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Genre
I. The genre study in history
A. Cicero, Quintilian, Horace: The first writers stressed the segregation of literary genres→ demands for genre purity, uniform and the established orders (characteristic of classical and neoclassical styles)(p.99)
B. Schiller→ the fusion of genres is necessary evil (characteristic of romantic style) (p.100)
 Too much diversity in the views presented to allow for the necessary synthesis on a universal scale.
C. The comparison of genres had been ignored for the ICLA for a long time (only some journals showed interests). While Eastern Europe did a great contribution [in the journal, Genre, three speakers- Eliseo Vivas (logical and historical aspects), Sheldon Sack (psychological aspect),Germaine Bree (genre terms)] (p.101)
D. Negative views: Benedetto Croce: genre classification is a waste of time.
E. Van Tieghem: restricted his study only to modern literature
F. Guyard: deal with drama, poetry, and fiction (p.102)
G. Pichois and Rousseau: the difference between monogenesis and polygenesis
H. Jeune: put genre study under the heading of GL.
II. The importance of genre study
A. The confrontation of literary history and theory occurs on a broad international basis.
B. Few truly international studies of universal forms have been undertaken (except drama) (p.103)
III. The difficulty of genre study:
A. Lack of direct evidence: the origin of genre→ only reference or quotations in ancient literary criticism. ex. Ancient Greek and Roman genres
B. A genre known and cultivated in antiquity may have actually vanished but the name persists→ the label for a modern genre may or may not be its correlate.(should analyzing the changing conditions)
C. A genre passes from one national literature to another without retaining its original name (translation problems) ex. Ballade and ballad (p.104)
D. Contamination: the confusion of the essential difference between two genres ex. Satire and old comedy→ influenced the medieval theory of literature.
E. The quick changes in literary fashion: the modern writer is no longer as much concern with the conventions of a well-defined genre ex. American poetry: vers libre → Eliot → Auden (a new literary generation every ten years) (p.105)
F. The crucial distinction between genre and technique or mode is blurring. ex. Satire, parody….. (p.106)
IV. Genre study of CL
A. Genre study in ICLA today: still focus on western culture.
B. Middle of the 19th century: European and American writers have been influenced by Oriental models. ex.1.Japanese haiku→ imagists, avant-garde ports. 2. Noh play→ Yeats, Brecht. Their imitations prod the question as to what extent such recreations are compatible with their models and whether the pressure exerted by the western tradition has caused a distortion of the originals.
C. Etiemble: it is impossible to transplants a genre which is so firmly anchored in a specific historical geographical context because of cultural gap (p.107)
D. Pure analogy studies in comparative genology may fulfill a similar function and are likely to benefit oriental scholars even more than their occidental colleagues.
E. The theory of genres has long been a basic concern in Indian esthetics→ no systematic effort to classify literary phenomena was made in most far eastern countries.
V. The classification of genre
A. Alexander Veselovsky: the theory if an inevitable step-by-step progression of the three major literary kinds: epic poetry, lyric poetry, and drama→ correlate of a historical movement. But contemporary scholars believe that it may add more sociological analogue.
B. The Greeks: a tripartite division of major kinds is unfeasible ex. Aristotle: epic, drama. (lyric poetry is amorphous) (p.108)
C. There is no universally valid name for the literary kind which embraces all narrative genres→ novel, novella, short story.
D. A division of imaginative literature into prose and poetry is no longer feasible: intermediate genres ex. Verse novel
E. Quadripartite: epic poetry, lyric poetry, drama, didactic writings→ didactic writings is a mode rather than a genre. ex. Homer and Empedocles.
F. Hybrid genre: keys to our understanding of the mutual illumination of the arts. ex. Screenplay, libretto…(p.109)
G. The music factor: the ancients did not have a collective tern for the kind of nondramatic literature that was not fused with music. ex. lyric, ode, poetry, verse…the term “lyrical poetry” first appears in Dionysius Thrax’s work as a label for the major kind. (p.110). in 18th~19th century ode is used to show individually created art and excluded folksong. → the literary genres are improper groupings and the way to drawing distinctions is to extract certain basic qualities, moods or state of mind. (p.110-112)
H. Goethe: epic, lyric poetry and drama may exist by themselves or in conjunction with each other. The order is random. He created a circular pattern which is used in literary criticism (p.112)
I. Staiger: every genuine literary works partakes of all genres, and the difference is the proportion. (p.113)
J. Wolfgang Kayser: the structure of genres. The order is hierarchic. (p.114)
K. Andre Jolles: preliterary genres could be considered as specific kinds of mental activity constituted by the changing attitude which man, creating form by means of language, adopts towards the objects he encounters.
 The problem of classification: Goethe: the types are sometimes named after their formal appearance and sometimes after their subject matters, but rarely according to their essential form. Some can be grouped together wile others may be subordinated to each other (p.115)
VI. Author’s view
A. It is impossible to arrange all regional, national, and supranational forms in an encompassing scheme. (p.116)
B. The classification which is based on psychological aspect: ex. 1. Schiller’s “naïve(innate and immutable) and sentimental(lost touch with nature)” theory→ the division of literary genres by their intended effect. 2. Aristotle’s tragedy definition: a. effect>aesthetic value. b. performance> private reading. (p.117)
 modern CL view: the same event or object is judged variously, and produces diverse effects, not only in different cultures but also at different times, and in different places, even within the same culture. It is almost impossible to reconcile all tradition. (p.118)
C. Plato’s Republic: The oldest classification of genre: the union of narration and imitation is the types of literature.
D. The most frequently used methods of classification are form and content, while these two elements cannot always be cleanly separated (outer and inner form) (p.119)
E. The classification of genres is according to their subject matter. ex. The bildungsroman, the picaresque novel, the gothic novel→ the epistolary novel may qualify as genres because they have no direct counterparts in the other major kind of literature. (p.120)
F. It is almost impossible to fashion a frame of reference. The best we can do is to disentangle some knottiest problems and errors. (p.123)
G. Genre qualities are separated from those relating primarily to technique (ex. satire), and from those infringing on thematic categories (ex. mode)