CHL208

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CHL208

• Genre

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Genre

• A type or category of literature or film marked
  by certain shared features or conventions.
• from http//web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_G.
  html

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• Are you a fan of action films or romances?
• Horror films or comedies?
• Do you decide whether to see a film based on its
  genre?

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• What are your expectations?

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So, genre is more than just category

• It is a marketing device
• It constructs communities of readers
• We use our familiarity with the conventions of
  genres to create expectations for unfamiliar
  texts
• Forms like parody or experimental film or fiction
  rely on our familiarity w/ genre

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Realism

• The major genre of most multicultural childrens
  literature
• Basic definition
• the depiction of subjects as they appear in
  everyday life

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Some sub-genres of Realism

• Mystery/Detective
• Sports story
• Survival story/Adventure story
• Domestic fiction
• Social Realism
• Historic fiction

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Mystery/detective Fiction

• Solving a crime
• Finding missing items
• Discovering hidden identities
• Suspense
• Rational problem solving

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Sports Story

• Written mostly for and about boys
• Detailed play-by-play accounts of rules and
  sporting events
• Themes of Sportsmanship and teamwork

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Survival/adventure story

• Protagonist grows as a person after having to
  survive alone in the wilderness or after
  surviving an adventure far from home.

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Domestic Fiction

• Focus of the narrative is on the domestic sphere
  the family, everyday events, the home, and
  relationships with siblings, parents and friends.

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Social Realism

• Fiction that uses characters and fictional
  situations in order to comment on
  social/political issues or to educate readers
  about these.

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Historic Fiction

• Set in the past and is reasonably historically
  accurate
• Includes lots of details for contemporary readers
  
• Often uses the lives of individuals to humanize
  larger historical periods, trends, or important
  historical events

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Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

• Combines three sub-genres of realism
• Domestic fiction
• Social Realism
• Historic Fiction