Sunday, February 5, 2017

Journal #4


Genre has a very important role when it comes to creating and reading texts.  When it comes to defining the term genre, there is no concrete definition that perfectly describes it.  It can be referred to as a category of literary composition or can be a category of artistic composition in the areas of music and literature and many other mediums.  There are many different kinds of literary genres from romance, fiction and mystery to horror and science fiction that most people are familiar with along with many more that creators of text use. The role that genre plays in creating texts is impactful on the writer and the texts they create. Based on the genre they are attempting to create the text will effect the outcome of the text when it comes to things such as words used, sentence order, punctuation, title, page arrangement and more.  When a creator of a text is writing pertaining to a specific genre they are also pertaining to a specific audience, an audience interested in reading a text of this type of genre in which the writer of the text created.  Audience is directly correlated to genre and impacts the kinds of genres creators of texts choose to write based on the audience they are trying to reach with the piece of text.  Devitt describes the creation of genre as “an all en-composing term that when analyzed closely is made up of small, unique parts.  Genre also plays an impactful role in the reading of texts, and audience is also linked to it.  When choosing a book to read at Barnes and Noble a reader is typically looking for a specific genre of a book such as mystery, self-help, or fiction.  The reader has an expectation in their mind of the text they are going to be reading and therefore choose to read the selected text based on their knowledge of the genre of the text and expectations they have of it.  Devitt also sees genre as layered meanings that come together to give the reader an understanding of the whole text. I agree, genre allows the reader to come up with their own sense of meaning and understanding of the text, often occurring before they even read the text. 

Word Count:377

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