LITR 4533 TRAGEDY Midterm Samples 2012 Essay Answers to Topic 1

1. Develop a "working definition" of genre & apply to any genre of your choice besides tragedy. Cite at least 2 examples of your genre from your reading, viewing, or listening experience and 2 secondary / critical research sources. (4-6 paragraphs, 2-3 double-spaced page equivalent)

Authors & titles (scroll down for essays):

• Jennifer Hamilton, "The Wonder of Imagination"

• Kat Henderson, "Fantasy for the Empowered Female"

• Andrew Feith, "Genre and 'Crime Romance'”

• Kayla Riggs, "Satire in Modern Day"

• Umaymah Shahid, "The World of Fantasy" (excerpts)    

• Sarah Hardilek, "Never-ending Stories: Continuation as a Genre" (excerpts)

Jennifer Hamilton

Essay 1: The Wonder of Imagination

For centuries civilization has placed a great emphasis on developing categories in which to divide the world around them.  These categories help make sense of the chaos in the world so that we can better understand what is around us.  Since each category has its own unique set of distinguishing features, we can easily recognize these elements in another object and know which category it belongs in.  Today, society has developed categories for music, film, literature, food, art, animals, plants, and humans themselves.  While it can be helpful to have these classifications, it also has to be remembered that these categories are not set in stone.  For example, if a friend were to ask you, “what kind of book are you reading?” they want to know what is the genre or type of book.  However, this question can have many different answers. 

          While some people may define the genre of the book by its subject, others may classify it based on its form or narrative.  As a result, one person may consider the book a novel, someone else might classify it as fiction, and another as fantasy.  Because genres are constantly evolving with the times, these broad categories often overlap.  This overlap is what allows a work of literature, music, film or art to be classified in multiple categories at once.  However, each genre still shares certain elements that distinguish it from other genres.  According to Dr. White’s course webpage: “A genre is a ‘contract with the reader’ that guarantees certain standard features, or the fulfillment of expectations or norms in style and tone. In academic speech, these standard features or norms are called ‘conventions.’” 

These elements or conventions are what allows us to know even before we begin reading a book, or watching a movie, what to expect.  For example, when watching a film, we know that a comedy will make us laugh; while a tragedy will make us cry.  While the four most common genres are tragedy, comedy, romance and satire; there are countless others that are constantly developing.  One genre that has become popular is fantasy.  In her 2010 midterm, Brittany Fletcher writes on the fantasy genre: “The Fantasy genre has an eye for personifying mystical creatures or beings in an off balance world. Fantasy typically involves stories that resemble reality but also have elements of mysticism.”  While I agree with Brittany, fantasy is also full of magic, mythology and the supernatural, and often the story unfolds in a world that does not come close to reality or even exist.   

Escaping the reality of the world is really what fantasy is about, there is no limit to what the imagination can create.  One of the first and best examples of the use of fantasy is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in 1865.  The work tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into Wonderland, a fantasy world in which nothing is at it seems.  Some of the most memorable, strange, talking creatures Alice will come across are the white rabbit, mad hatter and a caterpillar.  Although written as a children’s book, Alice in Wonderland has nevertheless resonated with both children and adults to remain an icon in literature.  In recent years there has been a surge in the popularity of the fantasy genre which has resulted in numerous works of literature being developed into film, including Alice in Wonderland.

A more contemporary example of the fantasy genre is the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.  In this series, comprised of seven books, Rowling follows the life of Harry Potter, a young boy who early in the first book realizes he is a wizard. Although the series is full of descriptions of magical creatures, extraordinary powers, and an unseen reality; it is the connection that the readers feel with Harry that makes Harry Potter so popular.  Throughout the adventures that Harry faces at Hogwarts, the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, we experience the myriad of emotions he himself covers; from the pain over the loss of his parents at a young age, to his fear when challenging the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, and everything in between.  Though the world of Harry Potter is only a figment of Rowling’s imagination, the issues that the characters face; such as loyalty, betrayal and heartbreak, are real. 

However, fantasy is not limited to the unseen worlds, but can be found in reality.  Another popular series that tends to blur the lines of genre is Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight.  Although commonly considered part of the vampire genre, Twilight has enough unique characteristics to be fantasy.  The fantasy genre though filled with elements of magic, mythology and the supernatural is separated from the horror or gothic genres by its lack of terror and the fear factor.  As a result, even though Twilight has vampires, a common element in horror, it is the romance that develops between Bella and Edward that allows the series to enter the realm of fantasy.  The Cullen’s, unlike others of their kind, do not prey on humans but instead hunt animals in the forest.  Combine that with other aspects of the book, such as vampires sparkling in the sunlight, their extraordinary powers, werewolves, the child that is born and the result is a series that is unlike any others. 

Fantasy, like so many other genres, cannot be concretely defined.  However, it is the unique elements that are commonly found in fantasy work that allows it to stand apart from other genres. It is also important to remember that a literary work can belong to several genres at the same time.  The categories we place literature in are always evolving and overlapping.  As a result, we must learn that there is no right answer.  While intimidating it is also liberating, since it allows a work the opportunity to appeal to many different audiences.  

Work Cited

Carroll, Lewis.  The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland.  1865.

Meyer, Stephanie.  Twilight series.  New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter series.  New York: Scholastic, 1997-2009.

White, Craig.  “Introduction to Genres.” Tragedy Course webpage.  University of Houston, summer 2012.  Web. 

Kat Henderson

Fantasy for the Empowered Female

Upon entering a bookstore, I always walk with determined step towards one particular section—the section that says “Fantasy/Science Fiction” on it.  Similar signs mark the rest of the store with things such as travel, romance, self-help, mysteries, and many more.  These wonderfully helpful categories are literary genres.  Without them, explorers into the worlds of literature, music, and movies would be hopelessly lost.  Each of these genres contains a certain set of conventions, or identifying features.  For me, the most captivating of subject genres is that of fantasy featuring a strong female lead character.

This specific genre falls under the broader genre of fantasy.  As Brittany Fletcher states in her 2010 essay, “The Fantasy genre has an eye for personifying mystical creatures or beings in an off balance world.”  This world can be similar to the one in which we currently live or be something completely different.  Its main distinction from that of regular fiction is the element of paranormal.  The subgenre featuring a strong female main leads merely adds a focus on characters.

A classic example of fantasy featuring a strong female would be the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey.  The planet Pern, inhabited by fire-breathing dragons, has a complex society of guilds, nobility, and dragon riders.  The most important people in this world are the dragon hold’s Weyrwomen; the chosen women bonded to the golden queen dragons.  The first book in this series, Dragonflight, follows the courageous woman Lessa as she becomes bonded to her dragon and asserts herself as a leader and eventually savior to those on her planet.

Another series of fantasy novels with a strong female character are the Kitty Norville books by Carrie Vaughn, which follow the escapades of a late night radio DJ who happens to be a werewolf.  In contrast to McCaffrey’s stories which take place on a fictional planet, Vaughn’s stories happen in modern day Colorado.  Her character Kitty begins as submissive and scared while trying to find her way in the world and transforms into a strong, self assured and confident woman who tries to save the world, one supernatural at a time.

While fantasy is an extremely broad genre, readers can always be assured that it will feature the paranormal.  This is the realm where dragons, elves, vampires, werewolves, and all manners of magics can be found.  While it can take place in purely fictional worlds or modern settings, it will never be totally mundane or like our actual world.  By narrowing down the subgenre featuring strong female leads, readers can find characters with strength, courage, and faith with which to commiserate.

Andrew Feith

Genre and “Crime Romance”

          After doing much overthinking, asking myself, “what really, essentially, ontologically, is a literary genre?”, I’ve decided to take a simpler route and just assert that the word “genre” is a fancy word that we use to classify literature. We could just as easily use a word like “type” or “class” or “kind,” but “genre” refers specifically (and only) to literature. (One would be in error, for example, if one were to say “citrus fruits are my favorite genre of food”). There is a long tradition in literary criticism of further defining and refining the concept of “genre,” but for my purposes, it is enough to say, as does Melissa King, for example, that genres are “the classification of pieces of literature.” Simple.

          The simplest way to identify something’s genre is to ask, “What is it about?” Who are the main characters, what is the setting, what kind of conflict drives the action? These questions specifically concern subject genre. If the work in question is about young British women in the late 1700s and the action climaxes with an engagement or a wedding, we’re dealing with a period comedy, and very likely a Jane Austen novel. Subject genre is “the most obvious and popular use of ‘genre’” (so says the “genres” page of our course site).

          More interesting to me is the concept of narrative genre, which asserts that there are four basic story lines: Tragedy, Comedy, Romance, and Satire. Many different subject genres could share the same underlying narrative genre. I’m particularly enamored of this idea, just because it makes the bold claim that all of literature can be reduced to combinations of these four plots.

          I chose the title “Genre and Crime Romance” to refer to movies and TV shows that approach criminal activity from the point of view of the criminals. In terms of narrative genre, “Crime Tragedy” would be a more accurate label, but the shows I have in mind do also have some characteristics of romance. I’m thinking of shows like Breaking Bad and Weeds, or the first season of The Wire; each of these shows follows a protagonist (or in the case of The Wire, several protagonists) who sell drugs for a living. They are tragic in that these shows always show the violence and bloodshed that tends to accompany selling hard drugs.

            The word “antihero” gets thrown around quite a bit in reference to these shows, and at least in the case of Breaking Bad, we watch Walter White slowly transform from a mild-mannered chemistry teacher and family man to a street-tough crystal meth manufacturer who doesn’t shrink from murder. This is the opposite of romance, in which the protagonists are good and sympathetic. Also they conform to the expectations of tragedy in that the protagonists often are killed in the “last act,” the series finale. Yet watching Walter White (or the Corleone family from the Godfather movies, or Tony Soprano from The Sopranos) as he deals with the practical problems of a life of crime, including keeping his family safe and evading law enforcement, is undeniably thrilling and escapist, and so it feels like romance.

Kayla Riggs

Satire in Modern Day

          Growing up I heard about genre in a very slim way. I was not introduced to the word in depth, but there was some kind of knowledge behind it. I have never actually studied genre until now in Dr. White’s class and I am enjoying that we are. Genre is one of those words that everyone assumes the other should know, but there is a lot of background information applying to the word “genre” that people actually don’t understand. They may know the surface definition of the word, but there is a lot more to know than that. As stated on the “Introduction to Genres” page, it explains that genre may be classified in three categories (this is very new to me); subject, form, and narrative. Subject Genre refers to the content, Formal Genre refers to the number and types of voices, and Narrative Genre refers to the kind of story the work of literature tells. The most common knowing of the word genre is the narrative kind. Generally, the world discusses works through this genre and I would definitely argue that this is the most important and relevant way of categorizing a work. This is because the storyline or plot seems to have the biggest effect on the audience.

 There are four main narrative genres; tragedy, comedy, romance, and satire. Though they are four distinctly different types of work, they are often intertwined. For instance, Romantic Comedy or Romantic Tragedies are well known. I find it hard for a story line to be invisible to romance and would again confidently argue that romance is the most used genre. Every movie, literary work, etc… has some kind of love involved. Whether the love is portrayed through a significant other, a family member, or even a thing (like a sport), there is always some kind of love being signified. “Love and Basketball” is an example. Although the love story between the guy and the girl is very profound and that is what the audience may focus on most, the movie also portrays a deep love between the actors and basketball. The movie strays away from just being a love story to and actual story with reason, why things happen (because of their love for basketball).

I think the narrative genre that is used the least is “satire”. Satire intrigues me on a whole different level than romance, comedy, or tragedy. This could be because satirical forms of writing take an incredible amount of knowledge and familiarity. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not stating that authors of satirical words are better and more intelligent than other. I am simply pointing out that it is an unusual genre and taking the attempt to write a satire is risky, but can be very worthwhile if done appropriately. The reason I think satire is not as known as it was back in the day is because writers now write for self-worth. Authors want to entertain, yes, and become known, yes. But, back then they wrote more satires to compete with one another. The authors used to write satires to make fun of or get at another author and demean them, making them stand out to everyone else. In today’s era, I haven’t heard of writers wanting to demolish another writer with their works, or using satire’s to anger another author. It was very different back then with satirical works than it is now. Also, another reason why I think satire is rarer than other genres is because it takes a great amount of effort to write. Think about it. Romance= love between two things, those things are taken away from each other, then trying to be put back together. Comedy= Funny, physical jokes or witty jokes. Tragedy= something devastating that effects the whole society, emotional grief among one person trying to overcome the bad in them.

Then there is satire, which by definition means; 1) a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn 2) trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly. Satire is often an underlying way of improving society through “constructive” criticism, using wit as a way to capture knowledge. Not only does a writer have to be knowledgeable with background history of society or something they want to improve, but the writer has to know an original version of something and make it epic. Some satires that come to mind are; “The Rape of the Lock”, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the essay “Advice of Youth” by Mark Twain. Don’t you realize those examples are classics? I feel like satires are difficult to write, therefore there are not many well-known ones. Some TV shows of modern day satire are; The Simpson’s and South Park. Also, recent movies that are somewhat satirical are; Scary Movie and Fight Club. It is interesting to see the satire genre play out in modern day. Can you think of any popular satirical literary works in today’s time?

I was looking at Candy Berry’s essay on satire and parody and noticed she had asked a really great question. “Do you think parodies (satires) are disrespectful to the true authors of these works of literature? I am uncertain on how to answer. I can see both ways. Satire is giving credit to an important work that is obviously well known enough to make another work about it. It lets the audience understand that the work is worthy enough to satirize. But, also, it is kind of disrespectful that it is kind of making fun. I am going to process Candy’s question and use that as a motive as we discuss satire in class.

Umaymah Shahid

The World of Fantasy (Excerpts)    

 . . . Fantasy brings together the genres of romance, tragedy, and comedy into one piece of art. Yet like romance and unlike tragedy, fantasy fiction normally has a good and a bad character, not what one might find in tragedy- mixed character. The story line usually has a few main characters around whom the story evolves. These characters have to battle the evil forces, usually outside themselves, and good prevails. Another resemblance with Comedy and Romance is that Fantasy has spectacle. Without spectacle there is no allure to Fantasy because the spectacle is what “enchants” the audience. The fire breathing dragon, using spells on enemies, and riding broomsticks are all part of the spectacle which brings the world of Fantasy to life. Most fantasy not only enchants the audience but teaches some important moral such as having good friends, being honest, trusting others, and of course the famous lesson, good always conquers evil.

Fantasy fiction manifests itself very comfortably in the classical series of Harry Potter. Harry is a young boy whose parents are killed by an evil wizard, Lord Voldemort, and grows up to find out he is a wizard with a great destiny. Throughout his years in the magical world of Hogwarts, he makes friends, learns new spells, battles enemies, and in the end defeats Voldemort. Throughout the series, Harry learns the importance of having good friends, doing his homework, and most importantly, staying strong in the face of difficulty. The plot, characters, and setting are entirely fictitious. Though they have some aspect of Great Britain, the magical world is purely from the imagination of J.K. Rowling. What makes Harry Potter a fantasy and not simply a fiction is that it defies the boundaries that dictate human life. It deals with racing back in time, riding broom sticks, Dementors who are creatures between death and life, dragons, unicorns, an invisibility cloak, and the list goes on. The setting of the book is in a world which does not exist, but it brings the impossible to life, and thus makes it a fantasy. . . .  

Works Cited

Bennett, Steve. “Fantasy Fiction Genre.” Findmeanauthor.com. 2009. Web. 16 June 2012.

Once Upon a Time. Dir. Adam Horowitz, Edward Kitsis. Perf. Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, and Lana Parrilla. ABC Studios, 2011. Television

Rowling, J.K. The Harry Potter Series. New York: Scholastic, 2000-2009. Print.

Tangled. Dir. Nathan Greno, Byron Howard. Disney, 2010. Film.

White, Craig. “Genre as a Subject, Form, & Narrative.” Course home page. University of Houston Clear Lake, 2012. Web. 16 June 2012.

Jungklaus, Rachel. “Fantasy Fiction as a Genre.” Midterm Samples. 2010. Web. 16 June, 2012.

Sarah Hardilek

Essay 1. Never-ending Stories: Continuation as a Genre (excerpts)

 . . . Unbound by the limitations of basic genres such as Romance or Comedy, the continuation genre can be found in virtually any form. But what are the classifications that define the continuation genre? Along with being composed of more than one book, subjects of this genre also have the luxury of taking more time to develop their stories without becoming too cumbersome to the reader. Where standalone novels are forced to somewhat rush through the growth of the protagonist, continuations have multiple books with which to do so. Similarly, continuations have the unique opportunity to travel to completely different locations within the story without taking away from the storytelling aspect of the novel. Indeed, many continuations use that ability to advance the story along. Despite being part of a continuous story, however, each novel in a continuation often has its own goal to achieve by the end. For example, the Inheritance Cycle written by Christopher Paolini is divided up into four books with each book having a separate goal. The goal of the first book is to set up the overarching conflict of the series and to introduce the character of Eragon to his new life as a Dragon Rider. The second book deals with his training so he can ultimately defeat the villain. The third book involves mostly politics and following up on promises made. And the final book obviously serves as the climax of the entire series. Most continuations have a similar structure to this with the first book acting as the “call to action” and the final book as “the climax.”

While still keeping with this structure, most continuations have a turning point in the middle of the overarching story where the situation transforms from a state of victory to one of Dionysian chaos. As described in The Birth of Tragedy by Nietzsche, this loss of stability often stems from a sorrowful occurrence or condemnation towards the protagonist. In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, the second book ends with an important character being taken hostage by the enemy. Although this series is far from cheery, this circumstance provides the turning point in the series for the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. In the first two books, Katniss is a strong character who is always in control, but by the time the third book starts she has lost some of her confidence and fire. In order to continue on her journey, she has to overcome this loss and carry on. The turning point in continuations is often a trial in and of itself for the protagonist to recover from if they are to be successful in their ultimate journey.

Another characteristic of the continuation genre lies in the fact that it must apply to at least one other genre as well. There is not a “Continuation” or “Trilogy” or “Series” section in bookstores after all. Combining the continuation genre to another genre defines how that book will be written and perceived. A majority of continuations are associated with the fantasy genre such as with the Inheritance Cycle. However, it is possible for other basic genres to bleed into the each other even within the continuation genre. For example, at the end of the third book, Eragon’s master dies, which is a tragedy in and of itself. More than that, his death scene is basically “off screen.” The audience is present at the time of his death and while they do experience the death through the consciousness of the master’s dragon, the blood and gore are not actually shown. This is a clear example of repressing spectacle, which tragedies typically tend to do according to the page regarding spectacle on the course site.

With all these characteristics in mind, it is no wonder that the most popular books are part of a series or continuation. Because continuations must also belong to another genre, this genre has the chance of appealing to everyone’s interests. By devoting more time to a project and thus more length, the author has the opportunity to explore more options and take the time needed to transform his characters in a steady manner. After all when a series is highly enjoyable, it is only natural to want more of the world to escape into.