Genre genre conventions fixed or do they change over time/across cultures?

Discuss in
relation to two genres of your choosing.

The concept of genre can be applied in many different ways and in many different contexts
which vary from medium to medium. But how reliable is genre and is it subject to change?
If it is, how is the change affected. That will be the focus of this essay. This essay will
prove that genres are in a constant process of evolution. As the world and local
communities change, whether philosophically, ideologically or because of technology,
genre responds to the needs of both the artist and the audience. To prove this assertion I
will first define Genre and identify its purpose as a concept before explaining why genre
knowledge is useful. I will use autobiography and romance as examples of how and why
genres adapt to changing literary conditions.
What is genre. Primarily, genre is a set of agreements or conventions on the usual and
socially accepted methods to create art, that satisfies the expectations of an intended
audience. This develops in two ways: First, works will share traits and characteristics
frequently enough that it will lead to the second circumstance; the audience will come to
expect to see these same traits repeated over time (McCracken 1998 p.76). This leads to
the question of the purpose of Genre, and why we need to know.
The purpose of genre is to define what characteristics each genre category shares and
what the audience expects from the genre to better able the creator to communicate
effectively within the category. This amounts to Genre rules and conventions which seek to
satisfy the audience (Bazerman 1998 p1). Simplified, the purpose of Genre is to satisfy the
audience and the artist. Genre theory needs to account for the complex communicative
realities of the publishing world(Bhatia 1996 p 192) so that writers can realise this
purpose in their work.
If the purpose of literary Genre is to satisfy the reader and the writer, then genres can not
remain unchanged. Genres are inherently dynamic structures that can be manipulated
according to conditions of use(Bhatia 1996 p 192). Just as people change so must the
characteristics of the art produced for and by them. To not do so would be to produce work
that is irrelevant. In effect Genre is ever evolving to meet changing local
needs(Bazerman 1998 p2).
Genres have conventions that define them, however they are not fixed. They change over
time, culture and even each work. Particularly compelling works can temporarily change
the conventions for all examples of the genre. Genres can mix together to create entirely
new genres, or push the conventions to their limits sometime even transgressing those
limits to make a new perception on how that genre can be perceived. The conventions
allow writers to use genre knowledge strategically and creatively rather than as limiting
algorithms(Bazerman 1998 p2)
Autobiography is an example of a genre in a state of continuous change. Though some
elements of the structure of autobiography remain, namely that the author be the
narrator, or at least the implied narrator, much of the rest have altered over time.
Autobiography started as personal experience for philosophical or spiritual ideas. The early
conventions required that the writer represent an exemplary character, and the value of
an autobiography depended on the narrators revelations and how effectively they were
translated to the reader (SFR 1978 p182).
Autobiography continued to change as the world did. Realism, Individualism, Modernism
and even Post-modernism each took their turn to influence the genre as the public adopted
them in other literary genres(SFR 1978 p182). When the world became interested in the
'self' it was reflected in the autobiography of the time, then in the 20
th
century when the
psychological was being explored the autobiographies again reflected the change in the
needs of the public (Attfield 2014 p1-3). The changes continued the reliance on the
factuality began to decrease. More subjective narration was treated as viable
representation of the genre. Each individual autobiography only represents a moment in
the history and progressive articulation of the autobiographical(Bruss 1976 p17) genre.
In the contemporary world autobiography is being represented differently again. The blog
has entered as a new method for the writer to communicate with the audience. The blog
flaunts the tradition conventions of autobiography, because of the uncertainty of the
internet. There is no way to be sure of the existence of the virtual narrator and the blog
can be written for any number of purposes. Also, the blog may be authentic or it may not.
Traditional autobiographical purism would exclude such an example from the genre, but
The importance of authenticity is no longer a controversial subject in autobiographical
studies. The instability of all contemporary life-texts is a given (Hayton 2009 p.201) We
can see that as the local, now global, community has changed its needs, the genre has
followed suit.
The impact of communal changes on genre can't be underestimated. The chivalric
romances of the middle ages were vastly different from modern variations. Due to the fact
they were read aloud to an audience, they incorporated adventurous elements, probably to
keep the crowd interested, which became unnecessary as modern romance
evolved.(McCracken 1998 p.77).
The romance genre evolved to responded to philosophical movements, undergoing similar
changes to the autobiography, at similar times. The arrival of the novel as a literary form
changed romances, steering them toward more realistic stories, plots and characters.
(Kettle 1995 212-214)The move toward realism came as a result of the novels allowance
for more complexity. Because of this the internal consciousness of characters became a
viable and interesting outlet, and the entertainment of the crowd became less important.
This has reversed again with the advent of modern cinema, where the spectacle is more
important than the truth, and entertainment is once again the prime objective. However it
is interesting to note that television programming can retain the more complex realist
character and plot developments due to its capacity to draw in its audience over a longer
period of time just like the novel.(Allen & Walder 1995 p.202)
In any genre these changes do not happen automatically. In romance it is no different, as
industrial and cultural models change, so too does the relationship between the author,
their work, and their audience.(Giuffre 2011 p.6) Freudian influences have altered
romance as well. The influence of psychoanalysis can be seen in novels like Wuthering
Heights where infantile experiences carry on to create adult behaviour. These childhood
events, known as primal scenes feature heavily in the romance literature of the 19
th

century.(McCracken 1998 p.84)
Writers like Bronte used the philosophical breakthroughs of her time to change the formula
of romantic fiction and make it almost unrecognisable to the romances of the medieval
era. However the typical conventions of romance are still present; passionate love,
rebellion against social norms and a desire or quest still remain. It is an example of how a
writer can use genre best to their advantage, keeping the conventions that suit, while
incorporating new ones that suit the present needs(Brantlinger 1975 p.24).
Placing autobiography and romance side by side we can see how feminism has challenged
the conventional genre forms. Romance, once concerned with the self discovery of the
female protagonist only, has equalised the main protagonists. In the feminist romance the
maturing of the masculine is just as important as that of the feminine, and the liberation of
female sexuality is often seen as an end in itself(McCracken 1998 p.83-85). This has a
parallel in recent autobiographies. Usually the fame surrounding the author is the bait that
draws the audience. However the anonymous diaries of women with unconventional sexual
experiences, which would have once been considered taboo in any genre have formed into
a popular sub-genre of their own (Attfield 2014 p11-12). These come in the form of blog
and book, and are seen by many as an empowering example of feminism in action. These
two genres have changed along with the external influence of feminism, and provide us
with an interesting convergence if we consider that a romance novel based on true events
is not all that dissimilar from a fictional autobiography.
This essay has shown that genre dynamic and is in a constant state of flux. It is closely
tied to the changes in thought, culture and time, so much so that it naturally changes as
the world around does. The process is not automatic. Armed with genre knowledge writers
produce work in response to the needs of the audience, and their own need to express
themselves in a changing world. Genre that does not change will become irrelevant and
discarded. In fact genre is so fluid that one can only classify it in the time between a new
work being created. It is questionable whether 'convention' is the best term for the vague
and temporal traits most genres possess, but at least by being aware of these traits
writers can make genre work for them, and better communicate with their audience.


References

Attfield, Sarah. "Week 8: Autobiography and Blogging" CLT340 Genre Writing (Lecture taken from
iLearn at Macquarie University, February 1, 2014).
Allen, Richard, and Dennis Walder. "Can realist novels survive?."The realist novel 1995: 202.
Brantlinger, Patrick. "Romances, Novels, and Psychoanalysis."Criticism 1975: 15-40.
Bhatia, Vijay K. "Genre-mixing in academic introductions."English for specific purposes 16.3
(1997): 181-195.
Bruss, Elizabeth W. Autobiographical Acts: The Changing Situation of a Literary Genre Review
by: S. F. R. Comparative Literature , Vol. 30, No. 2 (Spring, 1978) , pp. 181-185
Bazerman, Charles. "Introduction: Changing regularities of genre [commentary]."Professional
Communication, IEEE Transactions on 42.1 1999, 1-2.
Giuffre, Liz. "Week 5: Romance" CLT340 Genre Writing (Lecture taken from iLearn at Macquarie
University, February 1, 2014).
Hayton, Kavita. "New expressions of the self: autobiographical opportunities on the
internet"Journal of Media Practice, 10:2-3 , 2009 , 199-213
Kettle, Arnold. "Realism and romance." The realist novel 1995: 207-213.
McCracken, Scott. "Popular romance" in Pulp: Reading Popular Fiction , 1998 , 75-101