Genre & FormFoundational
Genre
A category of works organised by shared conventions and reader expectations.
Principle
Genre is a contract before it is a label.
Takeaways
- Genres teach readers what to expect and how to read.
- A work can belong to several genres at once.
- Innovation depends on knowing what convention is being bent.
Overview
Genre names a recognisable field of conventions, forms, settings, plots, affects, and expectations. It is both a market category and a literary structure of reading.
Examples
- A mystery promises an inquiry and some form of answer.
- A gothic novel trains the reader to read setting as psychological pressure.