What are genres in literature, styles and directions in the work of Russian writers and poets?

The main genres of literature are groups of works that are identical formally and in style of presentation. Even in the time of Aristotle, there was a division of literature into genres, evidence of this - the "Poetics" of the Greek philosopher, a treatise on literary evolution, written three hundred years before Christ.

What are genres in literature?

Literature originates from biblical times, people wrote and read always. Birch bark letters containing at least some text are literature, for what is written is a person's thoughts, a reflection of his desires and aspirations. Reported, petitioned, church texts were written in a variety, and thus the first literary genre appeared - birch bark. With the development of writing, the genre of the chronicle arose. More often than not, the written one already bore some literary features, graceful speech, figurative allegories.

The next genre of literature were epics, epic legends about the heroes and other heroes of historical subjects. A separate literary genre can be considered religious literature, a description of biblical events, the lives of the higher clergy.

The advent of printing in the 16th century marked the beginning of a rapid development of literature. Throughout the 17th century, literary trends, styles and genres were formed.

Literature of the 18th century

On the question of what genres are in the literature of the 18th century, one can answer unequivocally that the literature of that time is conditionally divided into three main directions: drama, narrative and poetic verses. Dramatic works often took the form of tragedy, when the heroes of the plot perished, and the struggle between good and evil became more and more deadly. Alas, the conjuncture of the literary market dictated its terms already then. The genre of calm narrative also found its reader. Novels, novels and stories were considered "the middle link", while tragedies, poems and odes belonged to the "high" genre of literature, and satirical works, fables and comedies - to "low".

The verse is a primitive form of poetry, which was in use at balls, social receptions and other events of the highest metropolitan nobility. Verses in the verse genre had signs of syllogistics, the verse was divided into rhythmic segments. The mechanical syllable, killing for real poetry, for a long time dictated fashion.

Literature 19-20 centuries

The literature of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th is distinguished by several genres, most in demand in the Golden Pushkin-Gogol age, and then in the silver age of Alexander Blok and Sergei Yesenin. Drama, epic and lyrics - that's what genres are in the literature of the past and the century before last.

The lyrics must have had an emotional coloring, to be meaningful and purposeful. Its categories were an ode and an elegy, and an ode - with enthusiastic surprise, chanting and elevating to the rank of heroes.

Lyric elegy was built on the principle of sad tonality of verse, sadness, as the result of the hero's experiences, regardless of what was the cause - personal circumstances or disharmony of the universe.

What are genres in contemporary literature?

There are a lot of genres in contemporary literature, among them the most popular ones that are in demand by a wide readership are:

• Tragedy - a kind of literary genre of drama, characterized by extreme emotional stress, with the mandatory death of heroes.
• Comedy - another kind of drama genre, the opposite of the tragedy, with a funny storyline and a happy ending.
• Genre of a fairy tale is a literary direction for children, their creative development. There are a lot of literary masterpieces in the genre.
• Epic - a literary genre of a historical perspective, describes individual events of the past in the style of heroism, is distinguished by a large number of characters.
• The novel's genre is a vast narrative, with several storylines detailing the life of each character individually and all together, differs in the propensity to analyze the events taking place.
• The story is a medium-form genre, written in the same way as a novel, but in a more concise context. In the story, usually one character is identified as the main character, the others are described in a "binding" to it.
• The story is a genre of narrative of small form, a brief account of one event. The plot of it can not have an extension, it represents the quintessence of the author's thought, always has a finished form.
• Novella - a genre, similar to the story, the difference is only in the severity of the plot. Novella is characterized by an unexpected, unpredictable finale. This genre is well suited to thrillers.
• The genre of the essay is the same story, but in a non-fiction manner. In the essay there is no flowery speech, high-flown phrases and pathetic.
• Satire as a literary genre is infrequent, its accusatory orientation does not promote popularity, although satirical plays in a theatrical performance are well received.
• The genre of the detective is the most popular literary trend of recent times. Millions of soft-cover books by popular authors, such as Alexandra Marinina, Daria Dontsova, Polina Dashkova and dozens of others, have become desktop for many Russian readers.

Conclusion

The genres of Russian literature are diverse, each contains the potential for further creative development, which will necessarily be used by contemporary writers and poets.