Genre

Grace Cuiming Li

          The concept of genre has changed considerably over the last several decades. Traditionally genre has been defined as a classification of types of spoken and written discourse in terms of their form and substance. To Wellek and Warren, ìgenre is a grouping of literary works based upon an outer form [structure] and an inner form [attitude, tone, purpose, subject and audience].î Silverblatt believes ìgenres are characterized by formula ñ that is , patterns in function [its objective], premise [an identifiable situation], structure [organizational pattern], and plot. [think specifically of stock characters, settings and trappings]î.