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80-551: The Lyonesse Trilogy is a group of three fantasy novels by Jack Vance , set in the European Dark Ages , in the mythical Elder Isles west of France and southwest of Britain, a generation or two before the birth of King Arthur . The stories contain references to Atlantis and Arthurian mythology, particularly to the mythical country of Lyonesse . They are told in several related storylines which are not always strictly chronological. King Casmir of Lyonesse arranges

160-461: A city in the clouds with the birds and challenges Zeus 's authority. Ovid 's Metamorphoses and Apuleius 's The Golden Ass are both works that influenced the development of the fantasy genre by taking mythic elements and weaving them into personal accounts. Both works involve complex narratives in which humans beings are transformed into animals or inanimate objects. Platonic teachings and early Christian theology are major influences on

240-455: 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

320-690: A feudal society hindering the modernization of China. Stories of the supernatural continued to be denounced once the Communists rose to power, and mainland China experienced a revival in fantasy only after the Cultural Revolution had ended. Fantasy became a genre of pulp magazines published in the West. In 1923, the first all-fantasy fiction magazine, Weird Tales , was published. Many other similar magazines eventually followed, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ; when it

400-564: A large audience. Lord Dunsany established the genre's popularity in both the novel and the short story form. H. Rider Haggard , Rudyard Kipling , and Edgar Rice Burroughs began to write fantasy at this time. These authors, along with Abraham Merritt , established what was known as the "lost world" subgenre, which was the most popular form of fantasy in the early decades of the 20th century, although several classic children's fantasies, such as Peter Pan and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , were also published around this time. Juvenile fantasy

480-471: A main plot element, theme , or setting . Magic, magic practitioners ( sorcerers , witches and so on) and magical creatures are common in many of these worlds. An identifying trait of fantasy is the author's use of narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent. This differs from realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, where fantasy does not. In writing fantasy

560-634: A marriage for her. When she refuses, the king punishes her by making Madouc the prize in a quest for the Holy Grail . Madouc's response is to seek the Grail herself. She and Pimfydd ("Sir Pom Pom") travel to the castle where the Grail is, kill the Ogre Throop, and retrieve the Grail. The Grail itself is an anticlimax which does nothing to improve her relationship with her parents. Torqual and Melancthe arrive at Murgen's home. Desmei orders Torqual to free

640-412: A new style of "fuzzy" supernatural texts. The fantastic is on the dividing line between supernatural and not supernatural, Just as during this time period the women were not respecting the boundary of inequality that had always been set for them. At the time, women's roles in society were very uncertain, just as the rules of the fantastic are never straightforward. This climate allowed for a genre similar to

720-645: 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

800-411: 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

880-613: A single source. The Welsh tradition has been particularly influential, due to its connection to King Arthur and its collection in a single work, the epic Mabinogion . There are many works where the boundary between fantasy and other works is not clear; the question of whether the writers believed in the possibilities of the marvels in A Midsummer Night's Dream or Sir Gawain and the Green Knight makes it difficult to distinguish when fantasy, in its modern sense, first began. Although pre-dated by John Ruskin 's The King of

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960-480: A son Dhrun to him. Aillas is imprisoned and Dhrun taken by the fairies and replaced with the changeling Madouc. Suldrun suicides. King Casmir plots to destabilize South Ulfland by sending two agents, Sir Shalles and Torqual. Torqual plans to conquer all of the Elder Isles for himself. Aillas pursues and captures Lady Tatzel, declaring she is now his slave. She resists, but ends up falling in love with him. Glyneth

1040-481: 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

1120-536: 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

1200-436: 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,

1280-510: 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

1360-674: A wide audience, with the success of Robert E. Howard 's Conan the Barbarian and Fritz Leiber 's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. However, it was the advent of high fantasy , and most of all J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , which reached new heights of popularity in the late 1960s, that allowed fantasy to truly enter the mainstream . Several other series, such as C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula K. Le Guin 's Earthsea books, helped cement

1440-569: Is One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights) , which is a compilation of many ancient and medieval folk tales. Various characters from this epic have become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin , Sinbad and Ali Baba . Hindu mythology was an evolution of the earlier Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters, particularly in the Indian epics . The Panchatantra ( Fables of Bidpai ), for example, used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate

1520-726: Is also often used to refer to this genre by the Anglophone literary critics. An archaic spelling for the term is phantasy . Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these can occur in fantasy. In popular culture , the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Many works of fantasy use magic or other supernatural elements as

1600-446: 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

1680-403: Is kidnapped by Visbhume and taken to the alternate world Tanjecterly as part of a plot by Casmir and Tamurello. During an unauthorized outing into a forest, Princess Madouc is separated from her bodyguard and discovers her mother, the fairy Twisk, and learns the truth. She meets Prince Dhrun at a reception and shares her knowledge with him. King Casmir continues to plot against Aillas by funding

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1760-481: Is lost again, to be sought later by King Arthur . Casmir is taken prisoner and spends the rest of his life in a cell ruminating over his defeat. Aillas declares himself king of the Elder Isles, and Dhrun his heir. He brings peace to the realm. Glyneth, now his queen, gives birth to her and Aillas' daughter, Serle. Madouc and Dhrun are in love, and when Twisk is summoned to partake in the celebrations she recognizes Shimrod as Madouc's father. Lyonesse: Madouc received

1840-521: 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

1920-407: 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

2000-632: The Epic of Gilgamesh . The ancient Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Eliš , in which the god Marduk slays the goddess Tiamat , contains the theme of a cosmic battle between good and evil, which is characteristic of the modern fantasy genre. Genres of romantic and fantasy literature existed in ancient Egypt. The Tales of the Court of King Khufu , which is preserved in the Westcar Papyrus and

2080-521: The Elder Edda and the Younger Edda , includes such figures as Odin and his fellow Aesir , and dwarves , elves , dragons , and giants . These elements have been directly imported into various fantasy works. The separate folklore of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscriminately for "Celtic" fantasy, sometimes with great effect; other writers have specified the use of

2160-522: 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

2240-567: The World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1990. Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction which involves themes of the supernatural , magic , and imaginary worlds and creatures . Its roots are in oral traditions, which became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film , television , graphic novels , manga , animations , and video games . The expression fantastic literature

2320-536: 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

2400-600: The Golden River (1841), the history of modern fantasy literature is usually said to begin with George MacDonald , the Scottish author of such novels as Phantastes (1858) and The Princess and the Goblin (1872); the former is widely considered to be the first fantasy novel ever written for adults. MacDonald was a major influence on both J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis . The other major fantasy author of this era

2480-574: The Green Pearl so she can be whole, but the Ska instead release Tamurello. Desmei's physical form is destroyed, and Tamurello tries to free Joald with the help of Torqual simply to spite Murgen. Joald manages to partially wrench free, and his presence in the Atlantic causes a massive tsunami that wipes out Ys instantly and the majority of Vale Evander soon thereafter. Before they can cause the downfall of

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2560-592: The RPG products sold in 2005. The science fantasy role-playing game series Final Fantasy has been an icon of the role-playing video game genre (as of 2012 it was still among the top ten best-selling video game franchises ). The first collectible card game , Magic: The Gathering , has a fantasy theme and is similarly dominant in the industry. Fantasy encompasses numerous subgenres characterized by particular themes or settings, or by an overlap with other literary genres or forms of speculative fiction. They include

2640-689: The Rings film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson , and the Harry Potter films, two of the highest-grossing film series in cinematic history. Fantasy role-playing games cross several different media. Dungeons & Dragons was the first tabletop role-playing game and remains the most successful and influential. According to a 1999 survey in the United States , 6% of 12- to 35-year-olds have played role-playing games. Of those who play regularly, two thirds play D&D . Products branded Dungeons & Dragons made up over fifty percent of

2720-476: The Supernatural in the 1890s and 1920s , Lizzie Harris McCormick, Jennifer Mitchell, and Rebecca Soares describe how the social climate in the 1890s and 1920s allowed for a new era of "fantastic" literature to grow. Women were finally exploring the new freedoms given to them and were quickly becoming equals in society. The fear of the new women in society, paired with their growing roles, allowed them to create

2800-505: The air of uncertainty in its narratives as described by Todorov. Jackson also introduces the idea of reading the fantastic through a psychoanalytical lens, referring primarily to Freud's theory of the unconscious, which she believes is integral to understanding the fantastic's connection to the human psyche. There are however additional ways to view the fantastic, and often these differing perspectives come from differing social climates. In their introduction to The Female Fantastic: Gender and

2880-438: The author uses worldbuilding to create characters, situations, and settings that may not be possible in reality. Many fantasy authors use real-world folklore and mythology as inspiration; and although another defining characteristic of the fantasy genre is the inclusion of supernatural elements, such as magic, this does not have to be the case. Fantasy has often been compared to science fiction and horror because they are

2960-591: The central Indian principles of political science . Chinese traditions have been particularly influential in the vein of fantasy known as Chinoiserie , including such writers as Ernest Bramah and Barry Hughart . Beowulf is among the best known of the Old English tales in the English speaking world, and has had deep influence on the fantasy genre; several fantasy works have retold the tale, such as John Gardner 's Grendel . Norse mythology , as found in

3040-644: The circular effect that all fantasy works, even the later The Lord of the Rings , were therefore classified as children's literature . Political and social trends can affect a society's reception towards fantasy. In the early 20th century, the New Culture Movement 's enthusiasm for Westernization and science in China compelled them to condemn the fantastical shenmo genre of traditional Chinese literature. The spells and magical creatures of these novels were viewed as superstitious and backward, products of

3120-489: 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

3200-646: The convention. The first WFC was held in 1975 and it has occurred every year since. The convention is held at a different city each year. Additionally, many science fiction conventions, such as Florida's FX Show and MegaCon , cater to fantasy and horror fans. Anime conventions, such as Ohayocon or Anime Expo frequently feature showings of fantasy, science fantasy, and dark fantasy series and films, such as Majutsushi Orphen (fantasy), Sailor Moon (urban fantasy), Berserk (dark fantasy), and Spirited Away (fantasy). Many science fiction/fantasy and anime conventions also strongly feature or cater to one or more of

3280-418: 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

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3360-469: The difference of critical traditions of each country have led to controversies such as the one led by Stanislaw Lem . Rosemary Jackson builds onto and challenges as well Todorov's definition of the fantastic in her 1981 nonfiction book Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion . Jackson rejects the notion of the fantastic genre as a simple vessel for wish fulfillment that transcends human reality in worlds presented as superior to our own, instead positing that

3440-407: The entire island however, Tamurello is defeated and Torqual is beheaded. Desmei and Tamurello are sent to an alternate dimension where one of Murgen's associates annihilates them utterly in supernatural fire. The Green Pearl is revealed to be a corrupting magical force and an element of a much larger inter-dimensional war, which Murgen has been trying to keep from reaching Earth. Casmir, emboldened by

3520-488: The exploits of the Ska renegade Torqual, which however have little effect against Aillas's precautions. Shimrod the wizard, at Murgen's request, investigates mysterious demonic apparitions in Ys, which appear to involve Melancthe. Shimrod disguises himself as a Scythian bravo to infiltrate Torqual's band. While there, he disrupts a plot to assassinate King Aillas and kidnap Dhrun. Madouc's guardian, King Casmir, attempts to arrange

3600-514: The fantastic is a liminal space , characterized by the intrusion of supernatural elements into the realistic framework of a story, accompanied by uncertainty about their existence. However, this precise definition is not the predominant one in English critical literature, and the French term fantastique is used to differentiate the French concept from the broader English term of fantastic, synonym of fantasy. The restrictive definition of Todorov and

3680-429: The fantastic represents the unspoken desire for greater societal change. Jackson criticizes Todorov's theory as being too limited in scope, examining only the literary function of the fantastic, and expands his structuralist theory to fit a more cultural study of the genre—which, incidentally, she proposes is not a genre at all, but a mode that draws upon literary elements of both realistic and supernatural fiction to create

3760-554: The fantasy publisher Tor Books , men outnumber women by 67% to 33% among writers of historical, epic or high fantasy. But among writers of urban fantasy or paranormal romance, 57% are women and 43% are men. Fantasy is studied in a number of disciplines including English and other language studies, cultural studies , comparative literature , history and medieval studies . Some works make political, historical and literary connections between medievalism and popular culture. French literature theorists as Tzvetan Todorov argues that

3840-948: 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

3920-413: The first time, women started to possess more masculine or queer qualities without it becoming as much of an issue. The fantastic during this time period reflects these new ideas by breaking parallel boundaries in the supernatural. The fantastic breaks this boundary by having the readers never truly know whether or not the story is supernatural. Genre Critical discussion of genre perhaps began with

4000-536: The following: In her 2008 book Rhetorics of Fantasy , Farah Mendlesohn proposes the following taxonomy of fantasy, as "determined by the means by which the fantastic enters the narrated world", while noting that there are fantasies that fit none of the patterns: Publishers, editors, authors, artists, and scholars with interest in the fantasy genre get together yearly at the World Fantasy Convention . The World Fantasy Awards are presented at

4080-593: 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

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4160-528: The genre is inseparable from real life, particularly the social and cultural contexts within which each work of the fantastic is produced. She writes that the "unreal" elements of fantastic literature are created only in direct contrast to the boundaries set by its time period's "cultural order", acting to illuminate the unseen limitations of said boundaries by undoing and recompiling the very structures which define society into something "strange" and "apparently new". In subverting these societal norms, Jackson claims,

4240-633: The genre's popularity. The popularity of the fantasy genre has continued to increase in the 21st century, as evidenced by the best-selling status of J. K. Rowling 's Harry Potter series, Robert Jordan 's The Wheel of Time series, George R. R. Martin 's Song of Ice and Fire series, Steven Erikson 's Malazan Book of the Fallen sweeping epic, Brandon Sanderson 's The Stormlight Archive series and Mistborn series, and A. Sapkowski 's The Witcher saga. Several fantasy film adaptations have achieved blockbuster status, most notably The Lord of

4320-401: 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

4400-492: 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

4480-573: 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,

4560-520: 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

4640-496: 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

4720-415: The major categories of speculative fiction . Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements. A science fiction narrative is unlikely, though seemingly possible through logical scientific or technological extrapolation, where fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. Authors have to rely on the readers' suspension of disbelief , an acceptance of

4800-477: The marriage of his daughter Suldrun to Faude Carfilhiot, Duke of Vale Evander. Princes Aillas and Trewan of Troicinet are sent on a sea voyage to visit the various kingdoms of the Elder Isles to gain experience at statecraft; Aillas is eventually pushed overboard and washes up at Lyonesse. Faude Carfilhiot, wanting to be a powerful magician but lacking the patience to learn the necessary skills, schemes with his lover Tamurello. Suldrun cares for Aillas secretly and bears

4880-510: The modern fantasy genre. Plato used allegories to convey many of his teachings, and early Christian writers interpreted both the Old and New Testaments as employing parables to relay spiritual truths. This ability to find meaning in a story that is not literally true became the foundation that allowed the modern fantasy genre to develop. The most well known fiction from the Islamic world

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4960-510: 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 ,

5040-847: 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

5120-405: The news of the destruction of Vale Evander, wars against Dahaut. Dahaut is conquered, but this causes an attack on Casmir by Aillas. The Troice army routs Casmir's army, and Casmir enters the battle but soon flees back towards Lyonesse Town. Casmir discovers to his dismay that Lyonesse Town has been captured in his absence. Queen Sollace was exiled to Europe after the castle is captured and the Grail

5200-431: 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

5280-619: 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

5360-429: 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

5440-458: The several subcultures within the main subcultures, including the cosplay subculture (in which people make or wear costumes based on existing or self-created characters, sometimes also acting out skits or plays as well), the fan fiction subculture, and the fan video or AMV subculture, as well as the large internet subculture devoted to reading and writing prose fiction or doujinshi in or related to those genres. According to 2013 statistics by

5520-465: The social structure to emerge. The fantastic is never purely supernatural, nor can the supernatural be ruled out. Just as women were not equal yet, but they were not completely oppressed. The Female Fantastic seeks to enforce this idea that nothing is certain in the fantastic nor the gender roles of the 1920s. Many women in this time period began to blur the lines between the genders, removing the binary out of gender and allowing for many interpretations. For

5600-541: 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

5680-623: 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

5760-456: 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

5840-494: The unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment, in order to write effective fantasies. Despite both genres' heavy reliance on the supernatural, fantasy and horror are distinguishable from one another. Horror primarily evokes fear through the protagonists' weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists. While some elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were a part of literature from its beginning, fantasy elements occur throughout ancient religious texts such as

5920-952: 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

6000-414: 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

6080-399: 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

6160-603: Was William Morris , an English poet who wrote several novels in the latter part of the century, including The Wood Beyond the World (1894) and The Well at the World's End (1896). Despite MacDonald's future influence with At the Back of the North Wind (1871), Morris's popularity with his contemporaries, and H. G. Wells 's The Wonderful Visit (1895), it was not until the 20th century that fantasy fiction began to reach

6240-483: Was considered more acceptable than fantasy intended for adults, with the effect that writers who wished to write fantasy had to fit their work into forms aimed at children. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote fantasy in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys , intended for children, although his works for adults only verged on fantasy. For many years, this and successes such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) created

6320-401: Was founded in 1949, the pulp magazine format was at the height of its popularity, and the magazine was instrumental in bringing fantasy fiction to a wide audience in both the U.S. and Britain. Such magazines were also instrumental in the rise of science fiction, and it was at this time the two genres began to be associated with each other. By 1950, " sword and sorcery " fiction had begun to find

6400-548: Was probably written in the middle of the second half of the eighteenth century BC, preserves a mixture of stories with elements of historical fiction, fantasy, and satire. Egyptian funerary texts preserve mythological tales, the most significant of which are the myths of Osiris and his son Horus . Myth with fantastic elements intended for adults were a major genre of ancient Greek literature . The comedies of Aristophanes are filled with fantastic elements, particularly his play The Birds , in which an Athenian man builds

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