Genres and Literary Movements Flashcards
absurdist literature
Works that use absurdity as a device to depict the actual absurdity of the modern human condition, often with implicit reference to humanity’s loss or lack of religious, philosophical, or cultural roots. Such works depict the individual as essentially isolated, even when surrounded by others.
aestheticism
A movement that developed in Europe in the late 1800s and whose proponents insisted on the separation of art from morality, maintaining that art need not be moral to have value. Essentially, art for art’s sake.
allegory
The concrete presentation of an abstract idea, typically in narrative — whether prose, verse, or drama — with at least two levels of meaning. The first level is the surface story; the second level is typically moral, political, philosophical, or religious
black comedy
A dark, disturbing, and often morbid or grotesque mode of comedy found in certain, generally modern or absurdist works. Such humor often concerns death, suffering, or other anxiety-inducing subjects
dystopia
From the Greek for “bad place,” the opposite of a utopia. It is usually set at some point in the future and describes a nightmarish society in which few would want to live.
elegy
A reflective work that laments the loss of someone or something.
epic
A long and formal narrative work(usually poetic) written in an elevated style that recounts the adventures of a hero of almost mythic proportions who often embodies the traits of a nation or people.
existentialism
A philosophical school concerned with the human condition, particularly with questions of existence and meaning for human beings, and with the individual’s perpetual, anguished struggle to navigate a complex and perplexing world.
fabliau
A short, comic, often cynical or satiric verse narrative, which commonly involves trickery and ribaldry. The characters of a fabliau are generally middle- to lower-class people.
farce
A type of low comedy that employs improbable or otherwise ridiculous situations and mix-ups, slapstick and horseplay, and crude or even bawdy dialogue. This kind of comedy lacks subtlety.
legend
A story often handed down through oral tradition, typically detailing the adventures of a human cultural hero but sometimes addressing the allegedly remarkable attributes of a place. Unlike myths, legends are often grounded in historical fact and rely less on the supernatural.
magical realism
A mode or genre in prose fiction characterized by a mixture of realistic and fantastic elements. Works of magical realism are set in the real world and treat the magical or supernatural as an inherent, even mundane part of reality requiring no explanation.
melodrama
A work that relies on the improbable or sensational for dramatic effect and emotional appeal. They typically feature implausible plots emphasizing romance and thrilling action, stock or flat characters, extravagant emotion and a happy ending in which virtue prevails.
memoir
A narrative, nonfiction account typically written by an individual that depicts things, persons, or events he or she has known or experienced.
myth
A traditional anonymous story, originally religious in nature, told by a particular cultural group in order to explain a natural or cosmic phenomenon.
