Types Of Genres For Literature
There are many types of genres for literature. Although, the terms “forms” and genre” are sometimes used interchangeably, the form refers to whether a work is a novel, a poem, a novella, or a short story; while its of those forms can be further subdivided into different types of genres for literature. Different types of genres for literature include different elements, and they can be used as an indication of what the reader is to expect from the work in question.
Here is a list of the major types of genres for literature and what differentiates those genres from one another.
Drama: a drama is a story written either in verse or prose; in both cases, however, they are intended to be spoken, and are best expressed through a combination of dialogue and action. That’s is why they are mostly developed for theatrical performance that can present emotional conflict in the best way possible.
Fantasy: it is a story set in an alternated world that invites the suspension of reality, a world that is a figment of the writer’s imagination. Its characters maybe humans or any other worldly creatures.
Folklore: it refers to the tradition of a certain people as it is passed from one generation to another by word of mouth; it includes songs, stories, myths, as well as other cultural elements.
Historical fiction: as the name suggests, this genre is set on an actual historical setting, although the characters inhabiting it and their stories are fictional.
Horror: the events in such stories are meant to invoke fear to both the characters involved and the of course the reader.
Humor: a genre at aims at amusing and exciting the reader by employing various humorous elements.
Mystery: this type of genre deals with solution of a crime or some kind of deep secret, in which the events unravel in a mysterious and unpredictable way.
Realistic fiction: there are no surprises here, since the name pretty much says it all; it is a real-life story that is given a literary form.
Science fiction: are usually stories that take place in futuristic setting; technology in those stories is on the foreground, technology that might be based on actual science, on potential science that is to come, or in science that is purely the product of human imagination.
The last of the various types of genres for literature that you should definitely know is biography/autobiography: again it is a narrative that tells the true story of an actual person.
Other, less common types of genres for literature are: fable (where the characters are animals, instead of humans); fairy tale which is intended to be read to or by children, and which involves fairies and other magical creatures; legend, which tells the immortalized story of a hero; mythology which also has t do with legends as well as other traditional narratives, that uses symbolism in order to explain the behavior of gods and humans; and tall tales that employ the literary device of exaggeration to describe swaggering heroes, who do impossible stunts, the aim being to amuse the audience in a humorous ways.
