Literary Genres

• What is a genre?

• literary genre n : a style of expressing yourself in writing [syn: writing style, genre]

Literary Genres

• So what does that definition mean?

• Dividing literary works into genres is a way of classifying them into particular categories, like fiction or nonfiction.

What genres will we study in this class?

- Nonfiction

- Fiction

- Novels

- Short Stories

- Drama

- Poetry

How will we study them?

We will not look at these genres individually, but rather we will study all of them all year long. We may be simultaneously reading a novel and a short story at the same time that are all tied together by the same theme.

Nonfiction

• Nonfiction is a historically accurate story or narrative. The information is all factual.

• Some examples of Nonfiction:

Biography

Autobiography

Newspapers

Essays

Speeches

Fiction• A story or narrative that is based on imagination

or made up.• Some examples of fiction:

NovelShort Stories

• Fiction is then broken into further categories. – Science Fiction– Realistic Fiction– Fantasy– Many other we’ll cover…

Types of Literary Genres

• Like mentioned earlier, after being broken up into fiction and nonfiction, literature can then be further broken up into different genres that each have specific characteristics.

• In order for us to identify these different genres, we must understand the different characteristics.

Literary Genres

• Short Stories • Usually fictional

• Short in length COMPARED to a Novel.

• Usually only one main conflict.

Literary Genres

• Drama• A form of storytelling that is composed primarily of dialogue and is viewed by an audience.

Literary Genres

• Novel• Most fictional books, written in first or third person.

• Tells a longer story with many different conflicts and plot development.

Literary Genres

• Poetry• Written in a specific form or rhyme. Evokes feeling, and much of that feeling is left up to the reader.

• Consists of figurative language-- we’ll cover this later, so don’t panic!!!!!!