Abstract
G enre affects every aspect of the interpretation of literary works. Readers approach a work of satire differently than they do an epic or a sonnet or an adventure novel. The statement, I read work X as a Y, is not merely an act of classifying; it is an interpretive judgment. In this sense, genres furnish necessary clues or strategies for interpretation, and disagreeing about a work's genre means, first and foremost, a conflict of interpretation.1 Moreover, from the moment we learn of a work's existence, even before we begin to read, its overall form and length give important clues for establishing its genre. Titles, subtitles, opening remarks, allusions to other works, familiar situations, names, and tone all serve to indicate, within the first few pages, potential generic contexts. Such signals generate an entire range of associations and expectations that affect, in any number of ways, the specific responsive attitude we adopt toward the work.2 At the same time, genres represent an immense resource of literary and cultural memory, a body of past treatments, and therefore potential meanings. To the extent, therefore, that a single work may draw on the resources of several genres and may
Published Version
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