An approach to a context-oriented genre theory in application to the history of the ballad: Traditional ballad - street ballad - literary ballad

Abstract

The paper proposes, on the basis of S.J. Schmidt's theory of an empirical study of literature, a context-oriented approach to genre theory and applies this to the ballad. In accordance with the theory of communicative interaction, the conventions of a genre can be defined as principles which govern the roles of participants in literary communication. Genre conventions, therefor, are related to both the text and the socio-cultural context. In the case of the ballad this means that typological differences (i.e. sub-genres) and diachronic chages are to be described not only in terms of textual devices but also with reference to actual communicative interaction in a historical context. This conception of genre not only provides more clear-cut differentiations but approaches more nearly the description of a reality like the ballad allowing the description of its synchronic and diachronic range.