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97-408: Oral literature , orature , or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written , though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used varying descriptions for oral literature or folk literature. A broad conceptualization refers to it as literature characterized by oral transmission and

194-747: A First Class , Division 3 of Part I of the Classical Tripos , and gained his B.A. The next year (1893), he obtained a First Class with distinction in Philology in the Classical Tripos. From 1893 to 1899, Chadwick was a Fellow at Clare. In 1894, his "The Origin of the Latin Perfect Formation in -ui" was published in Adalbert Bezzenberger 's Beitrage zur Kunde der indo-germanischen Sprachen . It

291-540: A 1909 recommendation of the board of medieval and modern languages at Cambridge, Chadwick was in 1910 appointed Lecturer in Scandinavian at Cambridge, holding this position for two years. In 1912, he published The Heroic Age , which is considered one of his most important works. In this work Chadwick conducted a pioneering examination of parallels between the epic poetry of the Greek Heroic Age and

388-456: A 1917 changing of regulations, which he drew up by himself. The scope of the department subsequently extended well beyond language and literature, to include history, archaeology and the study of culture, including religion and social institutions. Chadwick's reforms at Cambridge were not limited to Section B. With his friends Professor Arthur Quiller-Couch and Dr. Hugh Fraser Stewart , he remodelled Section A (English studies) and transformed

485-472: A Cave Exhibition at Clare College, Cambridge . That summer, he made a trip to Scotland, Ulster, Wales and the Isle of Man . He subsequently did his Little Go and entered Cambridge. While an undergraduate, Chadwick made memorable visits to Continental Europe with his brother Edward, during which they visited Austria and Italy. In 1890, Chadwick was elected Classical Scholar at Clare. In 1892, Chadwick obtained

582-455: A classification system for ancient Greek literature , as set out in Aristotle's Poetics . For Aristotle, poetry ( odes , epics , etc.), prose , and performance each had specific features that supported appropriate content of each genre. Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, for example, and even actors were restricted to their genre under the assumption that

679-1038: A combination of archaeological, historical and philological evidence to examine the early history of Scotland. He argued that the Pictish Chronicle and the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba were derived from two distinct oral traditions of the Gaels and Picts respectively. Chadwick suggested that the Pictish language was akin to Welsh, but that nevertheless there had been an early and significant Gaelic presence in early Scotland. Chadwick became gravely ill in February 1946, but recovered and resumed writing on his final work. Within months however, his illness reappeared. He died in his sleep at Evelyn Nursing Home, Trumpington Road, Cambridge , on 2 January 1947. His final work

776-549: A day-boy. He commuted 8 miles to Wakefield each day, during which he learned German by himself. At Wakefield, Chadwick was a passionate player of tennis, and served as treasurer of the school cricket club. Contemporary students at Wakefield later described him as a determined but shy boy, who happily helped out his classmates with their Latin. Shyness, intelligence, determination and a strong willingness to help others were personality traits which were to characterize him into adulthood. Upon leaving Wakefield in 1889, Chadwick obtained

873-827: A distinct and broad discipline akin to the Classics . Both in his The Study of Anglo-Saxon , and his later "Why compulsory philology", which appeared in The Universities Quarterly for 1946 and was written at the request of the National Union of Students , Chadwick argued against the teaching of philology as a compulsory subject, and instead considered it best suited for post-graduate work. In view of this, some have suggested that he had grown to dislike philology, but Chadwick's ample use of philology in all of his later works suggests that he indeed still appreciated it. Chadwick received an honorary D.Litt. from

970-645: A number of subgenres, for example by setting or subject, or a distinctive national style, for example in the Indian Bollywood musical. A music genre is a conventional category that identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style , although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. There are numerous genres in Western classical music and popular music , as well as musical theatre and

1067-411: A particular culture or community. The work of Georg Lukács also touches on the nature of literary genres , appearing separately but around the same time (1920s–1930s) as Bakhtin. Norman Fairclough has a similar concept of genre that emphasizes the social context of the text: Genres are "different ways of (inter)acting discoursally" (Fairclough, 2003: 26). A text's genre may be determined by its: In

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1164-525: A pioneering work of comparative literature . Upon the death of Skeat in 1912, Chadwick was recognized as the obvious successor, and was subsequently elected Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Cambridge. He held this position until reaching the age limit in 1941. Chadwick's election to this professorship marks a new phase in his career, during which his time was mostly dedicated to teaching and administrative work. In agreement with previous wishes expressed by Skeat, Chadwick sought to broaden

1261-503: A sister of General Hector Munro . Sarah Murray was of Scottish descent. Edward Chadwick was educated at St John's College, Cambridge , and met Sarah while he was Curate at Church of St George, Chester Road, Hulme . Sarah was the only daughter and one of eight children of an Oldham businessman of considerable prominence. Her grandfather was a member of the same business. Her cousin, Captain Chadwick, had served with distinction in

1358-481: A story, or allegorical personifications. They usually deal with subjects drawn from "everyday life". These are distinguished from staffage : incidental figures in what is primarily a landscape or architectural painting. "Genre" is also be used to refer to specialized types of art such as still-life , landscapes, marine paintings and animal paintings, or groups of artworks with other particular features in terms of subject-matter, style or iconography . The concept of

1455-536: A structured classification system of genre, as opposed to a more contemporary rhetorical model of genre. The basic genres of film can be regarded as drama, in the feature film and most cartoons , and documentary . Most dramatic feature films, especially from Hollywood fall fairly comfortably into one of a long list of film genres such as the Western , war film , horror film , romantic comedy film , musical , crime film , and many others. Many of these genres have

1552-621: A televised feature on Russell Simmons ' Def Poetry ; performance poetry is a genre of poetry that consciously shuns the written form. Oral literatures forms a generally more fundamental component of culture , but operates in many ways as one might expect literature to do. The Ugandan scholar Pio Zirimu introduced the term orature in an attempt to avoid an oxymoron , but oral literature remains more common both in academic and popular writing. The Encyclopaedia of African Literature , edited by Simon Gikandi (Routledge, 2003), gives this definition: "Orature means something passed on through

1649-436: A type of person could tell one type of story best. Genres proliferate and develop beyond Aristotle's classifications— in response to changes in audiences and creators. Genre has become a dynamic tool to help the public make sense out of unpredictability through artistic expression. Given that art is often a response to a social state, in that people write, paint, sing, dance, and otherwise produce art about what they know about,

1746-531: A university administrator was his "Some German River-names", a philological study examining the origins of the Celts, which was published in Essays and Studies presented to William Ridgeway (1913). He accepted the reduction in his literary output without regret, because he considered teaching and directing his students to be a task of even greater importance than his written work. In the years of World War I , there

1843-510: A viable mode. He then uses two additional criteria to distinguish the system. The first of the criteria is the object to be imitated, whether superior or inferior. The second criterion is the medium of presentation: words, gestures, or verse. Essentially, the three categories of mode , object , and medium can be visualized along an XYZ axis. Excluding the criteria of medium, Aristotle's system distinguished four types of classical genres: tragedy , epic , comedy , and parody . Genette explained

1940-527: Is a highly specialized, narrow classification of a cultural practice. The term has come into usage in the 21st century, and most commonly refers to music. It is also associated with the hyper-specific categories used in recommendations for television shows and movies on digital streaming platforms such as Netflix , and is sometimes used more broadly by scholars analyzing niche forms in other periods and other media. Hector Munro Chadwick Hector Munro Chadwick FBA (22 October 1870 – 2 January 1947)

2037-446: Is further subdivided into epic , lyric , and drama . The divisions are recognized as being set by Aristotle and Plato ; however, they were not the only ones. Many genre theorists added to these accepted forms of poetry . The earliest recorded systems of genre in Western history can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle . Gérard Genette explains his interpretation of the history of genre in "The Architext". He described Plato as

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2134-521: Is met or not. Many genres have built-in audiences and corresponding publications that support them, such as magazines and websites. Inversely, audiences may call out for change in an antecedent genre and create an entirely new genre. The term may be used in categorizing web pages , like "news page" and "fan page", with both very different layout, audience, and intention (Rosso, 2008). Some search engines like Vivísimo try to group found web pages into automated categories in an attempt to show various genres

2231-407: Is often applied, sometimes rather loosely, to other media with an artistic element, such as video game genres . Genre, and numerous minutely divided subgenres, affect popular culture very significantly, not least as they are used to classify it for publicity purposes. The vastly increased output of popular culture in the age of electronic media encourages dividing cultural products by genre to simplify

2328-734: Is that there are elements to oral traditions in these places that cannot be captured by words alone, such as the existence of gestures, dance, and the interaction between the storyteller and the audience. According to Nwi-Akeeri, oral literature is not only a narrative, but also a performance . Oral tradition is seen in societies with vigorous oral conveyance practices to be a general term inclusive of both oral literature and any written literature, including sophisticated writings, as well, potentially, as visual and performance arts which may interact with these forms, extend their expression, or offer additional expressive media. Thus even where no phrase in local language which exactly translates "oral literature"

2425-477: Is used, what constitutes "oral literature" as understood today is already understood to be part or all of the lore media with which a society conducts profound and common cultural affairs among its members, orally. In this sense, oral lore is an ancient practice and concept natural to the earliest storied communications and transmissions of bodies of knowledge and culture in verbal form from the dawn of language-based human societies, and 'oral literature' thus understood

2522-559: The Classics . In 1928, he was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Society of the Humanities at Lund. The Growth of Literature ... has clarified the subject of the beginnings of literature for all time. — The Times Although Chadwick had heavily concentrated on his university duties rather than his own writing after becoming Professor, Nora insisted that he begin writing again. He argued that his university work

2619-467: The Crimean War . Sarah's father retired early from business and became a farmer at Old Trafford . Sarah's mother died on the day Sarah was to marry Edward Chadwick, allegedly heartbroken over the prospect of losing contact with her daughter. The marriage was subsequently postponed for a while. After finally marrying, Edward and Sarah spent their early years at Blue Pits , where their eldest son Edward

2716-568: The Germanic Heroic Age . Celtic , Roman and Slavic epic poetry was also considered, which testifies to the wide and diverse knowledge possessed by Chadwick at this time. Chadwick postulated the Heroic Age as a distinct period in the history of numerous human societies. During such Heroic Ages, warrior aristocrats figure prominently, and courage and martial prowess is valued above all else. For Chadwick, such an Heroic Age

2813-787: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute and in Folk-Lore . From 1903 to 1911, he was Librarian at the college. In 1905, Chadwick published Studies in Anglo-Saxon Institutions . It was at the time considered the best work ever published on Anglo-Saxon society, and was highly influential. In 1907, he contributed chapter III on "Early National Poetry" to the first volume of the Cambridge History of English Literature . The same year saw

2910-522: The Renaissance period. According to Green, "Beethoven's Op. 61 and Mendelssohn's Op. 64 are identical in genre – both are violin concertos – but different in form. However, Mozart's Rondo for Piano, K. 511 , and the Agnus Dei from his Mass, K. 317 are quite different in genre but happen to be similar in form." Some, like Peter van der Merwe , treat the terms genre and style as

3007-514: The University of Oxford in 1943. Upon the election of his friend and former pupil Bruce Dickins as Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, he retired from teaching, satisfied that his department was now safely in good hands. Chadwick thought that the broad approach he advocated for Anglo-Saxon studies should also be applied to the study of foreign peoples. This idea was further elaborated by him in his The Nationalities of Europe and

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3104-432: The University of St Andrews in 1919. On 4 May 1922, Chadwick married Nora Kershaw , a former student of his. Nora eventually became a Fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge , and an intimate scholarly companion of Chadwick. They published several influential works together. Nora was an accomplished philologist, in fact so much so that a reviewer of one of her works on Old English and Old Norse poetry wrongly mistook

3201-445: The pet name "Chadders". Many of his students were female, and he insisted that they were to be treated equally with their male peers, which was quite uncommon at English universities at the time. Chadwick treated his students as his intellectual peers, which sometimes resulted in him recommending them subjects which were beyond their capabilities. Around thirty of his students came to hold prominent positions in academia, not to mention

3298-536: The " hierarchy of genres " was a powerful one in artistic theory, especially between the 17th and 19th centuries. It was strongest in France, where it was associated with the Académie française which held a central role in academic art . The genres, which were mainly applied to painting, in hierarchical order are: The hierarchy was based on a distinction between art that made an intellectual effort to "render visible

3395-667: The 1970s onwards, the term "Oral literature" appears in the work of both literary scholars and anthropologists: Finnegan (1970, 1977), Görög-Karady (1976), Bauman (1986), in the World Oral Literature Project and in the articles of the journal Cahiers de Littérature Orale . Although deaf people communicate manually rather than orally, their culture and traditions are considered in the same category as oral literature. Stories, jokes and poetry are passed on from person to person with no written medium. Genre Critical discussion of genre perhaps began with

3492-645: The Cambridge Philological Society , and his first book, The Cult of Othin , which was published by Cambridge University Press . His "Studies in Old English" was a pioneering monograph on dialects and sound changes in Old English. In The Cult of Othin , he examined worship of Odin among the Germanic peoples . The book took all relevant evidence into consideration, including linguistic, literary, and archaeological evidence, which

3589-592: The Chadwicks took students by car to see archaeological sites near Cambridge, and made long trips together to Wales, Scotland and Ireland . They bought a house at Vowchurch in the Golden Valley near Wales, where they spent much time. Chadwick was proud of his Scottish ancestry, and had a passionate interest in all things Celtic. During the first years of its existence, Chadwick was almost entirely responsible for teaching at his rapidly growing Section B, but

3686-569: The Growth of National Ideologies (1945). The writing of this work was strongly connected to the ongoing world war. He argued that the British Empire had not dedicated enough resources to the study of nationalities and their importance. Chadwick suggested the establishment of a government-sponsored Institute of Imperial and Foreign Studies to provide courses on the history, languages and literature of various countries. He believed such knowledge

3783-721: The Growth of National Ideologies became an indispensable work for aspiring members of the Foreign Office . Through the immense range of his scholarly publications, and through the vigorous enthusiasm which he brought to all aspects of Anglo-Saxon studies – philological and literary, historical and archaeological – he helped to define the field and give it the interdisciplinary orientation which characterizes it still. The Department... owes its existence and its own interdisciplinary outlook to H.M. Chadwick... — Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge In his final literary project, Chadwick sought through

3880-707: The Medieval and Modern Language Tripos in the Modern and Medieval Languages Tripos, in which English became a more or less independent course covered in sections A and B. The reforms encountered significant opposition, most notably by certain members of the English Association , but through his tenacity, persuasiveness and strategic skills, Chadwick was able to outmanoeuvre his conservative critics, and his reforms were subsequently successfully implemented. Among Chadwick's few publications during his early years as

3977-524: The absence of any fixed form. It includes the stories, legends, and history passed through generations in a spoken form. Pre-literate societies, by definition, have no written literature, but may possess rich and varied oral traditions —such as folk epics , folk narratives (including fairy tales and fables ), folk drama , proverbs and folksongs —that effectively constitute an oral literature. Even when these are collected and published by scholars such as folklorists and paremiographers ,

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4074-541: The book Defining New Idioms and Alternative Forms of Expression , edited by Eckhard Breitinger (Rodopi, 1996, page 78): "This means that any 'oral society' had to develop means to make the spoken word last, at least for a while. We tend to regard all the genres of orature as belonging to the homogeneous complex of folklore." Building on Zirimu's orature concept, Mbube Nwi-Akeeri explained that Western theories cannot effectively capture and explain oral literature, particularly those indigenous to regions such as Africa. The reason

4171-489: The closely related concept of "genre ecologies". Reiff and Bawarshi define genre analysis as a critical reading of people's patterns of communication in different situations. This tradition has had implications for the teaching of writing in American colleges and universities. Combining rhetorical genre theory with activity theory , David Russell has proposed that standard English composition courses are ill-suited to teach

4268-418: The creator of three imitational, mimetic genres distinguished by mode of imitation rather than content. These three imitational genres include dramatic dialogue, the drama ; pure narrative, the dithyramb ; and a mixture of the two, the epic . Plato excluded lyric poetry as a non-mimetic, imitational mode. Genette further discussed how Aristotle revised Plato's system by first eliminating the pure narrative as

4365-948: The field of rhetoric , genre theorists usually understand genres as types of actions rather than types or forms of texts. On this perspective, texts are channels through which genres are enacted. Carolyn Miller's work has been especially important for this perspective. Drawing on Lloyd Bitzer 's concept of rhetorical situation, Miller reasons that recurring rhetorical problems tend to elicit recurring responses; drawing on Alfred Schütz , she reasons that these recurring responses become "typified" – that is, socially constructed as recognizable types. Miller argues that these "typified rhetorical actions" (p. 151) are properly understood as genres. Building off of Miller, Charles Bazerman and Clay Spinuzzi have argued that genres understood as actions derive their meaning from other genres – that is, other actions. Bazerman therefore proposes that we analyze genres in terms of "genre systems", while Spinuzzi prefers

4462-593: The fourth and final type of Greek literature , was excluded by Plato as a non-mimetic mode. Aristotle later revised Plato's system by eliminating the pure narrative as a viable mode and distinguishing by two additional criteria: the object to be imitated, as objects could be either superior or inferior, and the medium of presentation such as words, gestures or verse. Essentially, the three categories of mode, object, and medium dialogue, epic (superior-mixed narrative), comedy (inferior-dramatic dialogue), and parody (inferior-mixed narrative). Genette continues by explaining

4559-401: The genres prose or poetry , which shows best how loosely genres are defined. Additionally, a genre such as satire might appear in any of the above, not only as a subgenre but as a mixture of genres. Finally, they are defined by the general cultural movement of the historical period in which they were composed. In popular fiction , which is especially divided by genres, genre fiction is

4656-492: The genres that students will write in other contexts across the university and beyond. Elizabeth Wardle contends that standard composition courses do teach genres, but that these are inauthentic "mutt genres" that are often of little use outside composition courses. Genre is effective as a tool in rhetoric because it allows a speaker to set the context for a rhetorical discussion. Devitt, Reiff, and Bawarshi suggest that rhetorical genres may be assigned based on careful analysis of

4753-573: The integration of lyric poetry into the classical system by replacing the removed pure narrative mode. Lyric poetry , once considered non-mimetic, was deemed to imitate feelings, becoming the third "Architext", a term coined by Gennette, of a new long-enduring tripartite system: lyrical; epical, the mixed narrative; and dramatic, the dialogue. This new system that came to "dominate all the literary theory of German romanticism " (Genette 38) has seen numerous attempts at expansion and revision. Such attempts include Friedrich Schlegel 's triad of subjective form,

4850-645: The languages of the literature covered in the book, and it took literary, historical, philological, anthropological and archaeological evidence into account. It has been described as a pioneering and masterful study, and the finest work of Chadwick's career. It was at his country home in Vowchurch that Chadwick began writing his Early Wales and the Saxon Penetration of the West , but the threat of an invasion of England eventually convinced him to abandon

4947-676: The large number of museum officials, librarians and learned individuals of prominence who had studied under him. From 1899 to 1919, Chadwick became solely responsible for teaching at the Section B of the Medieval and Modern Languages Tripos. In 1899, Chadwick published three works: "Ablaut problems in the Indo-Germanic Verb" in Indogermanische Forschungen , "Studies in Old English" in Transactions of

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5044-520: The later integration of lyric poetry into the classical system during the romantic period , replacing the now removed pure narrative mode. Lyric poetry, once considered non-mimetic, was deemed to imitate feelings, becoming the third leg of a new tripartite system: lyrical, epical, and dramatic dialogue. This system, which came to "dominate all the literary theory of German romanticism (and therefore well beyond)…" (38), has seen numerous attempts at expansion or revision. However, more ambitious efforts to expand

5141-496: The lyric; objective form, the dramatic; and subjective-objective form, the epic. However, more ambitious efforts to expand the tripartite system resulted in new taxonomic systems of increasing complexity. Gennette reflected upon these various systems, comparing them to the original tripartite arrangement: "its structure is somewhat superior to most of those that have come after, fundamentally flawed as they are by their inclusive and hierarchical taxonomy, which each time immediately brings

5238-430: The material on Irish literature . The second volume was mostly written by Nora, although Chadwick wrote its sections of Slavic, Hebrew and Indian literature . The third volume was mostly written by Nora, and included sections on Tatar , Polynesian and African literature, while the concluding section, summarizing all the material of the three volumes, was written by Hector. The Chadwicks were proficient in nearly all of

5335-510: The more usual term. In literature , genre has been known as an intangible taxonomy . This taxonomy implies a concept of containment or that an idea will be stable forever. The earliest recorded systems of genre in Western history can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle. Gérard Genette , a French literary theorist and author of The Architext , describes Plato as creating three Imitational genres: dramatic dialogue, pure narrative, and epic (a mixture of dialogue and narrative). Lyric poetry ,

5432-491: The most notable polymaths in the history of Cambridge. As a researcher and writer, Chadwick pioneered interdisciplinary research for the study of the cultures of early Northern Europe and beyond. The interdisciplinary approach of the Chadwicks has strongly influenced Celtic studies up to the present day. At Cambridge, Chadwick is notable for having developed the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, and supervised

5529-847: The music of non-Western cultures. The term is now perhaps over-used to describe relatively small differences in musical style in modern rock music , that also may reflect sociological differences in their audiences. Timothy Laurie suggests that in the context of rock and pop music studies, the "appeal of genre criticism is that it makes narratives out of musical worlds that often seem to lack them". Music can be divided into different genres in several ways. The artistic nature of music means that these classifications are often arbitrary and controversial, and some genres may overlap. There are several academic approaches to genres. In his book Form in Tonal Music , Douglass M. Green lists madrigal , motet , canzona , ricercar , and dance as examples of genres from

5626-483: The parallels of the Shahnameh with Greek epic poetry, the Chadwicks decided to broaden the scope of their project, which eventually came to encompass the oral literature of a large number of peoples. The resulting work, The Growth of Literature (1932–1940), was published in three volumes. The first volume was mostly written by Hector, and was concerned with the ancient oral literature of Europe, although Nora collected

5723-483: The priesthood of the Church of England . Hector was by far the youngest child of the family, and had a very close relationship with his sister. Dora taught him both letters and Latin , and he later said that she "brought me up". Chadwick's father strongly encouraged his children to study, and used to tell Hector that a bear would come and carry him off if he did not learn his Latin. As a result, one of Chadwick's memories

5820-482: The project in 1940, as he felt the looming prospect of a German invasion had too many parallels with the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain . When World War II began in 1939, the Chadwicks moved to a new home at Adams Road. During the war, many younger members of the staff left University, and Chadwick once more conducted most of the teaching at his Department for Anglo-Saxon and Kindred Studies. In his notable "Who

5917-672: The publishing of his monumental The Origins of the English Nation (1907). Investigating the origins of the Anglo-Saxons and the English people , this work has been highly praised for its interdisciplinary combination of archaeological, historical and philological evidence from both England and Northern Europe. In 1907, the scope of Section B at the Medieval and Modern Languages Tripos was broadened to cover Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and Viking Age history, culture and religion. Upon

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6014-522: The reign of Elizabeth I . Edward was the seventh of the eight sons of James Chadwick, who in turn was a son of yet another John Chadwick. John and his sons were all members of the firm of John Chadwick & Sons, who were flannel manufacturers in Rochdale. The firm had a branch in Edinburgh , and it was there that James married Sarah Murray, daughter of George Murray and Margaret Munro, who was probably

6111-504: The result is still often referred to as "oral literature". The different genres of oral literature pose classification challenges to scholars because of cultural dynamism in the modern digital age. Literate societies may continue an oral tradition — particularly within the family (for example bedtime stories ) or informal social structures. The telling of urban legends may be considered an example of oral literature, as can jokes and also oral poetry including slam poetry which has been

6208-431: The same, saying that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language". Others, such as Allan F. Moore, state that genre and style are two separate terms, and that secondary characteristics such as subject matter can also differentiate between genres. A music genre or subgenre may be defined by the musical techniques , the styles, the context, and content and spirit of

6305-699: The scope of the Section beyond the field of philology, and make it concerned not only with the study of Anglo-Saxons, but also with Germanic studies and Celtic studies . By this time, he had come to see philology not as an object in itself, but rather as a key to the early history of the Germanic peoples, and the English people in particular. He insisted that scholarship should be informed through direct engagement with primary sources in their original languages and contexts. Although encountering significant opposition, Chadwick's efforts at reform were successful through

6402-619: The search for products by consumers, a trend the Internet has only intensified. In philosophy of language , genre figures prominently in the works of philosopher and literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin . Bakhtin's basic observations were of "speech genres" (the idea of heteroglossia ), modes of speaking or writing that people learn to mimic, weave together, and manipulate (such as "formal letter" and "grocery list", or "university lecture" and "personal anecdote"). In this sense, genres are socially specified: recognized and defined (often informally) by

6499-429: The search hits might fit. A subgenre is a subordinate within a genre, Two stories being the same genre can still sometimes differ in subgenre. For example, if a fantasy story has darker and more frightening elements of fantasy, it would belong in the subgenre of dark fantasy ; whereas another fantasy story that features magic swords and wizards would belong to the subgenre of sword and sorcery . A microgenre

6596-595: The spoken word, and because it is based on the spoken language it comes to life only in a living community. Where community life fades away, orality loses its function and dies. It needs people in a living social setting: it needs life itself." In Songs and Politics in Eastern Africa , edited by Kimani Njogu and Hervé Maupeu (2007), it is stated (page 204) that Zirimu, who coined the term, defines orature as "the use of utterance as an aesthetic means of expression" (as quoted by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o , 1988). According to

6693-541: The subject matter and consideration of the audience. Genre is related to Ludwig Wittgenstein's theory of Family resemblance in which he describes how genres act like a family tree, where members of a family are related, but not exact copies of one another. This concept of genre originated from the classification systems created by Plato . Plato divided literature into the three classic genres accepted in Ancient Greece : poetry , drama , and prose . Poetry

6790-453: The summer of 1895, Chadwick attended lectures at the University of Freiburg under Wilhelm Streitberg . Returning to Cambridge in 1895, Chadwick taught Old English for Section B of the Medieval and Modern Languages Tripos, while devoting himself to the study of the early North. He gained his M.A. in 1896. Section B had been established in 1894. Its teachers at the time included Israel Gollancz and George Campbell Macaulay . Its Chair

6887-623: The themes. Geographical origin is sometimes used to identify a music genre, though a single geographical category will often include a wide variety of subgenres. Several music scholars have criticized the priority accorded to genre-based communities and listening practices. For example, Laurie argues that "music genres do not belong to isolated, self-sufficient communities. People constantly move between environments where diverse forms of music are heard, advertised and accessorised with distinctive iconographies, narratives and celebrity identities that also touch on non-musical worlds." The concept of genre

6984-456: The tripartite system resulted in new taxonomic systems of increasing scope and complexity. Genette reflects upon these various systems, comparing them to the original tripartite arrangement: "its structure is somewhat superior to…those that have come after, fundamentally flawed as they are by their inclusive and hierarchical taxonomy, which each time immediately brings the whole game to a standstill and produces an impasse" (74). Taxonomy allows for

7081-952: The universal essence of things" ( imitare in Italian) and that which merely consisted of "mechanical copying of particular appearances" ( ritrarre ). Idealism was privileged over realism in line with Renaissance Neo-Platonist philosophy. A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique , tone , content , or even (as in the case of fiction) length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young adult , or children's . They also must not be confused with format, such as graphic novel or picture book. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups. The most general genres in literature are (in loose chronological order) epic , tragedy , comedy , novel , and short story . They can all be in

7178-414: The use of genre as a tool must be able to adapt to changing meanings. The term genre is much used in the history and criticism of visual art, but in art history has meanings that overlap rather confusingly. Genre painting is a term for paintings where the main subject features human figures to whom no specific identity attaches – in other words, figures are not portraits, characters from

7275-399: The whole game to a standstill and produces an impasse". Although genres are not always precisely definable, genre considerations are one of the most important factors in determining what a person will see or read. The classification properties of genre can attract or repel potential users depending on the individual's understanding of a genre. Genre creates an expectation in that expectation

7372-524: The work as Hector's. The Chadwicks settled into an old paper-mill outside Cambridge, close to the Norman Leper Chapel , which came under their care. They were animal lovers, and kept a large number of cats and dogs which they named after personages in Beowulf and Norse mythology . Their home became a salon for enthusiasts of early Germanic and Celtic literature. With Nora as the driver,

7469-488: Was Walter William Skeat , the Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon . Skeat was primarily concerned with the study of Middle English . Section B covered Old English, Middle English, Anglo-French , Gothic and Icelandic , and English and Germanic linguistics . It was mostly limited to linguistics, and attracted few students, which however included future distinguished scholars such as Allen Mawer . Chadwick

7566-579: Was a tutor of many notable students and the author of numerous influential works in his fields of study. Much of his research and teaching was conducted in cooperation with his wife, former student and fellow Cambridge scholar Nora Kershaw . On 22 October 1870, Hector Munro Chadwick was born in Thornhill Lees , Yorkshire, England, the third son of Reverend Edward Chadwick and Sarah Anne Bates. The Chadwick family traced its descent from John Chadwick of Chadwick Hall, Rochdale , who flourished during

7663-401: Was able to combine his leadership of the department with writing and research. In his The Study of Anglo-Saxon (1941), Chadwick surveyed the history and contemporary state of Anglo-Saxon studies. In this work, he argued in favour of an interdisciplinary method for the study of the Anglo-Saxons, and suggested that Anglo-Saxon studies should be split from the field of English studies and made into

7760-457: Was admirably assisted by his wife. Former students of his who lectured at his section included Cyril Fox and Frederick Attenborough . In 1920, Chadwick and his Section B had lost its eminent Celticist Edmund Crosby Quiggin , and Nora stepped in for the deceased as a teacher of Irish , while Hector taught Welsh . In 1925, among their notable students were Kenneth H. Jackson , who became an eminent Celticist in Chadwick's department. Chadwick

7857-463: Was an English philologist. Chadwick was the Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and the founder and head of the Department for Anglo-Saxon and Kindred Studies at the University of Cambridge . Chadwick was well known for his encouragement of interdisciplinary research on Celts and Germanic peoples , and for his theories on the Heroic Age in the history of human societies. Chadwick

7954-595: Was born. Shortly afterwards, the family moved to Thornhill Lees, Yorkshire, where Edward Chadwick senior became a close friend to a member of the Bibby family, which owned the Bibby Line . The Bibbys built a church for Edward in the suburbs of Thornhill Lees, where he became Vicar . It was during this time that the Chadwicks had their three remaining children, Dora, Murray, and then Hector. Edward ended his career as Rural Dean of Dewsbury , and his two oldest sons also joined

8051-558: Was completed by Nora, and published by Cambridge University Press under the title Early Scotland: The Picts, the Scots and the Welsh of Southern Scotland (1947). In 1950, The Early Cultures of North-West Europe , a festschrift in Chadwick's honour edited by Cyril Fox and Bruce Dickins, his former students, was published. Under the leadership of his former pupil Dorothy Whitelock , Chadwick's Department for Anglo-Saxon and Kindred Studies

8148-402: Was during this time, when visiting his brother Murray, that Chadwick came upon Paul Du Chaillu 's The Viking Age . Through this book, Chadwick gained a strong interest in the early civilizations of Northern Europe . The book was characterized by an interdisciplinary approach to every aspect of its subject, which was an approach which was also to characterize his future teaching and research. In

8245-711: Was elected a Fellow of the British Academy . Following the Royal Commission on the Universities and the introduction of the Faculty system, Chadwick and his Section B acquired a permanent staff. Two lecturers were appointed in 1926, including his friend and former student Bertha Phillpotts , widely recognized as one of England's foremost authorities in Old Norse studies . Her premature death in 1932

8342-446: Was general understanding that British scholarship had devoted too much effort on the study of languages as compared to the people who spoke them. As a result, the importance of philology for the study of history and culture, particularly in the field of English studies, was increasingly emphasized. Chadwick was the dominant figure in this effort. He received an honorary D.Litt from Durham University in 1914, and an honorary LL.D from

8439-466: Was he?", published in Antiquity in 1940, he examined the site of Sutton Hoo , and suggested that its magnificent burial was of Rædwald of East Anglia . Upon attaining the age limit in 1941, Chadwick retired as Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and became an Honorary Fellow at Clare College, but at the request of the university, he continued teaching as head of his department. Chadwick

8536-443: Was in 1967 merged back into the Faculty of English, eventually becoming known as the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic . Chadwick is today considered the founder of this department. The H.M. Chadwick Lecture was established in 1990, and is given annually by a scholar who is invited to Cambridge for the occasion. Chadwick left a long-lasting impact on subsequent scholarship. Christopher N. L. Brooke heralds him as one of

8633-612: Was indispensable for understanding the culture of any country. Chadwick's book presents a general survey of the various nationalities in Europe from an archaeological, historical and philological perspective. He notably located the Celtic homeland somewhere in the Netherlands and northwest Germany. Much of the work is dedicated to the study of the origins and nature of German imperialism. In subsequent years, The Nationalities of Europe and

8730-405: Was keenly felt by Chadwick and his colleagues. In the late 1920s, Chadwick became increasingly interested in the fields of archaeology and anthropology. In 1927, he transferred his Section B to the new Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, where it become known as the Department for Anglo-Saxon and Kindred Studies. Chadwick sought to make its courses into a broad independent discipline akin to

8827-401: Was more important, but Nora persisted, and eventually persuaded him into resuming writing after suggesting to him that they write a work together. This ushered in what Chadwick's student, friend and colleague Jose Maria de Navarro considers the final stage of Chadwick's career. The Chadwicks continued the line of research pursued by Chadwick in his The Heroic Age (1912). Their original intention

8924-461: Was not one of primitiveness, but rather one of youthfulness, vigour and rebellion. According to him, Heroic Ages typically emerged when tribal societies came into close contact with more advanced civilizations, such as when the Germanic peoples encountered ancient Rome . Notably, Chadwick postulated the existence of Heroic Ages also among Celts and Slavs . The Heroic Age attracted strong interests from both Classicists and Germanicists. It remains

9021-409: Was peering for the bear through a window near the vicarage's front door. Chadwick attended Bradford Grammar School from 1882 to 1883. At Bradford he showed himself a gifted student, but did not like school life, and often feigned sickness in order to stay home from school. In 1884 he was tutored at home by his sister and the curators. From 1885 to 1889, Chadwick attended Wakefield Grammar School as

9118-627: Was putatively recognized in times prior to recordings of history in non-oral media, including painting and writing. Oral literature as a concept, after 19th-century antecedents, was more widely circulated by Hector Munro Chadwick and Nora Kershaw Chadwick in their comparative work on the "growth of literature" (1932–40). In 1960, Albert B. Lord published The Singer of Tales , which influentially examined fluidity in both ancient and later texts and "oral-formulaic" principles used during composition-in-performance, particularly by contemporary South Slavic bards relating long traditional narratives. From

9215-436: Was quickly recognized as a highly gifted tutor. His lectures were conducted in an informal manner, and he was particularly noted for his supervisions, which he began giving his students individually while they were still undergraduates. Many a student of Chadwick later described these supervisions at his home as formative events in their scholarly careers. Chadwick gained a large and loyal following among his students, who gave him

9312-461: Was to become a typical feature of his scholarly approach. In conclusion, Chadwick argued that worship of Odin was in all essential features the same among all the Germanic peoples, including Anglo-Saxons and Norse peoples . In 1899, his Fellowship at Clare was renewed. In 1900, two important papers by Chadwick, "The Oak and the Thunder-God" and "The Ancient Teutonic Priesthood", appeared in

9409-590: Was to conduct a comparative study of the literature, archaeology and general civilization of the Viking Age and Ancient Greece, to which they began collecting material in 1919. About this time however, Chadwick came upon Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana and Babylonia by Austen Henry Layard , in which the effect of the recital of the Shahnameh on the followers of Mehemet Taki Khan is described. Impressed by

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