with aesthetic purposes. The author is bound by the literary code and, before constructing the text, must consider their intentions and choose appropriate discursive varieties or textual forms: exposition (information), reasoning (thinking), narration (storytelling), dialogue (reproduction of communication), and description (answering the question of ‘how’).

Literary Genres

Depending on its characteristics, a literary text can be classified into a specific literary genre. The type of language used in a literary text determines its linguistic features:

  • The literary text deviates from everyday language, resulting in predominantly connotative values. This means the language carries multiple interpretations and meanings for the reader.
  • It employs literary devices, which enhance the expressive and poetic functions. These devices are based on a set of principles:
    1. Intensification/Emphasis: alliteration, anaphora, parallelism, polysyndeton, or epistrophe.
    2. Contrasting Ideas: antithesis and paradox.
    3. Expressiveness and Surprise: hyperbaton, hyperbole, rhetorical question, tautology, gradation.
    4. Subjectivity and Abstraction: figures of replacement (tropes), including synesthesia, irony, and metaphor.

Literary Genres:

A set of literary works that share common characteristics.

  • Lyric:

    • Presents a highly subjective discourse, emphasizing the expressive and poetic functions.
    • Expresses feelings, emotions, ideas through a poetic voice (persona) distinct from the author.
    • Usually focuses on a single aspect, is brief, and employs numerous expressive resources.
    • Deals with subjective themes like nature, love, death.
    • Often written in verse (with meter and rhyme), but lyrical prose exists.
    • Subgenres:
      • Eclogue: Dialogues between shepherds in an idealized natural setting, often about love affairs. Example: Eclogues of Garcilaso de la Vega
      • Elegy: Expresses sadness, melancholy, sentimentality, often related to death. Meter can vary. Example: Verses on the Death of His Father by Jorge Manrique
      • Ode: Praises great people, beautiful scenery, or contemplative thoughts. Example: Odes of Fray Luis de León

  • Narrative:

    • Develops a story, a sequence of actions told by a narrator (internal or external) within a fictional world with characters, time, and place.
    • Emphasizes referential and poetic functions.
    • Primarily uses prose, but verse narratives exist.
    • Subgenres:
      • Romance: Short story in verse (octosyllabic), with assonance rhyme scheme. Example: The Romances of the Cid
      • Short Story: Short story in prose, presenting a conflict with an open or closed ending. Usually set in a single time and place. Example: Count Lucanor by Don Juan Manuel
      • Novel: Extensive prose narrative with a complex and diverse world. Story can span different times and places. Differs from epic in its focus on complex characters. Example: Don Quixote by Cervantes
      • Epic-Narrative:
        • Epic Poem: Narrates the exploits of a hero. Example: Cantar de Mio Cid
        • Epic: Tells a story of great importance for a people’s history. Example: The Iliad and Odyssey by Homer

  • Drama:

    • Develops a story through dialogue and/or actions of characters.
    • Emphasizes appellative and expressive functions.
    • Verbal communication is primarily dialogue, and can be in prose or verse.
    • Subgenres:
      • Major Subgenres:
        • Tragedy: Presents conflicts between characters, leading to a tragic ending.
        • Comedy: Offers a humorous perspective, portraying human imperfections as natural.
        • Drama (Tragicomedy): Blends elements of tragedy and comedy. Example: La Celestina
      • Minor Subgenres:
        • Farce: Reflects customs and popular speech.
        • Entremés: Short, comedic Spanish creation performed between acts of a longer work.
        • Sainete: Short comedic piece performed outside of main plays and religious representations.

  • Didactic:

    • Intended for instructional purposes.
    • Subgenres:
      • Essay: Non-fiction prose of variable length, covering a wide range of themes in a reflective manner.
      • Fable: Short narrative in prose or verse, featuring characters and a moral lesson at the end.