The main genres of literature are groups of works that are formally identical in style of presentation. Even at the time of Aristotle, there was a division of literature into genres, evidence of this is the “Poetics” of the Greek philosopher, a treatise on literary evolution, written three hundred years before Christmas.
What are genres in literature?
Literature originates from biblical times, people wrote and read always. Birch-bark letters containing at least some text are already literature, for what is written is a person’s thoughts, a reflection of his desires and aspirations. Reporting, petition, church texts were written in a multitude, and thus the first literary genre appeared - birch bark. With the development of writing, a genre of annals arose. Most often, what was written already had some literary features, elegant turns of speech, figurative allegories.
The next genre of literature became epics, epic legends about heroes and other heroes of historical plots. A separate literary genre can be considered religious literature, a description of biblical events, the life of the higher clergy.
The advent of printing in the 16th century marked the beginning of the rapid development of literature. Throughout the 17th century, literary trends, styles and genres were formed.
18th century literature
The question of what genres are in the literature of the 18th century, it is possible to answer unambiguously that the literature of that time is conditionally divided into three main areas: drama, narration and poetic verses. Dramatic works often took the form of tragedy, when the characters of the plot perished, and the struggle between good and evil became more and more deadly. Alas, the situation on the literary market dictated its conditions even then. The calm narrative genre also found its reader. Novels, novels and short stories were considered the "middle link", while tragedies, poems and odes belonged to the "high" genre of literature, and satirical works, fables and comedies belonged to the "low" one.
Verses is a primitive form of poetry, which was used at balls, social events and other events of the highest metropolitan nobility. Verses in the verse genre had signs of syllogistics, the verse was divided into rhythmic segments. The mechanical syllable, deadly for real poetry, dictated fashion for a long time.
Literature 19-20 centuries
The literature of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century is distinguished by several genres most demanded in the Golden Pushkin-Gogol era, and then in the silver age of Alexander Blok and Sergey Yesenin. Drama, epic and lyrics - these are what genres are in the literature of the past and the century before last.
The lyrics must have had an emotional connotation, be meaningful and purposeful. Its categories were ode and elegy, and ode - with enthusiastic surprise, chanting and raising to the rank of heroes.
The lyrical elegy was built on the principle of the sad tonality of the verse, sadness, as a result of the hero’s experiences, regardless of what was the reason — personal circumstances or disharmony of the universe.
What are genres in contemporary literature?
There are a lot of genres in modern literature, among them the most popular, demanded by a wide readership, can be distinguished:
- Tragedy is a kind of literary drama genre, characterized by extreme emotional stress, with the obligatory death of heroes.
- Comedy is another version of the drama genre, the opposite of tragedy, with a fun story and a happy ending.
- The genre of fairy tales is a literary direction for children and their creative development. There are a lot of literary masterpieces in the genre.
- The epic is a literary genre of a historical sense, describes individual events of past times in the style of heroism, is characterized by a large number of characters.
- The genre of the novel is an extensive narrative, with several storylines, describing in detail the life of each character individually and all together, characterized by a tendency to analyze the events that take place.
- The story is a medium-sized genre, written in the same way as a novel, but in a more concise context. In the story, one character is usually distinguished as the main character, the rest are described in "binding" to him.
- The story is a small form of narration, a summary of one event. Its plot cannot be continued, it represents the quintessence of the author’s thoughts, always has a finished form.
- The short story is a genre similar to the story, the difference is only in the sharpness of the plot. The short story is characterized by an unexpected, unpredictable ending. This genre is well suited to thrillers.
- The genre of the essay is the same story, but in a non-artistic manner of presentation. In the essay there are no flowery turns of speech, high-sounding phrases and pathetics.
- Satire as a literary genre is not common, its accusatory orientation does not contribute to popularity, although satirical plays in theatrical production are well received.
- The genre of the detective is the most popular literary trend of recent times. Millions of paperback books by popular authors such as Alexandra Marinina, Daria Dontsova, Polina Dashkova and dozens of others have become desktop books for many Russian readers.
Conclusion
The genres of Russian literature are diverse, each containing the potential for further creative development, which will certainly be used by modern writers and poets.