What are we to make of the fact that individual literary texts always come to us as instances of larger generic forms? Why have some texts been thought more "generic" than others? Reading some key texts in the history of genre theory, this class will ponder these questions with specific reference to the modern novel.
5 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
What are we to make of the fact that individual literary texts always come to us as instances of larger generic forms? Why have some texts been thought more "generic" than others? Reading some key texts in the history of genre theory, this class will ponder these questions with specific reference to the modern novel.
Offered in Winter 2026 at Stanford University.