Genre is a key means by which we categorize the many forms of literature and culture. But it is also much more than that: in talk and writing, in music and images, in film and television, genres actively generate and shape our knowledge of the world. Understanding genre as a dynamic process rather than a set of stable rules, this book explores:

the relation of simple to complex genres
the history of literary genre in theory
the generic organisation of implied meanings
the structuring of interpretation by genre
the uses of genre in teaching.
John Frow’s lucid exploration of this fascinating concept will be essential reading for students of literary and cultural studies.

1. Approaching Genre
a. Preliminary Questions
b. The Situation of Genre
c. The Performance of Genre
2. Simple and Complex Genre
a. Simple Forms: The Riddle
b. Generic Complexity
c. Citation and Intertextuality
3. Literary Genre Theory
a. Genre as Taxonomy
b. Presentational Modes: Plato and Aristotle
c. The Natural Forms
d.Genre and Modes
e. Poetics and History
4. Implication and Relevance
a. The Structural Dimensions of Genre
b. Implication and Presupposition
c. Genre as Schema
d. Generic Truths: Philosophy
e. Generic Truths: History
5 Genre and Interpretation
a. Reading Genre and Interpretation
b. The Frame
c. Generic Cues
d. Figures of Genre
6. System and History
a. Genre Systems
b. Synchrony and Diachrony
c. Gentrification
d. Teaching Genre

Includes bibliographical references (p. [156]-165) and index.