Wiki: Genre Theory

7/15/12 2:30 AM

Wiki: Genre Theory

MediaSpace Wiki A genre is, according to David Duff in his Modern Genre Theory (pp. xiii), a recurring type or category of text, as defined by structural, thematic, and/or functional criteria. (GenreTheoryCriteria) Genre Theory occurs, following Duff, when we try to understand genres as forming a coherent system of some kind; a theoretical model that offers a comprehensive list of genres and an explanation of the relations between them. Such theoretical models, starting with the systematic classifications of Aristotles Poetics (see HistoryOfGenre), form genre-systems. Genre theory has historically been most closely associated with critical approaches to the study of literature, but it has recently started to be used in studying (Duff, pp. xiii) non-literary texts; notably film and media as well as speech genre. We will use the term much more broadly here, but will, for the moment, stay close to its roots in the study of literature. According to Northrup Frye (Anatomy of Criticism; 1957) genre offers one of four summary (synoptic) views of a related set of texts (the other views are modes, symbols, and myths). I have mixed feelings about Fryes breakdown of views. His mode, for instance, appears to correspond to Aristotles dramatic genres (e.g. comedy and tragedy) while his genre encompasses the remaining generic categories from the Poetics. I believe that he is attempting to separate emotion from generic structure in this separation, and believe it to be a mistake for reasons I will outline below. I have fewer problems with his symbols and myths, but note that while these structures have a stronger cultural and historical binding than his genres or modes do, each is probably better understood within the context of genre than outside it.

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Of course Fryes focus is the art of criticism, an art he feels suffers from a lack of adequate classification system (novels cannot cover everything; fiction and non-fiction are not adequate critical categories). I sympathize with Fryes concern, but my focus is not literary criticism, so my view of what genre is and how it functions almost certainly differs from Fryes in at least some of its essentials. But even given the different in focus (Im interested in the structure and processes of media), we share a fundamental common interest in identifying the laws or rules of literary (media) practice. Frye hopes to inform the critic, or at least in reinvigorating the existing systems within which a consistent critical art might be created. I hope to inform the user, administrator, and designer of media, in the hope that they will use, maintain, and create more effective communication systems. Genre is an emergent phenomenon. Genre theorists generally agree that genre is dynamic (Duff, pp. xiii) and that genres evolve over time (Duff, pp. xii). Many feel that conventions (e.g. the structural patterns associated with genre) are the result of tacit agreements between author and reader). My approach to genre is consistent with these observations, but broader in scope. Genre, in my view, is one of the primary building blocks of media, and one that is built in the intersection of three even more fundamental building blocks: the uses that we have for media, the effects that result from that use, and the practices that result from that use. In this view of genre, every medium of communication is a dynamic genre-system, with the very success of a medium dependent on its ability to collect multiple genres. The workings of genre, within this approach are summarized in Figure 1s Cycle of Genre.

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Figure 1: The Cycle of Genre Readers who want to to understand this cycle, and the theory within which it functions, better, are referred to the paper The Invention and Evolution of Media (http://evolutionarymedia.com/papers/hammerAsMedium.htm). Readers who want to understand how this approach can be applied generally to the study of media may want to look at chapters 11-13 of Medium as Process (http://evolutionarymedia.com/mediumAsProcess) or Nancy Bayms Tune In, Log On. The rest of this page is devoted to notes on Genre Theory. Please add appropriate references and information that you know about that you dont find here.

Notes on Genre Theory

An introduction to genre theory, with reference pointers and a taxonomy http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre.html (The classification and hierarchical taxonomy of genres is not a neutral and objective procedure. There are no undisputed maps of the system of
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genres within any medium (though literature may perhaps lay some claim to a loose consensus). Furthermore, there is often considerable theoretical disagreement about the definition of specific genres. A genre is ultimately an abstract conception rather than something that exists empirically in the world, notes Jane Feuer (1992, 144).) * Chandler, Daniel (1997): An Introduction to Genre Theory [WWW document] URL http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre.html [January 26, 2002] A nice generalized introduction http://www.tcj.com/3_online/b_surridge_092299.html Making sense of genre http://www.hanover.edu/philos/film/vol_02/knight.htm A Guide to the Theory of Literary Genre http://www.uni-koeln.de/~ame02/ppp.htm A Cultural Approach to Genre Theory http://wl.middlebury.edu/files/mittell/genretheory.pdf (genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry, audience, and cultural practices as well.) Genre Theory as a generally applicable construct http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/genres.html (types of photograph are usually categorized by their function) (Moving across media as part of genre study emphasizes the way in which key concepts are integrated within media studies, with a shift in emphasis between different media, including textual analysis in film and music, institution in photography and print, audience in radio and print, representation in print etc.) (The question for the teacher must be: does working on different media help students to understand genre as a critical tool or does it become more complex as a concept?) Genre makes a difference to the effectiveness of the Internet as an educational
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enabler http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2002/papers/1042.pdf Philip Agres discussion of the relationship of Medium and Genre, among other things (Community, Design, etc) http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/genre.html Using Genre Theory to Analyze Internet Interaction Form and Genre in Radio Content Cataloging http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/frmgen.html

Books:
Duff, David. (1999). Modern Genre Theory. Longman. DuffsModernGenreTheory. ?McKeon, Michael. (2000). The Theory of the Novel. Johns Hopkins Press. Snyder, John. (1991). PROSPECTS OF POWER: Tragedy, Satire, the Essay, and the Theory of Genre. University of Kentucky Press.

Articles
Derrida, J. (1980) The Law of Genre. http://www.uchicago.edu/research/jnlcrit-inq/v1-v19/v7n1.html

Dead links
The function of genre theory http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/3396/papers_mas3042.html (Any discussion on the usefulness of genre theory must question genres function and the apparent multi-directional flow of forces that contribute to generic categorizations. Does genre flow from industry to audience or audience to industry? How narrow can these categories be without being
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exclusive, and how broad without being meaningless?) Critiques of Genre Theory http://www.essaybank.co.uk/free_coursework/2412.html (The best example I think would be the obsession with what it is exactly that defines a texts genre. Daniel Chandler has said Specific genres tend to be easy to recognize intuitively but difficult (if not impossible) to define. Due to this difficulty, theorists seem to be drawn inexorably to the challenge of its unraveling. This has led to endless debates between learned men that direct the attention away from the texts themselves. For example, the contemporary theory that genres are defined by family resemblances?leads the theorist to simply illustrate similarities between some of the texts within the genre that they have been placed and not to actually study the texts themselves.) Last edited August 5, 2011
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