Yearbook of Comparative Criticism, Vol. 8

Theories of Literary Genre Edited by Joseph P. Strekla

Publish Date: 10/1/1990
Dimensions: 6 x 9
Page Count: 296 pages
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-271-01243-8

The problem of literary genre and the theories dealing with it concern some of the most central and significant questions of literary criticism as well as of literary history. It is not only one of the oldest, but also one of the most genuinely literary principles of order in literary studies. There seems however, to be little agreement on how to use the concept of genre to create such order. Indeed, the concept of genre itself has been repeatedly questioned by recent criticism.

This book contains a comparative cross section of essays that offer different opinions and viewpoints on theories of literary genre. Rather than dealing with the detailed problems inherent in various concepts of specific historical kinds of literature—elegy, hymn, ode—the chapters are concerned with basic general categories such as poetry and fiction. They examine the possibilities and limitations of their usefulness as well as the theories underlying their history and structure.

An attempt is made to inform about the most important basic theories put forth by the different schools of thought in generic criticism.

Joseph P. Strelka, born May 3, 1927 in Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria, received his PhD from the University of Vienna in 1950. After the untimely death of his academic mentor, Oskar Benda, he became a freelance critic and worked for Austrian Broadcasting and for a publishing house. He became the Austrian representative at the Centre International des Etudes Poétiques in Brussels and is a member of the Austrian PEN-Club. He received awards from the Theodor Koerner Foundation, a prize from the city of Vienna, and a special research fellowship in Paris. In 1964 he came to the United States as an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California. In 1966 he moved to The Pennsylvania State University, and he is now Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the State University of New York at Albany.

Professor Strelka is a member of the editorial boards of the North Carolina Comparative Literature Series and of the Colloquia Germanica. In addition to writing and editing a number of books he is the general editor of the "Penn State Series in German Literature."

Other Ways to Acquire

Buy from Amazon.com
Buy from an Independent Bookstore
Buy from Powell's Books
Find in a Library

Related Subjects

Literary Studies