Genre is a French word meaning kind or group

It is pronounced jon-ra

The word genre refers to:

a category of •Artistic •Musical or•Literary

composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content.

Fiction• Story based on the

imagination of the author

• Written to entertain the reader

• Characterized by a setting, characters, dialogue (talking), problem/conflict, climax and solution

Fiction Subgroups• Fantasy• Romance• Adventure• Crime Fiction• Horror

• Science Fiction• Mystery

• Historical Fiction• Realistic Fiction

• Traditional Literature

How do we classify literature into each genre?

• Fantasy• Romance• Adventure• Crime Fiction• Horror

• Science Fiction• Mystery

• Historical Fiction• Realistic Fiction

• Traditional Literature

CONVENTIONS

A particular genre includes certain basic ingredients which we call conventions

CONVENTIONS

Texts often fit into multiple genres

Can you think of an example of a novel which combines Science Fiction, Romance, Adventure

and Horror

Mystery• Suspenseful story

about a puzzling event that is not solved until the end of the story

Historical Fiction• Fictional story that

takes place in a particular time period in the past

• Often the setting is real, but the characters are made up from the author’s imagination

Traditional Literature

• Stories that are passed down from one group to another in history.

• Includes folktales, legends, fables, fairytales, tall tales, and myths from different cultures.

Horror• Baddies, supernatural

creatures like vampires, victims, believers and sceptics of the supernatural, innocent children and young women, hero, saviour, slayers, mad scientists clever experts.

• Isolated places, dark places, cemeteries, good versus evil, revenge, courage, justice, suspense, killing.

Realistic Fiction• Story using made-

up characters that could happen in real life

Fantasy

Fantasy• Story including elements that

are impossible such as talking animals or magical powers. Magic users (wizards); royalty (princesses); unreal creatures (dragons); hero/heroine

• Quest to overcome obstacles• Enchanted places, castles,

forests, medieval time• Good versus evil, honourable

qualities, friendship• Successive volumes

Science Fiction

Science Fiction• A type of fantasy that uses

science and technology• Robots, space, time machines,

aliens, time travel• Conflict with invaders• A quest to overcome obstacles• Set in the future (advanced or

regressive)• Good versus evil• Friendship, honourable

qualities, human potential, ethics

Romance

Romance• Fictional story that takes

place in a particular time period in the past

• Love match, overcoming obstacles, becoming a couple, happy endings

Crime Fiction

Crime Fiction• Fictional story that takes

place in a particular time period in the past

• Often the setting is real, but the characters are made up from the author’s imagination

• Crime solved by detective involves interpretation of clues, villains, mysterious settings, danger, weapons suspense and tension

GROUP TASK

• In groups, you will be assigned one genre to research. You are to collect images, film titles, authors, novel covers etc. that are classified as part of your assigned genre and make An electronic collage from your findings. Then answer the following questions:

• What elements need to be in a story to classify it under this genre?

• Write a list that others could use as a guide to help them recognize which texts are part of this genre.

• You will present your findings to the class.

Some examples from last year’s Year 8 students…

Adventure!

Happily Ever After