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A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique
Literary technique

A literary technique or literary device is an identifiable rule of thumb, convention or structure that is employed in literature and storytelling....
, tone
Setting tone

Authors set a Tone in literature by conveying an emotion/feeling or emotions/feelings through words. The way a person feels about an idea/concept, event, or another person can be quickly determined through facial expressions, gestures and in the tone of voice used....
, content
Content

Content or contents, is something that is contained. The term may refer to:* Content , the highest common factor of the coefficients of a polynomial...
, or even (as in the case of fiction) length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's
Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve and is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes exclude young-adult fiction, comic books, or other genres....
. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups.

The most general genres in literature are (in loose chronological order) epic
Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation....
, tragedy
Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
, comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
, novel
Novel

File:2009 stapelweise Neuerscheinungen im Buchladen.JPGA novel is today a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern Romance and in the tradition of the novella....
, short story
Short story

The short story refers to a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, usually in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books....
, and creative nonfiction
Creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction is a genre of writing truth which uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service to its craft....
.






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A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique
Literary technique

A literary technique or literary device is an identifiable rule of thumb, convention or structure that is employed in literature and storytelling....
, tone
Setting tone

Authors set a Tone in literature by conveying an emotion/feeling or emotions/feelings through words. The way a person feels about an idea/concept, event, or another person can be quickly determined through facial expressions, gestures and in the tone of voice used....
, content
Content

Content or contents, is something that is contained. The term may refer to:* Content , the highest common factor of the coefficients of a polynomial...
, or even (as in the case of fiction) length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's
Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve and is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes exclude young-adult fiction, comic books, or other genres....
. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups.

The most general genres in literature are (in loose chronological order) epic
Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation....
, tragedy
Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
, comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
, novel
Novel

File:2009 stapelweise Neuerscheinungen im Buchladen.JPGA novel is today a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern Romance and in the tradition of the novella....
, short story
Short story

The short story refers to a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, usually in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books....
, and creative nonfiction
Creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction is a genre of writing truth which uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service to its craft....
. They can all be in the genres prose
Prose

Prose is writing that resembles everyday Speech communication. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin prosa, which literally translates to "straightforward"....
 or poetry
Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature art in which language is used for its aesthetics and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning ....
, which shows best how loosely genres are defined. Additionally, a genre such as satire
Satire

Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre; although, in practice, it is also found in the graphic arts and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improv...
, allegory
Allegory

Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric, but an allegory does not have to be expressed in language: it may be addressed to the eye, and is often found in realistic painting, sculpture or some other form of Mimesis, or representative art....
 or pastoral
Pastoral

Pastoral, as an adjective, refers to the lifestyle of shepherds and pastoralists, moving livestock around larger areas of land according to seasons and availability of water and food....
 might appear in any of the above, not only as a sub-genre (see below), but as a mixture of genres. Finally, they are defined by the general cultural movement
Cultural movement

A cultural movement is a change in the way a number of different disciplines approach their work. This embodies all art forms, the sciences, and philosophies....
 of the historical period in which they were composed. The concept of "genre" has been criticized by Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida

Jacques Derrida was a France philosophy born in Algeria, who is known as the founder of deconstruction, which was originally a translation of a Heideggerian term from Being and Time, also translated as 'De-structuring'....
.

Sub-genres

Genres are often divided into sub-genres. Literature
Literature

Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" . In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction....
, for instance, is divided into three basic kinds of literature, the classic genres of Ancient Greece, poetry
Poetry

Poetry is a form of literature art in which language is used for its aesthetics and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning ....
, drama
Drama

Drama is the specific Mode of fiction Mimesis in performance. The term comes from a Ancient Greek word meaning "Action " , which is derived from "to do" ....
, and prose
Prose

Prose is writing that resembles everyday Speech communication. The word "prose" is derived from the Latin prosa, which literally translates to "straightforward"....
. Poetry may then be subdivided into epic
Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation....
, lyric
Lyric poetry

Lyric poetry refers to a usually short poem that expresses personal feelings, which may or may not be set to music. Aristotle, in Poetics , contrasted lyric poetry with drama and epic poetry....
, and dramatic. Subdivisions of drama include foremost comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
 and tragedy
Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
, while eg. comedy itself has sub-genres, including farce
Farce

A farce is a comedy written for the stage or film which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include sexual innuendo and word play, and a fast-paced Plot whose speed usually increases, culminat...
, comedy of manners
Comedy of manners

The comedy of manners satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration comedy, or an old person pretending to be young....
, burlesque
Burlesque (genre)

Burlesque is a genre of entertainment also known as Travesty. Prior to Burlesque becoming associated with striptease, it was a form of Parody music in which an opera or piece of classical theatre is adapted in a broad, often risqu? style very different from that for which it was originally known....
, satire
Satire

Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre; although, in practice, it is also found in the graphic arts and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improv...
, and so on. However, any of these terms would be called "genre", and its possible more general terms implied.

Dramatic poetry, for instance, might include comedy
Comedy

Comedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western culture origins are found in Ancient Greece....
, tragedy
Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
, melodrama
Melodrama

The theatrical genre of Melodrama utilizes theme-music to manipulate the spectator's emotional response and to denote character types. The term combines "melody" and "drama"....
, and mixtures like tragicomedy
Tragicomedy

Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious Play with a happy ending....
. This parsing into sub-genres can continue: "comedy" has its own genres, including, for example, comedy of manners
Comedy of manners

The comedy of manners satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration comedy, or an old person pretending to be young....
, sentimental comedy, burlesque comedy
Burlesque (genre)

Burlesque is a genre of entertainment also known as Travesty. Prior to Burlesque becoming associated with striptease, it was a form of Parody music in which an opera or piece of classical theatre is adapted in a broad, often risqu? style very different from that for which it was originally known....
, and satirical comedy.

Creative nonfiction
Creative nonfiction

Creative nonfiction is a genre of writing truth which uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service to its craft....
 can cross many genres but is typically expressed in essays, memoir, and other forms that may or may not be narrative but share the characteristics of being fact-based, artistically-rendered prose.

Often, the criteria used to divide up works into genres are not consistent, and may change constantly, and be subject of argument, change and challenge by both authors and critics. However, even a very loose term like fiction
Fiction

Fiction is an imaginative form of narrative, one of the four basic rhetorical modes. Although the word fiction is derived from the Latin fingo, fingere, finxi, fictum, "to form, create", works of fiction need not be entirely imaginary and may include real people, places, and events....
 ("literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation") is not universally applied to all fictitious literature, but instead is typically restricted to the use for novel, short story, and novella, but not fables, and is also usually a prose text.

Genres may easily be confused with literary technique
Literary technique

A literary technique or literary device is an identifiable rule of thumb, convention or structure that is employed in literature and storytelling....
s, but, though only loosely defined, they are not the same; examples are parody
Parody

A parody , in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation....
, Frame story
Frame story

A frame story is a narrative technique whereby an introductory main story is composed, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage for a fictive narrative or organizing a set of shorter stories, each of which is a story within a story....
, constrained writing
Constrained writing

Constrained writing is a literary technique in which the writer is bound by some condition that forbids certain things or imposes a pattern.Constraints are very common in poetry, which often requires the writer to use a particular verse form....
, stream of consciousness.

List of literary genres

  • Autobiography
    Autobiography

    An autobiography is a biography written by its subject . The term was first used by the poet Robert Southey in 1809 in the English language Periodical publication Quarterly Review, but the form goes back to antiquity....
    , Memoir
    Memoir

    As a literature genre, a memoir , or a reminiscence, forms a subclass of autobiography ? although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are today almost interchangeable....
    , Spiritual autobiography
    Spiritual autobiography

    Spiritual autobiography is a genre of non-fiction prose that dominated Protestant writing during the seventeenth century, particularly in England, particularly that of English dissenters....
  • Biography
    Biography

    A biography is a description of someone's life, usually published in the form of a book or essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography by the same person it is about....
  • Diaries and Journals
    Diary

    For other uses of the term 'diary', see Diary .A 'diary' is a record with discrete entries arranged by Calendar date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period....
  • Erotic literature
    Erotic literature

    Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts which sexually arouse the reader, whether written with that intention or not....
  • Essay
    Essay

    An essay is usually a short piece of writing. It is often written from an author's personal Perspective . Essays can be literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author....
  • Fable
    Fable

    A fable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, plants, inanimate, or nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim ....
    , Fairy tale
    Fairy tale

    A fairy tale is a fictional story that may feature folklore characters such as Fairy, goblins, Elf, trolls, giant , and talking animals, and usually enchanted, often involving a far-fetched sequence of events....
    , Folklore
    Folklore

    Folklore is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, superstitions, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group ....
  • Fiction
    Fiction

    Fiction is an imaginative form of narrative, one of the four basic rhetorical modes. Although the word fiction is derived from the Latin fingo, fingere, finxi, fictum, "to form, create", works of fiction need not be entirely imaginary and may include real people, places, and events....
    • Adventure novel
      Adventure novel

      The adventure novel is a genre of novel that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme. Adventure has been a common theme since the earliest days of written fiction....
    • Comic novel
      Comic novel

      A comic novel is a work of fiction in which the writer seeks to amuse the reader, sometimes with subtlety and as part of a carefully woven narrative; sometimes, above all other considerations....
    • Crime fiction
      Crime fiction

      Crime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals and their Motive s. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred....
      • Detective fiction
        Detective fiction

        Detective fiction is a branch of crime fiction in which a detective , either professional or amateur, investigate a crime, usually murder. Detective fiction is the most popular form of both mystery fiction and hardboiled crime fiction....
    • Fantasy
      Fantasy

      Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of Plot , Theme , and/or Setting . Fantasy is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of technological and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three ....
       (for more details see Fantasy subgenres
      Fantasy subgenres

      The fantasy genre has spawned many new subgenres with no clear counterparts in the myths or folklore upon which the tradition of fantasy storytelling is based, although inspiration from mythology and folklore remains a consistent theme....
      ; fantasy literature
      Fantasy literature

      Fantasy literature is fantasy in written form. Historically speaking, the majority of fantasy works have been literature. Since the 1950s however, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music, painting, and other media....
      )
    • Gothic fiction
      Gothic fiction

      Gothic fiction is a genre of literature that combines elements of both Horror fiction and Romance . As a genre, it is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto....
       (initially synonymous with horror)
    • Historical fiction
      Historical fiction

      Historical fiction is a sub-genre of fiction that often portrays fictional accounts or dramatization of historical figures or events. Writers of stories in this genre, while penning fiction, nominally attempt to capture the spirit, manners, and social conditions of the persons or time presented in the story, with due attention paid to period...
    • Holocaust
    • Horror
      Horror fiction

      Horror fiction is fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of a supernatural element into everyday human experience....
    • Medical novel
    • Mystery fiction
      Mystery fiction

      Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term that is often used as a synonym of detective fiction — in other words a novel or short story in which a detective solves a crime....
    • Philosophical novel
      Philosophical novel

      Philosophical novels are works of fiction in which a significant proportion of the novel is devoted to a discussion of the sort of questions normally addressed in discursive philosophy....
    • Political fiction
      Political fiction

      Political fiction is a subgenre of fiction that deals with political affairs. Political fiction has often used narrative to provide Political commentary on political events, systems and theories....
    • Romance novel
      Romance novel

      The romance novel is a literary genre developed in Western culture, mainly in English-speaking countries. Novels in this genre place their primary focus on the relationship and Romance between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Through the late 20th and early 21st centuries, these novels are co...
      • Historical romance
        Historical romance

        Historical romance is a subgenre of two literary genres, the romance novel and the historical novel....
    • Saga
      Saga

      Saga may refer to:...
      , Family Saga
      Family saga

      The family saga is a genre of literature which chronicles the lives and doings of a family or a number of related or interconnected families over a period of time....
    • Satire
      Satire

      Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre; although, in practice, it is also found in the graphic arts and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improv...
    • Science fiction
      Science fiction

      Science fiction is a broad genre of fiction that often involves speculations based on current or future science or technology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theatre, and other media....
       (for more details see Science fiction genre)
    • Slave narrative
      Slave narrative

      The slave narrative is a literary form which grew out of the experience of enslaved Africans in United Kingdom and British Empire. Some six thousand former slaves from North America gave an account of their lives during the 18th and 19th centuries, with about 150 published as separate books or pamphlets....
    • Stream of conciousness
    • Thriller
      • Conspiracy fiction
        Conspiracy fiction

        The conspiracy thriller is a subgenre of Thriller .A common theme in such works is that characters discovering a secretive conspiracy may be unable to tell what is true about the conspiracy, or even what is real: rumors, lies, propaganda, and counter-propaganda build upon one another until what is conspiracy and what is coincidence becomes...
      • Legal thriller
        Legal thriller

        The legal thriller is a sub-genre of crime fiction in which the major characters are lawyers and their employees. The system of justice itself is always a major part of these works, at times almost functioning as one of the characters....
      • Psychological thriller
        Psychological thriller

        Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the wide-ranging Thriller genre. However, this genre often incorporates elements from the Mystery fiction in addition to the typical traits of the thriller genre....
      • Spy fiction/Political thriller
        Spy fiction

        The genre of spy fiction?sometimes called political thriller or spy thriller or sometimes shortened simply to spy-fi?arose before World War I at about the same time that the first modern intelligence agencies were formed....
    • Tragedy
      Tragedy

      Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
  • Short Story
    Short story

    The short story refers to a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, usually in narrative format. This format or medium tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels or books....
  • Thoughts, Proverbs
    Proverbs

    Proverbs may refer to:*The plural of the word proverb*The Book of Proverbs, one of the books of the Hebrew Tanakh and the Old Testament...


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