genre...

Currently reading--Kinsella: On genre: a reader's guide to the writing and reading of ...

(I'm pretty sure the link won't work, so I apologize, but you may search for the author and title in the Literature Resource Center.)

'So-called "literature" still wrestles with the laws and conventions of genre. I have implied that the more a work challenges these laws or rules, the more it becomes consciously literary, the more it places itself "above" the gratification of certainty.'


Kinsella discusses how true literature is not confined to most people's conceptions of genre. People might say that there is the novel, the poem, the biography, the article, and with fiction: the crime novel, the science fiction, the heterosexual romance. Genre is convention, genre is what has been done in both subject and form. But true literature, argues Kinsella, is confined to no such expectations. True literature surprises us.

I don't think true literature has to necessarily be surprising or unconventional in themes and messages, but it often is. Our culture is so obsessed with rebellion and challenge and daring to be the voice of truth that there is little left to challenge. Which is not a bad thing as long as one's ultimate goal is discovery and progression.

In terms of genre, however--whether that be fictional genres such as fantasy, romance, or crime, or merely what type of writing, such as poetry, prose, song, blog post, ect--literature needs to be as free as it can in order to most effectively communicate with the reader. And in most cases, that necessitates surprise simply because there are so many genre-overlaps that have not been done yet, or have been done very few times. Plotless stories, sarcastic biographies, artistic philosophy, ect. One cannot overwhelm or confuse the reader, of course; craft is only so helpful as it strengthens the message. The human mind WORKS by making associations and logical connections, which would include artistic connections and therefore, artistic categories.

But let us also not have the arrogance to say that we fully understand ourselves. And let us at least accept the challenges to our categories to see if connections lie between them.