d

Compare and Contrast

e
n
r

the Various 21st Century

e
s

Literary and Genres and

a
n
d

t
h
their elements
Structures and traditions
e
i
r

e
l
from Across the globe
e
m
e
n
What is a literary genre?

 Genre means a type of art, literature, or music characterized by a specific

form, content, and style. For example, literature has five main genres:
poetry, prose, drama, fiction, and non-fiction. All of these genres have
particular features and functions that distinguish them from one another.
Hence, it is necessary on the part of readers to know which category of genre
they are reading in order to understand the message it conveys, as they may
have certain expectations prior to the reading concerned.
Types of Genre

Poetry
Poetry is the first major literary genre. All types of poetry share specific characteristics. In fact, poetry
is a form of text that follows a meter and rhythm, with each line and syllable. It is further subdivided
into different genres, such an epic poem, narrative, romantic, dramatic, and lyric. Dramatic poetry
includes melodrama, tragedy, and comedy, while other poems includes ode, sonnet, elegy, ballad,
song, and epic.

Drama
Drama is a form of text that is performed in front of an audience. It is also called a play. Its written
text contains dialogues, and stage directions. This genre has further categories such as comedy,
tragedy, and tragicomedy. William Shakespeare is known as the father of English drama. His well-known
plays include Taming of the Shrew, Romeo & Juliet, and Hamlet. Greek playwrights were the pioneers
in this field, such as Sophocles’ masterpiece Oedipus Rex, and Antigone, while modern dramas include
Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller.

Prose
This type of written text is different from poetry in that it has complete sentences organized into
paragraphs. Unlike poetry, prose focuses on characters and plot, rather than focusing on sounds. It
includes short stories and novels, while fiction and non-fiction are its sub genres. Prose is further
categorized into essays, speeches, sermons, and interpretations.
Types of Genre
Fiction
Fiction has three categories that are, realistic, non-realistic, and semifiction.
Usually, fiction work is not real and therefore, authors can use complex figurative
language to touch readers’ imaginations. Unlike poetry, it is more structured,
follows proper grammatical pattern, and correct mechanics. A fictional work may
incorporate fantastical and imaginary ideas from everyday life.

Non-Fiction
Non-fiction is a vast category that also has sub-genres; it could be creative like a
personal essay, or factual, like a scientific paper. It may also use figurative
language, however, not unlike poetry, or fiction has. Sometimes, non-fiction may
tell a story, like an autobiography, or sometimes it may convey information to
readers.
 21st Century Literary Genres and
Structures of the World
The following 21 Century literary genres and structures are as follows: Speculative Fiction,
Metafiction, Memoir, Testimonio, Literary Journalism, Thetrical Adaptation, Spoken Poetry,
Blog/Vlog, Fliptop/Rap Battle, and Comics.

SPECULATIVE FICTION
Speculative fiction is a literary “super genre,” which encompasses a number of different genres
of fiction, each with speculative elements that are based on conjecture and do not exist in the
real world. Sometimes called “what-if” books, speculative literature changes the laws of what’s
real or possible as we know them in our current society, and then speculates on the outcome.

METAFICTION
Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own constructedness in a way that
continually reminds readers to be aware that they are reading or viewing a fictional work.
Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story-telling, and works of
metafiction directly or indirectly draw attention to their status as artifacts. Metafiction is
frequently used as a form of parody or a tool to undermine literary conventions and explore the
relationship between literature and reality, life, and art.
 MEMOIR
A memoir (/memwar/; from French: mémoire: memoria, meaning memory or reminiscence) is any nonfiction
narrative writing based in the author’s personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be
factual.
TESTIMOΝΙΟ
What is a testimonio?
•Spanish for “testimony”
•novel or novella-length narrative in book or leaflet
•told in the first-person perspective by a narrator who is the protagonist or witness of the event
•narration is a significant life experience on tremendous physical or
•psychological trauma caused by social injustice or human rights violation
•subjects are usually the underrepresented or oppressed social group
•includes literary elements like metaphors, dialogues and poetry and resources from other texts like newspaper
clippings and quotes from leaders

LITERARY JOURNALISM
Literary journalism is a form of nonfiction that combines factual reporting with narrative techniques and stylistic
strategies traditionally associated with fiction. This form of writing can also be called narrative journalism or new
journalism. The term literary journalism is sometimes used interchangeably with creative nonfiction; more often,
however, it is regarded as one type of creative nonfiction.Literary journalism also known as narrative journalism or
reported essays, this category encompasses subgenres like travel writing, science writing, food writing, and even true
crime. But all of it combines journalistic integrity with haute-literary attention to crafting scenes and communicating
themes.
 THEATRICAL ADAPTATION
In a theatrical adaptation, material from another artistic medium, such as a novel or a film is
re-written according to the needs and requirements of the theatre and turned into a play or
musical.

SPOKEN WORD POETRY

Spoken word poetry refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the
poetic as well as the performer’s aesthetic qualities. It is a continuation of the ancient oral
artistic tradition that started in the late 20th century and focuses on the aesthetics of
recitation and word play, such as the performer’s live intonation and voice inflection. Spoken
word is a “catchall” term that includes any kind of poetry recited aloud, including poetry
readings, poetry slams, jazz poetry, and hip hop music, and can include comedy routines and
prose monologues. As spoken word poetry is performed live, it is different from written
poetry, because the way it sounds is one of the main components. Unlike written poetry, the
poetic text takes its quality less from the visual aesthetics on a page, but depends more on
phone aesthetics, or the aesthetics of sound.

BLOG/VLOG
A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (/vlog/), is a form of blog for which
the medium is video and is a form of web television. Vlog entries often combine embedded
video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be
recorded in one take or cut into multiple parts. Vlog category is popular on the video-sharing
platform Youtube.
 FLIPTOP/RAP BATTLE
FlipTop/Rap Battle League (Fliptop for short) is the first and largest running
professional rap battle conference in the Philippines founded by Alaric Riam Yuson
(known as Anygma) in 2010. The league promotes Pinoy hip hop. FlipTop is heavily
influenced by the original rap battle leagues in the West founded in 2008-Grind Time
Now (US), King of the Dot (Canada) and Don’t Flop (UK), which inspired the creation of
FlipTop and other battle leagues around the world. The league also branched out into
several divisions after its success. The league is currently under management of a
selfproduced events and artist management company, FlipTop Kru Corp which was
established also by Yuson.

COMIC STRIP
Comic Strip or simply Comics is a medium of expression that communicates ideas via
images, often combined with text or other forms of visual information. Comics
frequently takes the form of juxtaposed sequences of panels of images. Often textual
devices such as speech balloons, captions, and sound effects indicate dialogue,
narration, or other information. Elements such as size and placement of panels control
narrative pacing. Cartooning and similar forms of illustration are the most common
image-making means in comics; fumetti is a form which uses photographic images.
Common forms of comics include comic strips, editorial and gag cartoons, comic books,
graphic novels and webcomics.