Hannah Wells

June 21, 2013

A Study in Genre

            A new argument in my household has to do with the importance of genre. My husband, with film degree in hand, claims that genre identification does not matter anymore. I, on the contrary, find genre study to be fascinating and the key to discussion, analysis and debate in the world of literature and film. This semester, utopian fiction has proven to be a genre at the crossroads of genres. Several past midterms discussed Objective 1 from our class objectives and proposed genres that “join or branch from utopia.” While reading last semester’s essays, I found myself wondering: what’s the purpose of blending genres?

            In Sarah Coronado’s midterm exam from 2011, she thoroughly examines the characteristics of a utopia and goes on to discuss how the field seems to borrow from other genres. Coronado’s essay is very well organized and intelligently assesses the conventions of utopian works such as “the conflict of conversion” and the presence of a love story. As her essay progresses, Coronado proposes that genres like Romanticism influence utopian texts. She mentions the “feeling of transcendence” and “the journey motif” as conventions shared by Romantic and utopian works like Herland. I noticed a rather Romantic streak in the people of Ecotopia who revered Native Americans and attempted to copy their lifestyle and spirituality. Another influential genre that Coronado discussed is the Socratic Dialogue. She evaluates the importance of this genre on Looking Backward and our class has discussed the Socratic Dialogues present in More’s Utopia and Herland. In the end, Coronado makes the point that the inclusion of these other genres in a utopian work “allows utopian literature to offer much more in the way of entertainment.” Coronado, then, directly answers my question about the purpose of genre blending with the statement that utopian works would not be as interesting to readers if they did not share conventions of popular genres.

            Alicia Costello’s midterm essay also directly addresses my question as to the importance of genre blending. In her paper, Alicia analyzes the pluses and minuses of utopian fiction’s ability to be “cross-classified.” Costello very competently examines the issues in defining utopian works, as they are “one of the most diverse genres in literature.” I really enjoyed her extensive list of categories including “action/adventure, science fiction, romance, speculative fiction, dialogue, urban fiction,” that might cross with utopia. I also found her reference to Horace and his definition of literature as essentially “50% entertaining and 50% informative” interesting because Costello went on to attribute the entertaining half of utopian works to the conventions borrowed from other genres. Her argument to this point is that “being cross-listed” with other genres helps to “attract readers” who might otherwise ignore a work like Ecotopia or other “’literature of ideas.’” Costello’s answer to my question is that blending allows for wider readership for utopian works.

            Another midterm essay that answers my question is written by Jenna Zucha. Jenna investigates the differences between Utopia and Looking Backward as more instructional texts, and Herland and Anthem as both instructing and entertaining. Her overall assessment of utopian works is that their popularity lies in the idea that “people need to exhaust all possibilities of what might function as a perfect world or ideal community as a means to survive and progress.” Zucha claims, and I agree, that the more effective utopian pieces borrow from other genres in order to be more entertaining. “Both novels (Looking Backward and Herland) exceed in entertainment where Thomas More’s Utopia has fallen short for educational purposes” because they introduce “the elements of romance.” The social message in these two novels is stronger because the authors combined utopian conventions with a more relatable genre like romance.

            Although the topic of genre is listed as an objective for our class, it wasn’t until I read the old midterms that I got an idea of the importance of genre blending. This kind of study is important because it may explain why one utopian work is more popular than another, and it will also play an integral part in analyzing common conventions. I look forward to reading and teaching utopian texts with the purpose of identifying the genres that combine to make it work.