Genre fiction

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Genre fiction, also known as formula fiction[1] or popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre.[2]

The main genres are crime, fantasy, romance, science fiction and horror—as well as perhaps Western, inspirational and historical fiction.

Slipstream genre is sometimes thought to be in between genre and non-genre fiction.[3]

Genre and the marketing of fiction

In the publishing industry the term "category fiction" is often used as a synonym for genre fiction,[citation needed] with the categories serving as the familiar shelf headings within the fiction section of a bookstore, such as Western or mystery.

Some authors known for literary fiction have written genre novels under pseudonyms, while others have employed genre elements in literary fiction.[4][5][6]

Romance fiction had an estimated $1.375 billion share in the US book market in 2007. Religion/inspirational literature followed with $819 million, science fiction/fantasy with $700 million, mystery with $650 million and classic literary fiction with $466 million.[7]

History of genres

prose fiction
developed.

Though the

Rome.[10]

The "romance" is a closely related long prose narrative.

historical romances of Scott,[12] Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights[13] and Herman Melville's Moby-Dick,[14] are also frequently called novels, and Scott describes romance as a "kindred term". Romance, as defined here, should not be confused with the genre fiction love romance or romance novel. Other European languages do not distinguish between romance and novel: "a novel is le roman, der Roman, il romanzo."[15]

Genre fiction developed from various subgenres of the novel (and its "romance" version) during the nineteenth century,

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740) and the novels of Jane Austen such as Pride and Prejudice (1813).[17]

Critics have often regarded genre fiction as having less artistic merit than literary fiction, but this assumption has been contested after the growth of fiction that blurs these boundaries and the serious study of genre fiction within universities.[18]

Genres

The following are some of the main genres as they are used in contemporary publishing:

Crime

Crime fiction is the

courtroom drama, hard-boiled fiction, mystery fiction, and legal thrillers. Suspense
and mystery are key elements to the genre.

Fantasy

imaginary worlds where magic and magical creatures are common. Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes, respectively, though there is a great deal of overlap among the three, all of which are subgenres of speculative fiction. Fantasy works frequently feature a medieval
setting.

Romance

Romance novels

The romance novel or "romantic novel" primarily focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."[20] There are many subgenres of the romance novel including fantasy, historical, science fiction, same sex romantic fiction, and paranormal fiction.

There is a

prose-fiction form of romance, which Walter Scott defined as "a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; the interest of which turns upon marvellous and uncommon incidents".[11]

According to Romance Writers of America's data,

young adult romance
.

Science fiction

Science fiction is a

parallel universes and extraterrestrial life. Science fiction often explores the potential consequences of scientific and other innovations, and has been called a "literature of ideas".[22] It usually eschews the supernatural, and unlike the related genre of fantasy, historically science fiction stories were intended to have at least pretense of science-based fact or theory at the time the story was created, but this connection has become tenuous or non-existent in much of science fiction.[23][24][25]

Horror

cosmic horror and splatterpunk
, tends to be less melodramatic and more explicit. Horror is often mixed with other genres.

Critical reception and controversies

Horror novelist

social fiction of our time",[when?] and called Greg Bear, author of Blood Music, "a great writer".[31][when?
]

In the 2000s, the BBC defended itself against charges that it discussed genre fiction with a "sneering derogatory tone".[32] The Man Booker Prize[33] and British Book Awards[34] have been criticized for ignoring genre fiction in their selection process.

Some critics have claimed that reading romance and suspense thrillers makes readers more sensitive, because these novels focus on interpersonal relationships.[35]

19th-century British and Irish genre fiction

Sir John Barrow's descriptive 1831 account of the Mutiny on the Bounty immortalised the Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty and her people. The legend of Dick Turpin was popularised when the 18th-century English highwayman's exploits appeared in the novel Rookwood
in 1834.

Although pre-dated by

Martians, and Wells is seen, along with Frenchman Jules Verne
(1828–1905), as a major figure in the development of the science fiction genre.

.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Scotland of Irish parents but his Sherlock Holmes stories have typified a fog-filled London for readers worldwide.

Sir

Dr John H. Watson
.

20th-century genre fiction

Early 20th century

spy novel and Follett has also called it "the first modern thriller".[37]

Emma Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel (1903) was originally a highly successful play, when staged in London in 1905. The novel The Scarlet Pimpernel was published soon after the play opened and was an immediate success. Orczy gained a following of readers in Britain and throughout the world. The popularity of the novel, which recounted the adventures of a member of the English gentry in the French Revolutionary period, encouraged her to write a number of sequels for her "reckless daredevil" over the next 35 years. The play was performed to great acclaim in France, Italy, Germany and Spain, while the novel was translated into 16 languages. Subsequently, the story has been adapted for television, film, a musical and other media. Baroness Orczy's character The Old Man in the Corner (1908) was among the earliest armchair detectives to be created. Her short stories about Lady Molly of Scotland Yard
(1910) were an early example of a female detective as main character.

The Saint
.

Agatha Christie

The

medievalist scholar M. R. James
wrote highly regarded ghost stories (1904–1928) in contemporary settings.

This was called the

twist ending had a significant impact on the genre), Murder on the Orient Express (1934), Death on the Nile (1937) and And Then There Were None (1939). Other female writers dubbed "Queens of crime" include Dorothy L. Sayers (gentleman detective, Lord Peter Wimsey), Margery Allingham (Albert Campion, supposedly created as a parody of Sayers' Wimsey,[38]) and New Zealander Ngaio Marsh (Roderick Alleyn). Georgette Heyer recreated the historical romance
genre since 1921, and also wrote detective fiction (1932–1953).

J. R. R. Tolkien

A major work of science fiction, from the early 20th century, is

Space Trilogy.[40] Also J. R. R. Tolkien said he read the book "with avidity", and praised it as a work of philosophy, religion, and morality.[41] It was made widely available in paperback form when published as one of the precursor volumes to the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series
in 1968.

From the early 1930s to late 1940s, an informal

Inklings". Its leading members were the major fantasy novelists; C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. Lewis is known for The Screwtape Letters (1942), The Chronicles of Narnia (1950–1956) and The Space Trilogy (1938–1945), while Tolkien is best known as the author of The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955), and The Silmarillion
(1977).

Later 20th century

In

James Bond 007 in January 1952, while on holiday at his Jamaican estate, Goldeneye. Fleming chronicled Bond's adventures in twelve novels, including Casino Royale (1953), Live and Let Die (1954), Dr. No (1958), Goldfinger (1959), Thunderball (1961), The Spy Who Loved Me
(1962), and nine short story works.

In contrast to the larger-than-life spy capers of Bond, John le Carré was an author of spy novels who depicted a shadowy world of espionage and counter-espionage, and his best known novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), is often regarded as one of the greatest in the genre. Frederick Forsyth writes thriller novels, including The Day of the Jackal (1971), The Odessa File (1972), The Dogs of War (1974) and The Fourth Protocol (1984). Ken Follett writes spy thrillers, his first success being Eye of the Needle (1978), followed by The Key to Rebecca (1980), as well as historical novels, notably The Pillars of the Earth (1989), and its sequel World Without End (2007). Elleston Trevor is remembered for his 1964 adventure story The Flight of the Phoenix, while the thriller novelist Philip Nicholson is best known for Man on Fire. Peter George's Red Alert (1958), is a Cold War thriller.

nautical historical novels feature the Aubrey–Maturin series set in the Royal Navy, the first being Master and Commander
(1969).

Richard the Lionheart
.

In crime fiction, the

are popular.

Nigel Tranter wrote historical novels of celebrated Scottish warriors: Robert the Bruce in The Bruce Trilogy, and William Wallace in The Wallace (1975).

Science fiction

Arthur C. Clarke

Science fiction novelist Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is based on his various short stories, particularly The Sentinel (1951). His other major novels include Rendezvous with Rama (1972), and The Fountains of Paradise (1979). Brian Aldiss
is Clarke's contemporary.

Iain M. Banks who created a fictional anarchist, socialist, and utopian society named "The Culture". The novels that feature in it include Excession (1996), and Inversions (1998). He also published mainstream novels, including the highly controversial The Wasp Factory in 1984. Nobel prize winner Doris Lessing also published a sequence of five science fiction novels the Canopus in Argos
: Archives between 1979 and 1983.

Fantasy

Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett is best known for his Discworld series of comic fantasy novels, that begins with The Colour of Magic (1983), and includes Mort (1987), Hogfather (1996), and Night Watch (2002). Pratchett's other most notable work is the 1990 novel Good Omens.

parallel universes
against a backdrop of epic events.

The Sandman
series.

Alan Moore's works include Watchmen, V for Vendetta set in a dystopian future UK, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and From Hell, speculating on the identity and motives of Jack the Ripper.

science fiction comedy trilogy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and also wrote the humorous fantasy detective novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
.

Horror

Clive Barker horror novels include The Hellbound Heart.

The Reading List

The "Reading list", compiled by the Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association is an annual list of the best genre books for the adult reader.[44] Eight genres are awarded: adrenaline titles (suspense, thrillers, and action adventure), fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction, and relationship fiction.[45]

Age categories

Most genres of fiction may also be segmented by the age of the intended reader:

See also

References

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  2. ^ French, Christy Tillery. "Literary Fiction vs Genre Fiction". AuthorsDen. Archived from the original on 20 October 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
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  5. ^ Stasio, Marilyn (20 April 2008). "Next Victim". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
  6. ^ Kakutani, Michiko (21 November 1989). "Critic's Notebook; Kill! Burn! Eviscerate! Bludgeon! It's Literary Again to Be Horrible". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
  7. ^ "Romance Literature Statistics: Overview". Romance Writers of America. Archived from the original on 2007-12-23.
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Further reading