Lecture

‫الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية‬
People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education ‫وزارة التعليم العالي والبحث العلمي‬

and Scientific Research
‫جامعة عمار ثليجي باألغواط‬
Amar Telidji University of Laghouat
Faculty of Letters and Languages ‫كلية اآلداب واللغات‬
Department of English
‫قسم اللغة االنجليزية‬
Literature
First Year Students
Presented by: Aicha HOCINE
2022-2023
LECTURE TWO:
Literary Genres
Aim: At the end of this lecture, students will be able to:
1- identify the main literary genres;
2- discuss the aspects of each genres;
3- analyse the importance of each genres.
1- Fiction
The most commonly found dictionary definition of fiction is that it
represents “invented stories, now applied to novels, short stories,
novellas, romances, fables, and other [narrative] works in prose”
(Baldick 96). The next widely accepted conception of fiction is a
“general term for any form of [narrative] that is invented or imagined
as opposed to being factual” (Quinn164).
Types of Fiction
Novel :
It is “any fictitious prose work over 50,000 words”
(Britannica.com). Overall, as a fictional piece of writing created in
prose, as opposed to poetry and verse1, it is of considerable word
count and length word: at least 50,000 words long, with a
chronological narrative arc that is introduced from narrative
perspectives.
The common types of the novel are: romance; thriller, horror,
mysteries, the historical novel and science fiction. 2
1
Sometimes stylistically highly poetic or lyrical.
2
Romance is a story about a love affair; thriller is a book with an exciting story, especially one about
crime or spying; the horror story is a story about strange and frightening things that is designed to
entertain people; mystery is a story in which crimes and strange events are only explained at the end;
the historical novel is a novel in which the action takes place during a specific historical period well
before the time of writing (often one or two generations before, sometimes several centuries), and in
Novella: is a fictional tale in prose, intermediate in length and
complexity between a short story and a novel, and usually
concentrating on a single event or chain of events, with a surprising
turning point.
Novelette: is a trivial or cheaply sensational novel or romance; or (in
a neutral sense, especially in the USA) a short novel or extended short
story.
Short story: is a fictional prose tale of no specified length, but too
short to be published as a volume on its own. A short story will
normally concentrate on a single event with only one or two
characters, more economically than a novel's sustained exploration of
social background.
Folktale: is a story passed on by word of mouth rather than by
writing, and thus partly modified by successive re-tellings before
being written down or recorded. The category includes legends,
fables, jokes, tall stories, and fairy tales. Many folktales involve
mythical creatures and magical transformations.
2- Poetry
Defining Poetry: is language sung, chanted, spoken, or written
according to some pattern of recurrence that emphasizes the
relationships between words on the basis of sound as well as sense:
which some attempt is made to depict accurately the customs and mentality of the period; science
fiction is a popular modern branch of prose fiction that explores the probable consequences of some
improbable or impossible transformation of the basic conditions of human (or intelligent nonhuman)
existence (See Baldick).
this pattern is almost always a rhythm or metre, which may be
supplemented by rhyme or alliteration or both.
Types of Poetry:
Lyric
The lyric is characterized by precise word choice, personal voice and
subjective method expressing the feeling, the mood, the meditation or
the thoughts of a single speaker3. It is “fairly short, not often longer
than fifty or sixty lines, and often only between a dozen and thirty
lines” (Baldick 481)
Verse narrative: it tells a story with characters, themes and plot
including rhythm and rhyme that characterizes poetry like ballads and
epics.
Verse Drama: it is a verse that is meant to be performed in a stage by
an actor.
3- Drama
Drama: is the general term for performances in which actors
impersonate the actions and speech of fictional or historical characters
(or non-human entities) for the entertainment of an audience, either on
3
Not necessarily of the poet himself, sometimes an invented character (See Baldick 48, and Quinn
248).
a stage or by means of a broadcast; or a particular example of this art,
i.e. a play.
Types of Drama:
Comedy: is a play (or other literary composition) written chiefly to
amuse its audience by appealing to a sense of superiority over the
characters depicted.
Tragedy: is a serious play (or, by extension, a novel) representing the
disastrous downfall of a central character.
Melodrama: is a popular form of sensational drama that flourished in
the 19th-century theatre, surviving in different forms in modern
cinema and television. The term, meaning 'song-drama' in Greek, was
originally applied in the European theatre to scenes of mime or spoken
dialogue accompanied by music.
Tragicomedy: is a play that combines elements of tragedy and
comedy, either by providing a happy ending to a potentially tragic
story or by some more complex blending of serious and light moods.
(See Baldick: Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms)
4- Non-Fiction
Autobiography: is the story of a person’s life written by him- or
herself. Autobiographical writing embraces a number of forms
including memoirs, diaries, and letters, but the form proper usually
involves the interaction of character and external event over a
substantial span of a person’s life (Quinn 43).
Biography: is the written history of someone’s life, with attention not
only to the events but to the character and personality of the subject
(Quinn 54).
Essay: The term has come to be more or less restricted to mean

composition often in prose and rarely in verse (Cuddon 287).
Discourse: In its modern sense, it is defined as “a learned discussion,

spoken or written, on a philosophical, political, literary or religious
topic” (Cuddon 228), “an extended treatment of a subject” (Quinn
121) or “an extended use of speech or writing” (Baldick 68).

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‫الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية‬

People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria

Ministry of Higher Education ‫وزارة التعليم العالي والبحث العلمي‬

Essay: The term has come to be more or less restricted to mean

Discourse: In its modern sense, it is defined as “a learned discussion,

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