Types and genres of literature. Literary genera and genres

A literary genre is a set of works of art united common style presentations, characteristic storylines. The type of literary work is lyric, epic or drama. The most famous examples of each of them are described in this article.

Drama

Translated from this word means "action". In modern Russian, the term has acquired a different meaning. But this will be discussed below. Drama is a literary genre that originated in Antiquity. It was the ancient Greek authors Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides who wrote the first dramatic works. This literary genre of works combines works of two types: comedies, tragedies.

Drama reached its perfection in the sixteenth century. French authors strictly adhered to certain provisions established by the ancient Greeks. Namely: the unity of time and place, the duration of events is not more than twenty-four hours.

Examples of dramatic works

In Sophocles' drama Oedipus Rex, we are talking about a man who, by pure chance, once killed his father, and then, ironically, married his mother. The audience of the first production knew the plot. But even if they didn't know the story of Oedipus, they would recognize him. short biography. Nevertheless, the drama is created in such a way that its action covers only a day. All events take place in the palace of the king.

Molière, Racine and Corneille adopted the traditions of ancient playwrights. In their creations, the above principles are also observed. And, finally, it is worth giving an example of which is familiar to every schoolchild - “Woe from Wit”. Chatsky arrives at Famusov's house. He learns that Sophia is in love with a mercenary and close-minded person. The hero of Griboyedov is talking with other characters in the comedy. He expresses extraordinary thoughts. As a result, Famusov's entourage decides that Chatsky is a little out of his mind. He, in turn, leaves the relative’s house with the words “Carriage for me, carriage!”. All this happens during the day.

None of the heroes goes anywhere outside the Famusov mansion. Because drama is a literary genre of works of art in which everything that happens takes place during the day. It is worth mentioning one more feature of such works. Namely, they do not contain the words of the author. Only dialogues. Whether it's comedy or tragedy.

epic

This term can be found as a masculine noun in literary dictionary. And in this encyclopedic edition it will be said that the epic is nothing more than a work that tells about events that occurred in the past.

Epic examples

The famous Odyssey is a prime example. In his work, Homer describes at length and in detail the events that once took place. He talks about the journey of his hero, not forgetting to mention other characters and describe in sufficient detail their life and way of life. How is epic different from drama? First of all, the narration is conducted on behalf of the author. The next difference is impartiality.

Homer's writings are written in the form of poetry. In the eighteenth century, new trends began to develop in literature: a type of prose appeared that had the characteristics of an epic. An example is Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace". Events cover a rather impressive time period. In the novel great amount characters.

Another example of epic prose is Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga. This book tells about representatives of several generations of a large family.

Lyrics

To which literary genre does any of the poems of Annensky, Fet, Tyutchev apply? Of course, to the lyrics. The works of this literary genre are characterized by sensuality and emotionality. Unlike the epic, here the feelings of the hero are conveyed extremely vividly, and even somewhat subjectively.

Examples of lyrical works

AT Ancient Greece not only dramatic art was born. Antiquity is the heyday of other trends in literature. First lyric authors are Terpander. This ancient Greek poet read his creations to the sounds of a stringed guitar. To the accompaniment, he read poetry and Alkey - the author, who preferred political topics. The poetry of Sappho has also survived to this day.

In the Middle Ages, which is commonly called "gloomy", it was created myriad romantic ballads written by French troubadours. Their plots were subsequently used more than once by later authors. Lyrics as received special development during the Renaissance. In the thirteenth century there was new type troubadours. No longer French, but Italian. After all, it was in Italy that lyric poetry flourished.

In the nineteenth century, lyricism penetrated into all His features are present in the works of Shelley, Byron, Coleridge. Lyricism also inspired Russian poets - Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Ryleev, etc. Then interest in lyrics faded for a while: epic prose took its place. And, finally, the beginning of the twentieth century in Russia was marked by the appearance of a whole galaxy of talented lyricists. Among them are Pasternak, Blok, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Yesenin.

In everyday speech

The literary genre, as we found out, is a collection of works of art that have characteristics. It can be poetry, epic or drama. In modern speech, each of these terms has a slightly different meaning.

Drama in cinema is a genre that is characterized by tragedy. By lyric is meant love poetry. In literary terminology, these concepts have a different meaning. What literary genre is characterized by tragedy, sentimentality? Drama or lyrics. But at the same time dramatic work could be a comedy. And the composition of the author-lyricist is not necessarily a story about his unrequited love or homesickness.

Literature is called works of human thought, enshrined in the written word and having a social meaning. Any literary work, depending on HOW the writer depicts reality in it, is attributed to one of three literary genera: epic, lyric or drama.

epic (from the Greek. "narration") - a generalized name for works in which events external to the author are depicted.

Lyrics (from the Greek "performed to the lyre") - the generalized name of works - as a rule, poetic, in which there is no plot, but the thoughts, feelings, experiences of the author (lyrical hero) are reflected.

Drama (from Greek "action") - a generalized name for works in which life is shown through conflicts and clashes of heroes. Dramatic works are intended not so much for reading as for staging. In drama, it is not the external action that matters, but the experience. conflict situation. In drama, epic (narration) and lyrics are merged into one.

Within each type of literature, there are genres- historically established types of works, characterized by certain structural and content features (see table of genres).

Tragedy (from the Greek "goat song") - a dramatic work with an insurmountable conflict, which depicts a tense struggle strong characters and passions, ending with the death of the hero.

Comedy (from the Greek. "fun song") - a dramatic work with a cheerful, funny plot, usually ridiculing social or domestic vices.

Drama is a literary work in the form of a dialogue with a serious plot, depicting a personality in its dramatic relationship with society.

Vaudeville – light comedy with singing couplets and dancing.

Farce – theatrical play light, playful character with external comic effects, designed for rough taste.

Oh yeah (from Greek “song”) - a choral, solemn song, a work that glorifies, praises any significant event or heroic person.

Hymn (from Greek “praise”) - a solemn song to verses of a programmatic nature. Initially, hymns were dedicated to the gods. The anthem is currently one of the national symbols states.

Epigram (from the Greek. "Inscription") - a short satirical poem of a mocking nature, which arose in the 3rd century BC. e.

Elegy - a genre of lyrics dedicated to sad thoughts or a lyric poem imbued with sadness. Belinsky called an elegy "a song of sad content." The word "elegy" is translated as "reed flute" or "mournful song". The elegy originated in ancient Greece in the 7th century BC. e.

Message - a poetic letter, an appeal to a specific person, a request, a wish.

Sonnet (from Provence. "song") - a poem of 14 lines, which has a certain rhyming system and strict stylistic laws. The sonnet originated in Italy in the 13th century (the creator is the poet Jacopo da Lentini), appeared in England in the first half of the 16th century (G. Sarri), and in Russia in the 18th century. The main types of the sonnet are Italian (from 2 quatrains and 2 tercets) and English (from 3 quatrains and the final couplet).

Poem (from the Greek “I do, I create”) - a lyrical-epic genre, a large poetic work with a narrative or lyrical plot, usually on a historical or legendary theme.

Ballad - lyrical-epic genre, plot song of dramatic content.

epic - a major work of art, telling about significant historical events. In antiquity - a narrative poem heroic content. In the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, the epic novel genre appears - this is a work in which the formation of the characters of the main characters occurs in the course of their participation in historical events.

Novel - a large narrative work of art with complex plot, in the center of which is the fate of the individual.

Tale - a work of art that occupies a middle position between a novel and a short story in terms of volume and complexity of the plot. In ancient times, everything was called a story. narrative work.

Story - a work of art of a small size, based on an episode, an incident from the life of a hero.

Story - work about fictional events and heroes, usually involving magical, fantastic forces.

Fable - This is a narrative work in poetic form, of a small size, moralizing or satirical nature.

All literary works, depending on the characteristics of the narrative and the position of the author in relation to the depicted, are divided into genera. And each of them, in turn, is divided into genres.

In literary criticism, the following main epic, lyrics, drama are distinguished, in some cases they are also added to them. We will talk about each of them in more detail later in the article.

Epos - a way to see events from the side

At one time, Aristotle argued that the narration can be either about something detached from oneself (epos), or directly from oneself (lyrics), or one can put the narration into the mouths of the characters (drama). And although, of course, this definition is very limited, it helps to some extent to understand the basic principles of species separation

The main three types of literature, as a rule, begin to be listed with the epic, which is an objectively depicted course of events that occurs independently of the author. He acts in such works, as a rule, as an outside observer and narrator. Even in the case of first-person narration, the author takes a position in relation to which the transmitted events are in the past - thus the so-called "epic distance" is maintained.

The pace of the epic narrative is always leisurely and measured, as the epic tends to be thorough. This, by the way, often interferes with the production famous novels on stage, as full adherence to the text makes the performance unreasonably long.

The main epic genres include novels, short stories and essays. The epic also includes folklore works- fairy tales, legends, epics or

More on major epic genres

Main genera fiction, as already mentioned, are divided into genres, and the largest of epic works is an epic novel. It usually covers some historical period and includes a large number of storylines intersecting with each other (L. N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" or M. A. Sholokhov "Quiet Flows the Don").

It is followed in volume by the novel. This genre also involves a large number of characters and storylines. Although, for example, modern detective novels often have only one such line.

In literature, there are a huge number of modifications of the named genre - family, social, female, fantastic, fantasy, detective novel, etc.

On the small genres of the epic

The main types of literature suggest the presence of small epic genres. These include the story (it is rather a medium-sized genre), which focuses, as a rule, on one fate or one event.

The story, which, by the way, is considered young epic genre(it began to take shape only at the beginning of the 19th century), is a story about some episode from the life of the hero. Very close in form to the story is the modern short story.

AT contemporary literature it is customary to speak separately about the essay. The narrative in it, unlike a story or short story, is based on documentary facts. True, between all these genres there are many intermediate forms.

Do not lose their popularity and fairy tales - stories about fictional characters with compulsory participation magical powers. modern fairy tale already bears little resemblance to folklore, as it is more closely connected with general literary trends and trends.

To epic kind also include the genres of feuilletons, anecdotes, parables, and essays that are popular in our time.

Lyric genres

One of the three main types of literature - lyrics - differs from the rest in its subjectivity and emphasized interest in the author's world. It is also characterized by increased emotionality, the desire to display not events, but a personal attitude towards them. By the nature of these emotions, several lyrical (solemn, praising poem), elegy (lyrical reflection on the transience of being) and satire (accusatory, angry work) can be distinguished.

But contemporary poets, as they themselves say, they write poetry - that is, works that are difficult or simply impossible to strictly attribute to any genre.

About the drama inside and out

G. Hegel, trying to deepen the division into the main types of literature proposed by Aristotle, explained that the basis of the drama is the synthesis of lyrics and epic. After all, drama, from his point of view, is a conflict based on individual aspirations, which is presented as an objectively occurring event.

And the main hallmark drama is its focus not on the story, but on the show (direct image) of a particular situation. The author's beginning is practically absent in it, and if in the epic dialogue is just one of the means of revealing the character of the hero, then in the drama the dialogue is often the only way to characterize it.

Such a change in emphasis leads to radical changes in the structure of the work. So, the speech of the characters becomes more dense, refined, accentuated than in the epic, because it is it that creates the necessary dramatic tension. The close connection of the named genre with the theater also plays a huge role - the drama is always spectacular, which, by the way, strictly regulates its size.

But to interpret the drama only as a text for staging is extremely wrong. This genre retains its impact on the reader even without being embodied on the stage and, along with the theatrical, also has a literary life.

Drama genres

The main types of literature, as you can see, have their own genres. Drama was no exception in this sense. Tragedy and comedy have always been the most striking and historically significant among the dramatic genres.

Tragedy is an image of an irreconcilable conflict, which is usually inevitable fatal in nature and most often ends in the death of the hero.

Comedy is characterized by a humorous, comical approach to depicting reality and a specific conflict. AT this genre it is not irreconcilable and, as a rule, is safely resolved. A distinction is made between comedy of characters and comedy of situations, which is based on the source of the comic. In the first case, these are the ridiculous characters of the characters, and in the second, the situations in which they find themselves. Often these types of comedies are synthesized.

To genre modifications modern comedy include farce - a pointed, deliberate comic performance - and vaudeville, which has an unpretentious funny plot.

Drama is also a dramatic genre

The main genres of literature include drama not only as a genre, but also as a genre. It received its distribution in the 18th-19th centuries, gradually replacing tragedy with itself. Drama characterizes acute conflict, but it is not as global and not as inevitable as in tragedy.

In the center of this work are the problems of relations between a particular person and society. The plot of the drama, as a rule, is very realistic - thanks to this, it has become a leading genre in the repertoire of theaters, competing with the comedy that is very popular in our time.

Drama has many varieties: psychological, philosophical, social, historical, love, etc.

What are lyro-epic genres

AT educational literature the concept of genre is interpreted as belonging to a particular group literary works, which are merged common features. Genres, as already mentioned, are formed within the genus, becoming, as it were, a real embodiment of generic features.

But the existence of synthetic, intermediate genres is also possible, in which two or even three main types of literature and its types can be combined. By the way, most of these "interlacings" occur between lyrics and epic, which allows some researchers to add one more genus (fourth) to the existing ones - lyrical-epic. To him, some researchers include poems (poetic works that have a lyrical or narrative plot that develops against a historical background), as well as ballads (peculiar stories in verse).

Outcome

Of course, any literary critic, as well as just a person who is fond of reading, will say that the division into main genera and is a very complicated matter and doomed to inaccuracy. Many works of art combine the main features of different genres, and even genera. And the task of the reader is not to clearly classify them, but to be able to determine the ratio of the beginnings of each kind in it.

After all, the genre is, in fact, not the work itself, but only the principle of its creation. That is, if the author intends to write a novel, there is only a genre that has creative process of birth, its main features can be severely deformed and the boundaries of species can be pushed apart, as, for example, happened with Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" at one time. True creativity does not tolerate boundaries.