Literary Genres and Concepts: Understanding Forms and Elements
Understanding Literature: Concepts and Forms
What is Literature?
Literature is an art whose raw material is linguistic units, which the writer manipulates to produce an aesthetic and emotional effect on the receiver.
Literature and Reality
Literature imitates the real world, but not reality itself, rather a representation of it built by the author from their imagination.
Fiction and Verisimilitude
The term fiction designates the peculiar relationship literary works have with reality. Conversely, verisimilitude refers to the illusion of reality that a work creates for the reader.
Literary Resources
These are expressive procedures that depart from the common use of language with an aesthetic intention.
Major Literary Genres
The Epic and Narrative Genre
This genre includes works in which authors recount the facts and actions of characters. In this genre, the presence of the narrator is essential; they may be unrelated to the plot or a character who participated in it.
A key factor for understanding and analyzing a story is the use of time, known as prolepsis (referring to events prior to the narrative time) or a resource called flashback (related events prior to the time of the narrative).
Epic Poem
An epic poem is a long narrative poem in which heroic deeds are recounted, usually related to the origins or fundamental myths of a community.
Chanson de Geste
An epic poem composed in the Middle Ages, which, in the case of Castilian literature, often recounts the exploits of a real or fictional hero.
Renaissance Epic Poems
From the Renaissance, the epic found its manifestation in the so-called epic poems, works written by educated authors who emulated the epics of the classical era.
The prose epic narrates the deeds of heroes, while epic verse recounts the same heroic deeds but typically in lines of more than 12 syllables.
The Novel
The novel is the genre most cultivated in recent centuries and, for that reason, is in constant evolution, admitting numerous variations.
The Short Story
A short story is a brief and simple narrative, where characters are typically characterized as very simple.
The Lyric Genre
The lyric genre is characterized by the presence of a voice, the lyric voice, which expresses feelings.
Forms of Lyric Poetry
- Ode: A lyrical stanza that is elaborate and often expresses praise or admiration.
- Song: A short lyric poem, often set to music.
- Elegy: A mournful, melancholic, or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.
- Epistle: A poem in the form of a letter.
Specific Song Forms
Spring Songs (Maya)
These are songs that highlight the value of spring as a sign of love, regarded as a magical moment of openness and enjoyment.
Work Songs
These are expressions of happiness during times of communal work or harvest by the people.
Dawn Songs (Albas)
These are love songs that typically depict the separation of lovers at dawn. The albada is a Castilian variant in which the lovers are separated but are not explicitly reunited at dawn.
The Dramatic Genre
The dramatic genre is created for representation before a public. It involves both the dramatic text and its performance.
Major Theatrical Subgenres
- Comedy: Features a happy ending and characters who are often ridiculed or exaggerated by the author for humorous intention.
- Tragedy: Characterized by an unfortunate end, where the characters are individuals facing their destiny or insurmountable challenges.
- Tragicomedy or Drama: A mixed subgenre that combines extraordinary and ordinary characters, as well as sad and humorous events.
The Didactic Genre
The didactic genre has as its purpose the dissemination of ideas expressed artistically.
Didactic Subgenres
- The Essay: A short piece of writing on a particular subject.
- Dialogue: A literary work in the form of a conversation.
Literature and Literary Studies
There is a distinction between these two fields: literature has a creative attitude, is an individual art, and is endowed with specific qualities and traits. However, literary studies are a scholarly compendium that systematizes the characteristics of literature.