f- J +:11 b~ \A:::j M hi

/(.~C) Genre 95

V)\0 v 'vj ~<; lity? It's a little like asking whether humans
eathe. or whether sentences ought really to
consist of nouns or verbs" (Powers and Morrow 2000, 177).
Ultimately, then, even the greatest and most experienced writers return
to the recurring question of purpose and audience, which so vexes begin­
ning creative writing students. vVe write stories for ourselves. certainly, but
, once we take the step to show our fiction to other readers we can be sure
that it will be met with a complex and conflicting set of responses, many
of which are out of the writer's control.

GENRE

"Genre" comes from the French word meaning both "kind" and "gender."
While in English we use genre mostly to refer to categories ofliterary, musi­
cal, and artistic compositions, in the past there has also been a sense that
some of these types of work are more "masculine" or "feminine"-more or
less privileged-than others. According to M. H. Abrams, since the time of
Plato and Aristotle, works of literature have generally been placed in three
main classes: "poetic or lyric (uttered throughout in the first person): epic
or narrative (in which the narrator speaks in the first person, then lets his
characters speak for themselves); and drama (in which the characters do
all the talking)" (1981, 70). A poet or dramatist's success or failure in any
one of these genres was judged by how well he (nearly always the writer
was a man) adhered to the standards articulated by classical theorists like
Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Plotinus, and others.

From the Renaissance through much of the eighteenth cemury, the recognized
genres--or poetic '"kinds," as they were then called-were widely thought to
be fIxed literary types, somewhat like species in the biological order of natnre;
many neoclassic critics insisted that each kind mnst remain "pnre" (there
must, for example, be no "mixing" oftragedy and comedy), and also proposed
rules which specified the subject maller, structure, style, and emotional effect
proper to each kind. At that time, the genres were also commonly Tanked in
a hierarchy (closely related to the ranking of social classes, from royalty and
the nobility to peasants). ranging from epic and tragedy at the top to the short
lyric, epigram, and other minor types at the bOllom. (Abrams 1981, 70-71)
96 KEYWORDS IN CREATIVE WRITING

Of course, even when ideas of genre were supposedly most rigid, a brief The influence of postmodernism, wI
glance at world literature shows us that minor rather than major wIiters in so doing, calls attention not just to th
worried more about sticking strictly to narrow ideas of what one could or artifIcial construct by which they are pr
couldn't do in a work of literature, Shakespeare, for one, was an egregious clearly had an effect on wliting in compc
offender in the crime of genre-mixing. From act to act, scene to scene, ing them more open to genre-mixing a
even from line to line, he ranges from the tragic to the comic, from high expository essays that may look quite ere
diction to low. In Polonius's speech introducing the traveling players in most writing now occurs-at our compu
act II, scene 2 of Hamlet, Shakespeare famously satirizes the subdividing of ery (icons on our toolbars and desktops,
literature into absurdly particular varieties. These are" [t]he best actors in Web pages) as it is a world of text, and
the world," Polonius boasts of the troop, "either for tragedy, comedy, his­ or scholarly-for an intelligent, attenti·
tory, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, trag­ Writing, for example) is likely to involVE
ical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem unlimited," a number of "genres." As writers toggle
Genre features may no longer be as stable as clitics once ,",(lnted them online databases and. print books and jc
to be, but bookstores still classify their wares by nonfiction and fiction, clear that we already inhabit a model o~
and within these categories are many subcategories. Indeed, "genre fic­ porating multiple genres related to ea.
tion" refers to novels found in sectious labeled Romance, Horror, Clime, remediated across contexts of time and
Spy, Science Fiction, and so on. Genre fiction gets its name from the fact culating across and around rhetorical s­
that books written in the genre adhere to a specific set of conventions of school" (Yancey 2004, 308).
that readers of the genre expect, if not demand. Because these conven­ TOlll Romano, one of the first schol
tions may be so specific and unrelenting, the writing itself may become crossing genre boundaries in school ess
formulaic, so reliant upon a set of rigid conveutions that there is little tigenre paper to a reading of Michael 0
room for creativity. the Kid (1970), which consists of "son~
Yet if mainstream creative writers once derided genre fiction as poems, a comic hook excerpt, narrative"
unimaginative and mechanical, many literary novelists of the past thirty newspaper interviews, even photograph
years have enjoyed playing with, and against, those same conven tions. his inquiry into Billy the Kid, Ondaage
EricaJong believes that "genres themselves matter less and less. The most rnultivoiced blend of genres, each reve
enduring books of the modern era are, like Ulysses, full of exposition, nar­ each self-contained, making a point c
rative, dramatic writing and even poetry" (Arana 2003, 69). Postmodern genres by conventional transitional de"
writers have been especially engaged in "the repudiation of narrative this idea of separateness. Each genre i
and generic boundaries" (Geyh, Leebron, and Le,y 1998, 1). In novels possessing its own satisfying composit
that were almost recognizable as science CLction, William Burroughs, y.1th the others to create a single liter.
for instance. employed "nonlinear techniques of narrative composition as Romano implies here, even when am
works together with ... thelllatic explorations of domination and resis­ frisson we feel as one type of writing
tance, sexuality and drug use, to challenge the structures and taboos of only occur when we can identify the di
contemporary society." Among the many novelists who have followed If we can now speak of the multigt:
Burroughs's example and expanded and challenged the definitions in itself, contemporary rhetoricians h.
of genre in their work are Kurt Vonnegut, John Barth, Samuel Delany, further and applied it to areas far outsi
Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, Paul Auster, Maxine Hong Kingston, theorists, "genres and the activity syst
and Gloria Anzaldua forms of life within which we make OUI:
 Genre 97

The influence of postmodernism, which '1ams things together, and,

in so doing, calls attention not just to their convergences but also to the
.artificial construct by which they are produced" (Haake 2000, 272), has
clearly had an effect on writing in composition (q.v.) courses as well, mak­
ing them more open to genre-mixing and resulting in the validation of
expository essays that may look quite creative indeed. The very site where
most writing now occurs-at our computers-is as much a world of imag­
ery (icons on our toolbars and desktops, illustrations and photographs on
Web pages) as it is a world of text. and writing any document-creative
or scholarly-for an intelligent, attentive audience (Keyword!> in Creative
Writing, for example) is likely to involve dipping into and drawing from
a number of "genres." As writers toggle between e-mail and the Internet,
online databases and. print books and journal articles, "it becomes pretty
dear that we already inhabit a model of communication practices incor­
porating multiple genres related to each other, those multiple genres,
remediated across contexts of time and space. linked one to the next, cir­
Cldating across and around rhetorical situations both inside and outside
of school" (Yancey 2004, 308).
Tom Romano, one of the first scholars to catalog productive ways of
crossing genre boundaries in school essays, traces his interest in the mul­
tigenre paper to a reading of Michael Ondaa~e's The Coll£cted Works of Billy
the Kid (1970), which consists of "songs, thumbnail character sketches,
poems, a comic book excerpt, narrative, stream-of-consciousness passages,
newspaper inteniews, even photographs and drawings" (2000,3): "Out of
his inquiry into Billy the Kid, Ondaatje created a complex, multilayered,
multivoiced blend of genres, each revealing information about his topic,
each self-contained, making a point of its own, unconnected to other
genres by conventional transitional devices. I cannot emphasize enough
this idea of separateness. Each genre is a color slide, complete in itself,
possessing its own satisfying composition, but also working in concert
with the others to create a single literary experience" (4). Interestingly,
as Romano implies here, even when authors are madly mixing genres, the
frisson we feel as one type of writing is juxtaposed against another can
only occur when we can identify the different genres.
If we can now speak of the multigenre composition essay as a genre
in itself, contemporary rhetoricians have taken the study of genre even
further and applied it to areas far outside traditional literature. For these
theorists, "genres and the activity systems they are part of provide the
forms ofHfe within which we make our lives. This is as true of our systems
98 KEYWORDS IN CREATIVE WRITING

of work, creativity, community, leisure, and intimacy, as it is of our system fiction, drama, and creative nonfiction.
of tax obligation-each mediated through language forms along with when submitting work to editors and pu­
whatever other embodied and material aspects there are to the interac­ which genre editor to send their work to.
tions" (Bazerman 2002,15). From this perspective, any type of written or the writer to have a fairly clear idea of tt
oral communication can constitute a genre. In The Rhetoric and Ideology oj Moreover, genre remains important
Genre, a recent book on the subject, genre theory is used to explain every­ writing since most programs require st
thing from political party Web sites to doctor-patient interviews to school writing a creative dissertation (q.v.) to ­
geography classes to architecture students' sketchbooks (Coe, Lingard, they will write their book-length thesis
and Teslenko 2002). If we can indeed recognize each of these texts as a determine whether or not they receive:
separate genre, that is because our socialization "has trained us to imme­ writers may feel hesitant to cross lines th
diately perceive the purpose and intended effects, i.e., the social function, or dissertation committees. (And comn
of most texts we are confronted with.... The majority of these texts have fied to assess work outside their own a
some practical function ... which can be related to the real world around have their degrees in hand and begin
us" (Verdonk 2002, 12). will again flOd that genre plays a signific
Clearly, genre is shaped by social forces and by the expectations of dif­ College and university hiring commit
ferent readers during different historical periods, and "a given type persists genre they want candidates to teach; n­
only so long as it remains a functional response to exigencies" (Campbell extensive experience in that genre are
and Jamieson 1990, 104). The rise of the novel in eighteenth-<:entury Consequently, while genre-mixing [
England, for instance, is often linked to the increased education and lei­ lished writers and those outside the ac.
sure time of middle-class women. The novel has remained a popular form for emerging writers to select a major g­
because literacy and leisure time have continued to expand. However, the to the expectations for that genre. lb_
relative unpopularity of the novel compared to television shows and movies external forces restrictive, others win h
can be explained by the fact that, for many people in postindustrial societ­ a writer chooses a particular genre, sh
ies, leisure time is now limited; these people would rather seek brief release template, a standard ... an interactio.
in a visual medium rather than invest days or weeks in reading a novel. reflection of those contexts in sets of e
Because the definitions of genre change over time, it is naive to suppose boundaries of the genre, there remail
that those definitions will not be contested in the process of their shifting. room within the standard to meet the d
As Daniel Chandler (2000) points out: "The classification and hierarchical and the individual's creative choices" C
taxonomy of genres is not a neutral and 'objective' procedure. There are
no undisputed 'maps' of the system of genres within any medium (though
literature may perhaps lay some claim to a loose consensus), Furthermore,
there is often considerable theoretical disagreement about the definition
GRANTS
of specifiC genres.... One theorist's genre may be another's sub-genre or
even super-genre (and indeed what is technique, style, mode,Jonnalaor thematic
grouping to one may be treated as a genre by another)." In short, there can As Christine Cassidy notes, "grants c
be no universally agreed upon characterization of genre. publication, or a combination of all th
Despite all the work currently being done in genre theory, many on the fust form: money, Interested
American creative writers would be surprised to learn that anyone is par­ entry on "Conferences, Colonies, and
ticularly concerned with more than just the four "main genres": poetry, on organizations primarily offering ti
 Granls 99

fiction, drama, and creative nonfiction. From a pragmatic point of view, ;

when submitting work to editors and publishers, writers just need to know i

which genre editor to send their work to. Those editors, in turn, will expect

the writer to have a fairly clear idea of the conventions of their genre.

Moreover, genre remains important for graduate students in creative

~riting ~ince most programs require students seeking an MFA (q.v.) or
writing a creative dissertation (q.v.) to declare a "major genre" in which //
they will WTite their book-length thesis. In the work that will ultimately '---~
determine whether or not they receive their degrees, graduate student
'writers may feel hesitant to cross lines that confuse or frustrate their thesis
or dissertation committees. (And committee members may feel unquali·
fled to assess work outside their own area of specialization.) Once they
have their degrees in hand and begin looking for jobs, creative writers
will again find that genre plays a significant role in their professional lives.
College and university hiring committees typically specify a particular
genre they waUl c.:andidates to teach; not surprisingly, applicants without
extensive experience in that genre are unlikely to be asked to teach it.
Consequt:"July, while genre-mixing may be on the rise among estab­

lished writers and those olltside the academy, there are practical reasons

, for emerging wTiters to select a major genre to specialize in and to adhere

to the expectations for that genre. Though some writers may find these
external forces restriuive, others will be comforted by the fact that once
a writer chooses a particular genre, she "has chosen in some respects a
template, a standard ... an interaction of contexts and an appropriate
reflection of those contexts in sets of expectation." And even within the
boundaries of the genre, there remains "a range of possible variations,
room within the standard to meet the demands of the individual situation
and the individual's creative choices" (Devitt 2004, 217).

GRANTS

As Christine Cassidy notes, "grants come in many forms-cash, time,

publication, or a combination of all three" (1996, 17). This entry focuses

on the first form: money. Interested readers should also consult the

entry on "Conferences, Colonies, and Residencies" for grants that focus

on organizations primarily offering time and/or a quiet place to write.