Prose as a Literary Genre
CHAPTER I
PROLOGUE
A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even (as in the case of fiction) length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, orchildren's. They also must not be confused with format, such as graphic novel or picture book. The distinctions between genres and categories are flexible and loosely defined, often with subgroups. Genres of literature are important to learn about. The two main categories separating the different genres of literature are fiction and nonfiction. There are several genres of literature that fall under the nonfiction category. Nonfiction sits in direct opposition to fiction. Examples from both the fiction and nonfiction genres of literature are explained in detail below. This detailed genres of literature list is a great resource to share with any scholars.
A. Genre of Nonfiction
Narrative Nonfiction is information based on fact that is presented in a format which tells a story. Essays are a short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or point. A short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative. A Biography is a written account of another person’s life. An Autobiography gives the history of a person’s life, written or told by that person. Often written in Narrative form of their person’s life. Speech is the faculty or power of speaking; oral communication; ability to express one’s thoughts and emotions by speech, sounds, and gesture. Generally delivered in the form of an address or discourse. Finally there is the general genre of Nonfiction. This is Informational text dealing with an actual, real-life subject. This genre of literature offers opinions or conjectures on facts and reality. This includes biographies, history, essays, speech, and narrative non fiction.
B. Genres of Fiction
Drama is the genre of literature that’s subject for compositions is dramatic art in the way it is represented. This genre is stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action. Poetry is verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that evokes an emotional response from the reader. The art of poetry is rhythmical in composition, written or spoken. This genre of literature is for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts. Fantasy is the forming of mental images with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality. Humor is the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical. Fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement which meant to entertain. This genre of literature can actually be seen and contained within all genres.
A Fable is a story about supernatural or extraordinary people Usually in the form of narration that demonstrates a useful truth. In Fables, animals often speak as humans that are legendary and supernatural tales. Fairy Tales or wonder tales are a kind of folktale or fable. Sometimes the stories are about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children. Science Fiction is a story based on impact of potential science, either actual or imagined. Science fiction is one of the genres of literature that is set in the future or on other planets. Short Story is fiction of such briefness that is not able to support any subplots. Realistic Fiction is a story that can actually happen and is true to real life. Folklore are songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a person of “folk” that was handed down by word of mouth. Folklore is a genre of literature that is widely held, but false and based on unsubstantiated beliefs. Historical Fiction is a story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting.
Horror is an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by literature that is frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting. Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the characters and the reader. A Tall Tale is a humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do the impossible with an here of nonchalance. Legend is a story that sometimes of a national or folk hero. Legend is based on fact but also includes imaginative material. Mystery is a genre of fiction that deals with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets. Anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown. Mythology is a type of legend or traditional narrative. This is often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods. A body of myths, as that of a particular people or that relating to a particular person. Fiction in Verse is full-length novels with plot, subplots, themes, with major and minor characters. Fiction of verse is one of the genres of literature in which the narrative is usually presented in blank verse form. The genre of Fiction can be defined as narrative literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. In fiction something is feigned, invented, or imagined; a made-up story.
In this paper, we will discuss about the prose as a literary genre. Prose as a fiction genre. Prose is ordinary language that people use in writing such as poetry, stories, editorials, books, etc. The word prose is derived from the Latin word 'prosa' meaning straightforward.
Prose comes in two types of text - narrative and expository. Narrative text is defined as "something that is narrated such as a story. Expository text is non-fiction reading material such as Description, Analysis, Classification etc.
CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
A. Definition of Prose
The word prose comes from the Latin word which means "frank." Type of prose writing is usually used to describe a fact or idea. Therefore, the prose can be used for newspapers, magazines, novels, articles, letters, and various other media types. Basically write a story based on personal experience or someone else is prose. Prose is a literary form of writing, consists of the flow of narrative and dialogue between characters. Prose, as well as poetry can be formed from personal experience, others, or from the author's imagination. Prose is a literary work that is growing from time to time. Several types of stories included in prose, among others, tragedy, anecdote, fable, novel, short story, etc.
There is other opinion about definition, such as:
1. "For me, a page of good prose is where one hears the rain and the noise of battle. It has the power to give grief or universality that lends it a youthful beauty." (John Cheever, on accepting the National Medal for Literature, 1982)
2. "Prose is when all the lines accept the last go on to the end. Poetry is when some of them fall short of it." (Jeremy Bentham)
3. "I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry: that is, prose = words in their best order;--poetry = the best words in the best order." (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk, July 12, 1827)
4. "Prose is the ordinary form of spoken or written language: it fulfills innumerable functions, and it can attain many different kinds of excellence. A well-argued legal judgment, a lucid scientific paper, a readily grasped set of technical instructions all represent triumphs of prose after their fashion. And quantity tells. Inspired prose may be as rare as great poetry--though I am inclined to doubt even that; but good prose is unquestionably far more common than good poetry. It is something you can come across every day: in a letter, in a newspaper, almost anywhere." a (John Gross, Introduction to The New Oxford Book of English Prose. Oxford Univ. Press, 1998)
Based on some of opinion above, we can conclude that prose is a term for a narrative story that is prepared with the language and it has a particular storyline and also the ordinary form of spoken or written language but the most typical form is written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure (as in traditional poetry). It is commonly used, for example, Novels, essays, short stories, comedy, drama, fable, fiction, folk tale, hagiography, legend, literature, myth, narrative, saga, science fiction, story, theme, tragedy, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, broadcasting, film, history, philosophy, law and many other forms of communication. According to Woodward, the best contemporary English prose is not only introduce issues of interest to the thoughtful reader, but also exemplify in effective combination the rhetorical devices and methods. Prose is ordinary language that people use in writing such as poetry, stories, editorials, books, etc. The word prose is derived from the Latin word 'prosa' meaning straightforward.
Prose comes in two types of text - narrative and expository. Narrative text is defined as "something that is narrated such as a story. Expository text is non-fiction reading material such as Description, Analysis, Classification etc.
Translation of Poems
When a poem, especially an epic poem such as the Iliad, is translated from one language into another, the poem is often converted into prose.
Prose is not confined to poetic measures and is usually grouped into paragraphs. Prose lacks a specific rhythm or the rhymes that can be found in poetry. Poetry aims to convey ideas and emotional experiences through the use of meter, rhyme, imagery in a carefully constructed metrical structure based on rhythmic patterns.
Prose poetry combines the characteristics of poetry with the apparent appearance of prose containing traces of metrical structure or verse. Prose poetry deliberately breaks some of the normal rules of prose to create heightened imagery or emotional effect.
Free verse is a form of poetry which uses fewer rules and limitations using either rhymed or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern. The early 20th-century poets were the first to write what they called "free verse" which allowed them to break from the formula and rigidity of traditional poetry.
Example of Prose
Toad, hog, assassin, mirror
Prose Poem
by
Larry Levis
Toad, hog, assassin, mirror. Some of its favorite words, which are breath. Or
handwriting: the long tail of the ‘y’ disappearing into a barn like a rodent’s, and
suddenly it is winter after all. After all what? After the ponds dry up in mid-August
and the children drop pins down each canyon and listen for an echo.
B. Definition of Literary
Literature (from Latin litterae (plural); letter) is the art of written work and can, in some circumstances, refer exclusively to published sources. The word literature literally means "things made from letters" and the pars pro toto term "letters" is sometimes used to signify "literature," as in the figures of speech "arts and letters" and "man of letters." Literature is commonly classified as having two major forms—fiction and non-fiction—and two major techniques—poetry and prose.
Literature may consist of texts based on factual information (journalistic or non-fiction), as well as on original imagination, such as polemical works as well as autobiography, and reflective essays as well as belles-lettres. Literature can be classified according to historical periods, genres, and political influences. The concept of genre, which earlier was limited, has broadened over the centuries. A genre consists of artistic works which fall within a certain central theme, and examples of genre include romance, mystery, crime, fantasy, erotica, and adventure, among others. Important historical periods in English literature include Old English, Middle English, the Renaissance, the 17th Century Shakespearean and Elizabethan times, the 18th Century Restoration, 19th Century Victorian, and 20th Century Modernism. Important political movements that have influenced literature include feminism, post-colonialism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, post-modernism, romanticism and Marxism. Holland said that Literature is not things but a way to comprehend things.
Literary fiction is a term principally used for certain fictional works that are claimed to hold literary merit.
Despite the fact that all genres have works that are well written, those works are generally not considered literary fiction. To be considered literary, a work usually must be "critically acclaimed" and "serious". In practice, works of literary fiction often are "complex, literate, multilayered novels that wrestle with universal dilemmas"
Literary fiction is usually contrasted with paraliterary fiction (e.g., popular, mainstream, commercial, or genre fiction).
C. Definition of Genre
Genre from French, genre French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ʁ], "kind" or "sort", from Latin: genus (stem gener-), Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. Music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones is discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.
In literature, genre has been known as an intangible taxonomy. This taxonomy implies a concept of containment or that an idea will be stable forever. The earliest recorded systems of genre in Western history can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle. Gérard Genette, a French literary theorist and author of The Architext, describes Plato as creating three imitational genres: dramatic dialogue, pure narrative and epic (a mixture of dialogue and narrative). Lyric poetry, the fourth and final type of Greek literature, was excluded by Plato as a non-mimetic mode. Aristotle later revised Plato's system by eliminating the pure narrative as a viable mode and distinguishing by two additional criteria: the object to be imitated, as objects could be either superior or inferior, and the medium of presentation such as words, gestures or verse.
D. Prose as a Literature Genre
Prose is a type of literature that is written expression without a formal pattern of verse or meter (as opposed to poetry). Prose - the ordinary form of spoken and written language whose unit is the sentence, rather than the line as it is in poetry. The term applies to all expressions in language that do not have a regular rhythmic pattern.
The term is from the Latin prosa, meaning “in phrase” which was derived from prosa oratio, meaning “straight, direct, unadorned speech,” which itself was derived from prorsus, meaning “straightforward or direct” and can be further traced to pro versusm, meaning “turned forward.”
Novels, essays, short stories, and works of criticism are examples of prose.
see: comedy, drama, essay, fable, fiction, folk tale, hagiography, legend, literature, myth, narrative, novel, saga, science fiction, short story, story, theme, tragedy.
Prose version:
A woman stands on a mountain top with the cold seeping into her body. She looks on the valley below as the wind whips around her. She cannot leave to go to the peaceful beauty below.
In the valley, the sun shines from behind the clouds causing flowers to bloom. A breeze sends quivers through the leaves of trees. The water gurgles in a brook. All the woman can do is cry.
E. Kinds of Prose
According to Cambridge Advances Learner’s Dictionary, prose is written language in its ordinary form rather than poetry. Prose is a type of writing that distinguishes poetry because of the variation rhythm (rhythm) of its larger and more appropriate in meaning. The word prose comes from the Latin word "prose" which means "straightforward". Type of writing prose is usually used to describe a fact or idea. Prose divided into two parts; an old prose and a new prose. There are some the old prose, such as:
History
History (legend), is one of the old prose story content taken from a historical event. The story is revealed in history can be proven with facts. Besides containing historical events, also contains a genealogy of the kings. Containing genealogical history was written by the king's letters of the old society.
Story
Fables, is a fictional story. Fables itself are manifold, as follows:
Fables, is a long story that create animal as a symbol of moral teaching (commonly also referred to as an animal story). Example: hare with Crocodiles, Mouse Deer with Tiger, Lemur Witty Tale, Mouse Deer with Ox, Raven and Wolf, Bird stork with crabs, and others.
Mite (myth), are stories related to the belief in one thing or thing believed to have supernatural powers.
Legend, is a long story that tells about the history of a place or region.
Sage, is a long story related to the history, which tells of courage, heroism, magic and miracle man.
Parable, is a fictional story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious or a comparison using like
Witty fairy tale, is the story of the behavior of the foolish, lazy or dodgy and each described the humor.
There are some a new prose, such as :
Novel
The novel comes from Italy. the novella 'news'. The novel is a prose novel that depicts some of the most important protagonists of life, most interesting, and containing conflict.Conflict or struggle of life resulted in change fate offender. Novel is shorter than the romance and longer than short stories. Novel is a book-length fictional narrative that typically has a plot, characters, setting, point of view, and theme. It is a long prose narrative that usually describes fictional characters and events in the form of a sequential story. The genre has historical roots in the fields of medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter, an Italian word used to describe short stories, supplied the present generic English term in the 18th century.
Further definition of the genre is historically difficult. The construction of the narrative, the plot, the relation to reality, the characterization, and the use of language are usually discussed to show a novel's artistic merits. Most of these requirements were introduced to literary prose in the 16th and 17th centuries, in order to give fiction a justification outside the field of factual history.
Short Story
Short Story is a new prose which tells a small part of the life of the perpetrator of the most important and most interesting. In the short story should be no conflict or dispute. Short stories are defined as works of fiction between approximately 750 and 7500 words. Usually found in literature textbooks or collections of short stories, they give a reader a short foray into plot. Most short stories include elements of traditional plot structure which include a problem, rising action, climax, falling action or denouement and resolution to the original problem. Some modern writers play with plot structure and begin their narratives in the middle, at the climax point of the story. Some famous short story writers are Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Carver and O. Henry.
History
History (biography), is a prose that contains life experiences the author himself (an autobiography) or it could be another person's life experiences from childhood to adulthood or even to death.
Criticism
Criticism is the work of a good-bad judgment outlines a work by giving reasons about the content and form of certain criteria that are objective and judgmental.
The reviewer
The reviewer is a discussion / consideration / review of a work (books, movies, plays, etc..). Its contents are explained so that the reader knows the work of various aspects such as theme, plot, characterization, dialogue, etc., It often accompanied by assessments and advice about whether or not the work is read and enjoyed.
Essays
The essay is a review / critique of a problem on the face of the personal view points of the author. Its contents can be life lessons, responses, reflections, or comments about culture, arts, social phenomena, politics, staging plays, movies, etc,.
Novelette
Novelette is a short narrative, less than 100 pages; a novelette (e.g., Daisy Miller, Henry James; Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck). A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula awards for science fiction define the novelette as having a word count of between 7,500 and 17,500, inclusive.
F. Characteristics of Prose
Prose lacks the more formal metrical structure of verse that is almost always found in traditional poetry. Poems often involve a meter and/or rhyme scheme. Prose, instead, comprises full, grammatical sentences, which then constitute paragraphs and overlook aesthetic appeal. Some works of prose do contain traces of metrical structure or versification and a conscious blend of the two literature formats is known as prose poetry. Similarly, any work of verse with fewer rules and restrictions is known as free verse. Verse is considered to be more systematic or formulaic, whereas prose is the most reflective of ordinary (often conversational) speech. On this point Samuel Taylor Coleridge requested, jokingly, that novice poets should know the "definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose,—words in their best order; poetry,—the best words in their best order." In Molière's play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Monsieur Jourdain asked for something to be written in neither verse nor prose. A philosophy master replied that "there is no other way to express oneself than with prose or verse," for the simple reason being that "everything that is not prose is verse, and everything that is not verse is prose."
Prose poetry is poetry written in prose instead of using verse but preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery and emotional effects. Prose poetry can be considered either primarily poetry or prose, or a separate genre altogether. The argument for prose poetry belonging to the genre of poetry emphasizes its heightened attention to language and prominent use of metaphor. On the other hand, prose poetry can be identified primarily as prose for its reliance on prose's association with narrative and on the expectation of an objective presentation of truth.
Critics such as Jonathan Monroe and Margueritte S. Murphy argue instead that the prose poem gains its subversiveness through its fusion of poetic and prosaic elements and, consequently, its challenge to the traditional notions of genre theory.
When write a story, it should there is a climax to make the story more alive and add the fabulous character. Climax can be achieved by making one idea seem to anticipate another, and by giving weight to the concluding idea.
G. Functions of Prose
Prose is any writing that is not organized into poetic form. This entire manual is about writing prose. Functional prose is prose that has a job to do. Many hundreds of years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle categorized the jobs that prose can do under four broad headings. Understanding these functions of prose helps us to write better: if we can identify what kind of writing we're doing at any point, we can do it better.
It is important to write prose in clear and concise prose for two main reasons: to keep our reader's attention and to make sure our meaning is clear. If your writing is long-winded instead of concise, and you just go on and on instead of keeping it short and sweet, you will bore or confuse your reader. Keeping things simple keeps your meaning clear, and keeps your reader involved and motivated. There are also times when you are writing to inform, and a person does not want to read a long, flowery answer. For example, when we write enotes responses we try to keep them to around 90 words. The idea is to tell the questioner what you need to know as simply and concisely as possible so you get the answer and be on your way. Prose, Most everyday writing is in prose form.
• The language of prose is typically straightforward without much decoration.
• Ideas are contained in sentences that are arranged into paragraphs.
• There are no line breaks. Sentences run to the right margin.
• The first word of each sentence is capitalized.
• Prose looks like large blocks of words.
H. Elements of Prose
1. Intrinsic Element
Prose formed from the elements intrinsic follows:
a. The theme is about what the prose is speaking about.
b. Message that is advice that would be submitted to the reader.
c. Plot is a series of events that make up a story. Based on Beaty, plot simply means the arrangement of the action, an imagined event or a series of such events.
d. Disposition or characteristics or characterizations are all ways the author describes the character actors. Morris said that character serve only to emphasize his personality and predicament.
e. The angle of view is the way the author put himself.
f. First-person perspective as players is the author.
g. Third-person perspective is the author does not become perpetrators.
h. Background or setting is a picture or a description of the place, time, situation or atmosphere of the event occurred.
i. The style language is the language usage patterns.
Basically all works of literature such as poetry, prose and drama have the same extrinsic elements that tend to influence the life of the author in the making of such literary works.
2. Extrinsic Elements of Prose
Extrinsic Elements is an element that is outside the text, but directly or indirectly affect the creation of the work. The element in question includes author biography, social circumstances, history, and others. These elements influence because basically the author creates literary works based on his experience. Knowledge of a reader of the extrinsic elements will help the reader understand the work.
I. Technique for Prose Analysis
Assumptions of close-reading prose:
1. Writing style is itself an expression of philosophy; or, to put it another way, form contains ideas
2. The formal aspects of writing - diction, sentence structure etc. - may work against the literal sense of the writing - or enhance it.
3. The subtleties of connotation and diction form a layer of meaning which is additional to the surface meaning of the text.
4. Every prose text comes with a host of expectations - of genre, writing conventions, and the relationship of speaker and reader. Most (literary) texts operate by defying these rules and expectations.
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION
Based on some of opinion above, we can conclude that prose is a term for a narrative story that is prepared with the language and it has a particular storyline and also the ordinary form of spoken or written language but the most typical form is written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure (as in traditional poetry). It is commonly used, for example, Novels, essays, short stories, comedy, drama, fable, fiction, folk tale, hagiography, legend, literature, myth, narrative, saga, science fiction, story, theme, tragedy, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, broadcasting, film, history, philosophy, law and many other forms of communication.
REFERENCES
• Beaty, Jerome and friends. 2002. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W.W Norton &Company.
• Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Third Edition. (New York: Cambridge University Press. 2008)
• Foerster, Norman and Roberter Falk. 1960. American Poetry and Prose. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• Levin, Gerald. 1981. Prose Models. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
• Morris, Alton C. and friends. 1968. Imaginative Literature. New York: Harcourt, Brace, &World Company.
• Woodward, Robert H. 1968. The Craft of Prose. America: Wadsworth Publishing.
• http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/rfletcher/bl-rfletcher-history-5-prose.htm accessed on 8.30 Thursday, 24 October 2012
• http://www.bukisa.com/articles/494742_the-definition-of-prose accessed on 8.33 Thursday, 24 October 2012
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose accessed on 8.36 Thursday, 24 October 2012
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre accessed on 8.39 Thursday, 24 October 2012
