literary genre

Other forms: literary genres

A literary genre is a style of writing. Your favorite literary genre might be science fiction, for example.

The word genre means "artistic category or style," and you can talk about a movie's genre, or the genre of music that drives you crazy. When you use the term literary genre, you make it clear that you're talking about books and writing. Bookstores sometimes use literary genres as a way to separate books into different sections, like "classics" or "mysteries." The word genre is French, and it means "kind, sort, or style."

Definitions of literary genre

1. noun

   a style of expressing yourself in writing
   synonyms: genre, writing style

   types:

   drama

   the literary genre of works intended for the theater

   prose

   ordinary writing as distinguished from verse

   form

   an arrangement of the elements in a composition or discourse

   poesy, poetry, verse

   literature in metrical form

   satire

   a literary genre that uses humor to ridicule human failings and vices

   impressionism

   a literary style that seeks to evoke feelings and sensory responses, rather than representing reality objectively

   euphuism

   an elegant style of prose of the Elizabethan period; characterized by balance and antithesis and alliteration and extended similes with and allusions to nature and mythology

   nonfiction, nonfictional prose

   prose writing that is not fictional

   interior monologue

   a literary genre that presents a fictional character's sequence of thoughts in the form of a monologue

   stream of consciousness

   a literary genre that reveals a character's thoughts and feeling as they develop by means of a long soliloquy

   prose poem

   prose that resembles poetry

   polyphonic prose

   a rhythmical prose employing the poetic devices of alliteration and assonance

   epos

   a body of poetry that conveys the traditions of a society by treating some epic theme

   closet drama

   drama more suitable for reading that for performing

   comedy

   light and humorous drama with a happy ending

   tragedy

   drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity

   epic poetry, heroic poetry

   a literary work celebrating the deeds of some hero

   versification

   the form or metrical composition of a poem

   Kabuki, kabuki

   a traditional form of Japanese drama characterized by highly stylized movement and song and using only male performers

   type of:

   expressive style, style

   a way of expressing something (in language or art or music etc.) that is characteristic of a particular person or group of people or period