Genre Theory (1 Viewer)

[rhinoivory]

Genre Theory (Crime Fiction)

I'm a little confused in regards to questions involving genre theory. (Crime Fiction)

What exactly is genre theory, and what should my essay/answer contain to fulfill any genre theory questions?

A heap of people have given me answers as to what genre theory is, but I can't come up with a means to how I would approach a question regarding genre theory.

 

[McLake]

You don't need to say much about genre in genral that much normally. A few sentences on what genre is (ie: constraints and guidelines on style and expected content) should be enough.

Specific Crime Fiction genre stuff should include talking about what the conventions of CF are, how they have evolved, what authors can do to bend the genre, what authors can do to subvert the genre, and what sub-genre's exist.

 

[rhinoivory]

That's what I was thinking, but my teacher made me think otherwise. She specifically stated that some questions will deal with values, etc, whereas others will be "genre theory"?

For example, I think the "discuss the validity" of the genre is a predominant genre theory question and values and the such would be subservient to the analysis of the "formulaic nature" of crime fiction.

My question is, what if they ask a question concerning genre theory? Our teacher didn't touch it at all. I have done many essays regarding "ideas" and "values", but nothing on the mechanical aspect of texts.

 

[sugared plum]

You HAVE to talk about genre theory. That is what the course is.

But don't stress, it's not hard. Find some good quotes.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre1.html

That has most of the stuff you need.

So just remember some of the quotes and pop them into your essay along with your texts. I write about my texts in terms of genre theory - I get some outlandish theorists and debate them - and the conventions of crime ficiton. You will be able to write about values with the genre theory - do genres reflect social change? Well, it would be nice to think so, but I hardly think the feminist movement did much for Cordelia Gray, who is rescued, after TOTALLY fucking up as a detective, by a knight in shining wet weather gear.

It made me want to puke.

Well, that and the whole 'look at me, my name's PD James and I can quote Voltaire, Yeats, Shakespeare and John Webster'.

 

[elfgal]

rofl..that should be voltaire, yeats, shakespeare, john webster and the german word for 'bligh'
your focus should be more on the characteristics of the crime fic genre than on genre theory as a general concept. but you should demonstrate awareness of how concepts of genre theory relate to the crime genre. does that make sense?
for example, you might be talking about how texts like the sbts, the big sleep and the real inspector hound could be said to subvert the genre by incorporating elements of other genres (like romance, drama, parody etc). but then u might say that because genres are dynamic, these texts should still be classified as examples of crime fiction. or you might say that they arent crime fiction because they dont use all the conventions of the genre, but that their popularity emphasises that genre itself is perhaps becoming an obsolete mode of classification

 

[Stuwy85]

Guys im like rhino here, i have no fucking clue whether we need it or not and you guys seem divided yourselfs, is it a yes or a no for genre theory. My teacher who i hate so so much also sprung this genre theory crap on us at the last minute with a fat booklet which i dismissed and have since lost (so stupid). From my understanding of genre theory (which is I admit very basic) i believe in an essay on values and society and the like alot of the ideas of genre theory are implied. Is this right? and if it is are we expected to pay lip service to the words "genre theory"?

Help im stressed now.

 

[elfgal]

you do need to understand genre theory
you do not need to write a lot about it. if your teacher is anything like mine was then a lot of the stuff in that fat book will be useless (but reading it might help to consolidate your ideas about genre theory)
i dont think you need to use the words genre theory in an exam, although i suppose it wouldnt hurt.
im not sure what you mean when you say that the ideas of genre theory are implied in an essay on values and society. i'm assuming you mean this:
the texts you write about will come from various different contexts, so when you write your essay you will inevitably talk about how the conventions of the genre vary between these contexts. in this case, yes you're right - the idea that the concept of genre is dynamic rather than stagnant (or that it must be to transcend time) is implicit here. However, i think it would demonstrate greater understanding to make this point explicit.
does this help?

 

[Stuwy85]

That really helps elfgal, since that time i have done a bit of research on genre theory. Seeing as you seem to know what your talking about could u please please please read and reply to my post "Basic Response for Genre Theory Q, Problem with 2 Q's HELP HELP HELP " which should be just below this and tell me if thats the right idea. thanks so much, im feeling a bit better about this now.