Importance of Literary Genres

Genres arise within literature based on the purpose and style assumed when writing, coupled with the content presented, allowing a categorization of literary works that serves to: 1) organize and classify the works, facilitating their search, compilation, study and analysis, both for their handling in libraries and bookstores, and for their recognition by the reader; 2) provide a structure and a referential framework to be followed by the authors, facilitating the development of the works based on the conventions of the genre and the expectations of the public; and 3) enrich the reading experience, helping in the selection of works based on particular interests.

Identity in writing

Consideration of literary genres also allows for the creation of an individual style according to the author and the construction of a personal identity through the genre in which their works are framed, also facilitating experimentation in writing in various genres until finding the area in which their creativity develops with greater fluidity and satisfaction.

As part of the cultural and artistic development of humanity, literary genres have allowed the reflection from various angles of the problems, values ​​and realities of societies, by addressing social, cultural and political issues, in persuasive and reflective ways, a resource that, thanks to the aesthetics of some genres, allowed the development of subversive movements and the dissemination of messages of change and protest, in the immersion of the cruelest scenarios in history, without writers being able to be held responsible for the ideals of the characters in their works.

There is also a great deal of historical legacy between the various genres, with stories, both mythical and real, being an inexhaustible source of inspiration that has guided the creation of countless works that enrich the heritage of history and human knowledge, making it transmissible from one generation to another.

A genre for everyone

Of the most recognized forms of writing, whether due to the longevity and relevance of their trajectory, or the affinity they evoke in readers, the following genres are recognized as the most frequent, with their respective subgenres:

1) narrative genre, made up of novels, with extensive and complex development of the plots and vicissitudes of various characters, and characterized by the length and depth with which the plots are developed; stories, with a shorter and more concise presentation, focused on a particular theme that leads to a specific outcome; fables, whose characters assume the identity of mythical or natural beings oriented to the transmission of a moral lesson and the transmission of values, serving as a didactic resource for the modeling of behavior and social patterns; while epics celebrate the heroic deeds performed by the most notable characters of past societies, making use of a more formal language and structure, characteristic of classical literature;

2) lyrical genre, in which poetry is presented with a stylized and rhythmic expression as a manifestation of the Being that seeks to connect with the deepest emotions, using for this the use of meter, rhythm and rhymes; the ode, as a poetic expression directed exclusively to the praise or celebration of a fact, person or object, in a solemn way; the elegy, whose melancholic and reflective tone is oriented to the recognition of pain and lament for the loss of a deceased as part of his honor; and the sonnet, which in fourteen verses of specific rhythm and meter, describes stories and evokes characters with the elegance characteristic of the artistic forms of the Renaissance and the Baroque;

3) dramatic genre, represented by tragedy, with the presentation of conflicts with fatalistic outcomes that delve into the interior of suffering and the perversion of human nature; drama, which with a less sordid character allows the approach to human and emotional conflicts in a more reflective way; comedy, whose light tone loaded with humor, allows the complacency of happy endings and pleasant moments of entertainment; and tragicomedy, structured with a mixed tone that allows the combination of elements of tragedy and comedy, interweaving hard situations with laughable events;

4) didactic genre, used for the development of essays, for the exposition of a topic from the personal and reflective perspective of its author; the chronicle, under which the chronological presentation of events is made; the biography, as a work that compiles the trajectory and life of a person, exposing their experiences, achievements and impacts of their existence; and the autobiography, which differs from the previous one by being written by the protagonist himself.