All books are divided into two categories - fiction and non-fiction. In common parlance, the first is called hudlite, and the second is called non-fiction (from the English nonfiction).
Fiction refers to all works that have a fictional plot and fictional characters. That is, novels, stories, stories, plays and poetry (for both children and adults) are considered kudlite.
The category of non-fiction includes: textbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, monographs, biographies, memoirs, journalism, etc.
In turn, works of fiction are divided into genre literature, mainstream and intellectual prose.
In genre literature, the first fiddle is played by the development of the plot, while it fits into a certain predefined framework. For example, any detective develops according to the scheme crime - investigation - exposure of a criminal; any lady's novel - heroes meet - fall in love - fight for love - unite hearts. This does not mean that all genre novels should have a predictable plot. The skill of the writer lies precisely in creating a unique world within the given framework.
Genre literature is action and a quick change of scenery. The main question that worries the reader: "What next?"
Genres fiction
... Avant-garde literature. It is characterized by violation of the canons and by language and plot experiments. As a rule, the avant-garde comes out in very small editions. It is closely intertwined with intellectual prose.
... Action movie. Focused primarily on the male audience. The plot is based on fights, chases, saving beauties, etc.
... Detective.The main storyline is solving the crime.
... Historical novel. The time of action is the past. The plot, as a rule, is tied to significant historical events.
... Love story.Heroes find love.
... Mystic. The plot is based on supernatural events.
... Adventures. The heroes get involved in an adventure and / or embark on a risky journey.
... Thriller / horror.The heroes are in mortal danger, from which they are trying to get rid of.
... Fiction.The plot is twisted in a hypothetical future or in a parallel world. One of the varieties of fiction - alternative history.
... Fantasy / Fairy tales. The main features of the genre are fairy-tale worlds, magic, unseen creatures, talking animals, etc. Often based on folklore.
Mainstream
A completely different matter is the mainstream (from the English. Mainstream - the main stream). In books of this type, canons have no place. Readers expect unexpected solutions from them. The most important thing in the mainstream is the moral development of heroes, philosophy and ideology. So the professional requirements for a mainstream author are much higher: he must be not only an excellent storyteller, but also a good psychologist and a serious thinker. important sign mainstream - books of this type are written at the intersection of genres. For example, it is impossible to say unequivocally that Gone with the Wind is just a love story or just a historical drama.
The term "mainstream" itself originated from the American writer and critic William Dean Howells (1866 - 1920). As editor of one of the most popular and influential literary magazines of his time, The Atlantic Monthly, he had a clear preference for works written in a realistic manner and emphasizing moral and philosophical issues. Thanks to Howells, realistic literature came into vogue, and for some time it was precisely called the "mainstream." The term stuck in English, and from there moved to Russia.
Intellectual prose
In contrast to the mainstream, which should appeal to a wide readership, intellectual prose is focused on a narrow circle of connoisseurs and claims to be elitist. The authors do not set themselves the goal of commercial success: they are primarily interested in art for art's sake. They pour out their soul and plunge the reader into the world of their subconscious. In the vast majority of cases, intellectual prose has a somber mood; why should one understand genres?
Then, to:
- learn skills in your own genre;
- know exactly which publisher to offer the manuscript to;
- study your target audience and offer the book not to “everyone at all,” but to those people who may be interested in it.
The main genres of literature are groups of works that are identical formally and in style of presentation. Even in the time of Aristotle, literature was divided into genres, evidence of this is the "Poetics" of the Greek philosopher, a treatise on literary evolution, written three hundred years before the birth of Christ.
in literature?
Literature dates back to biblical times, people have always written and read. containing at least some text is already literature, for what is written is a person's thoughts, a reflection of his desires and aspirations. Lectures, petitions, church texts were written in great numbers, and thus the first literary genre appeared - birch bark. With the development of writing, the chronicle genre arose. Most often, what was written already bore some literary signs, graceful turns of speech, figurative allegories.
The next genre of literature was bylinas, epic legends about heroes and other heroes of historical plots. Religious literature, descriptions of biblical events, and the lives of the higher clergy can be considered separate.
The advent of book printing in the 16th century marked the beginning of the rapid development of literature. Styles and genres took shape throughout the 17th century.
18th century literature
The question of what genres are in can be answered unequivocally, that the literature of that time is conventionally divided into three main directions: drama, narration and poetic verses. Dramatic works often took the form of tragedy, when the heroes of the plot died, and the struggle between good and evil became more and more deadly. Alas, the conjuncture of the literary market dictated its conditions even then. The genre of calm storytelling also found its readers. Novels, novellas and short stories were considered the "middle link", while tragedies, poems and odes belonged to the "high" genre of literature, and satirical works, fables and comedies - to the "low" one.
Verse is a primitive form of poetry, which was used at balls, social events and other events of the highest nobility of the capital. Poems in the verse genre had signs of syllogistics; the verse was divided into rhythmic segments. The mechanical syllable, deadly for real poetry, dictated fashion for a long time.
Literature 19-20 centuries
The literature of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th is distinguished by several genres that were most in demand in the golden age of Pushkin and Gogol, and then in the silver age of Alexander Blok and Sergei Yesenin. Drama, epic and lyric poetry - this is what genres are in the literature of the past and the century before last.
The lyrics had to have an emotional connotation, be meaningful and purposeful. Its categories were ode and elegy, and ode - with enthusiastic surprise, chanting and elevation to the rank of heroes.
The lyrical elegy was built on the principle of the sad tonality of the verse, sadness as a result of the hero's experiences, regardless of what was the reason - or the disharmony of the universe.
What are genres in contemporary literature?
Genres in contemporary literature quite a lot, among them the most popular ones demanded by a wide readership can be distinguished:
- Tragedy is a kind of literary genre of drama, characterized by extreme emotional stress, with the obligatory death of the heroes.
- Comedy is another kind of drama genre that is the opposite of tragedy, with a fun plot and a happy ending.
- Fairy tale genre - literary direction for children, their creative development. There are many literary masterpieces in the genre.
- The epic is a literary genre of historical sense, describes individual events of past times in the style of heroism, is distinguished by a large number of characters.
- The novel genre is an extensive narrative, with several storylines, describing in detail the life of each character separately and all together, and is distinguished by a penchant for analyzing events.
- The story is a genre of medium form, written according to the same scheme as the novel, but in a more concise context. In the story, one character is usually singled out as the main character, the rest are described in "binding" to him.
- Story is a genre of short storytelling, a summary of one event. Its plot cannot have a continuation, it represents the quintessence of the author's thought, it always has a complete form.
- The novella is a genre similar to the story, the only difference is the sharpness of the plot. The story has an unexpected, unpredictable ending. This genre suits thrillers well.
- The genre of the essay is the same story, but in a non-artistic manner of presentation. In the essay, there are no flowery turns of speech, grandiloquent phrases and pathos.
- Satire as a literary genre is rare, its accusatory orientation does not contribute to its popularity, although satirical plays in theatrical production are well received.
- The detective genre is the most popular literary trend in recent times. Millions of paperback books by popular authors such as Alexandra Marinina, Daria Dontsova, Polina Dashkova and dozens of others have become tabletop for many Russian readers.
Conclusion
They are diverse, each contains the potential for further creative development, which will certainly be used by modern writers and poets.
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In Russia, literature has its own direction, which is different from any other. The Russian soul is mysterious and incomprehensible. The genre reflects both Europe and Asia, therefore the best classical Russian works are extraordinary, amaze with sincerity and vitality.
The main character is the soul. For a person, position in society, the amount of money is not important, it is important for him to find himself and his place in this life, to find truth and peace of mind.
The books of Russian literature are united by the features of a writer who possesses the gift of the great Word, who has completely devoted himself to this art of literature. The best classics saw life not flat, but multifaceted. They wrote about life not of accidental destinies, but of those expressing being in its most unique manifestations.
Russian classics are so different, with different fates, but they are united by the fact that literature is recognized as a school of life, a way of studying and developing Russia.
Russian classical literature was created by the best writers from different parts of Russia. It is very important where the author was born, because it depends on his formation as a person, his development, and it also affects the writing skills. Pushkin, Lermontov, Dostoevsky were born in Moscow, Chernyshevsky in Saratov, Shchedrin in Tver. Poltava region in Ukraine is the birthplace of Gogol, Podolsk province is Nekrasov, Taganrog is Chekhov.
Three great classics, Tolstoy, Turgenev and Dostoevsky, were absolutely different from each other people, had different fates, complex characters and great talents. They made a huge contribution to the development of literature, writing their best works, which still excite the hearts and souls of readers. Everyone should read these books.
Another important difference between the books of Russian classics is ridicule of the shortcomings of a person and his way of life. Satire and humor are the main features of the works. However, many critics said that this was all slander. And only true connoisseurs saw how the characters are both comic and tragic at the same time. Such books always touch the soul.
Here you can find the best works of classical literature. You can download free books of Russian classics or read online, which is very convenient. 
We present to your attention the 100 best books of Russian classics. AT full list books include the best and most memorable works of Russian writers. This literature is known to everyone and recognized by critics from around the world.
Of course, our list of Top 100 books is just a small part of the collection of the best works of the great classics. It can be continued for a very long time.
One hundred books that everyone should read in order to understand not only how they used to live, what were the values, traditions, priorities in life, what they were striving for, but to find out in general how our world works, how bright and pure the soul can be and how valuable it is for a person, for the formation of his personality.
The top 100 list includes the best and most famous works of Russian classics. The plot of many of them has been known since school. However, some books are difficult to understand at a young age, it requires wisdom that is acquired over the years.
Of course, the list is far from complete, it can be continued endlessly. Reading such literature is a pleasure. She not only teaches something, she radically changes lives, helps to realize simple things that we sometimes do not even notice.
We hope you enjoy our list of classic Russian literature books. Perhaps you have already read something from it, but some have not. A great reason to make your personal list of books, your top, which you would like to read.
These types of classification are not mutually exclusive, but demonstrate a different approach to the definition of genres. Therefore, one and the same book may refer to several of them at once.
Classification of genres of literature by gender
When classifying literary genres by gender, they start from the author's attitude to what is presented. The basis for this classification was laid by Aristotle. According to this principle, four major genres are distinguished: epic, lyric, dramatic and lyric-epic. Each of them has its own "subgenres".
In epic genres, events that have already taken place are told, and the author writes them down according to his memories, while at the same time he removes himself from the assessments of what has been said. These include epic novels, short stories, fairy tales, myths, ballads, fables and epics.
The lyric genre involves the transmission of the feelings experienced by the author in the form of a literary work in poetic form. These include odes, elegies, epigrams, epistles and stanzas.
A classic example of stanzas is Byron's Childe Harold.
The lyric-epic genre in literature combines the characteristics of epic and lyric genres. These include ballads and poems, in which both the plot and the author's attitude to what is happening are present.
The dramatic genre exists at the intersection of literature and theater. Nominally, it includes dramas, comedies and tragedies with a list of participating characters at the beginning and author's notes in the main text. However, in fact, it can be any work recorded in the form of a dialogue.
Classification of genres of literature by content
If we define works by content, then they are combined into three large groups: comedies, tragedies and dramas. Tragedy and drama, telling, respectively, about the tragic fate of the heroes and about the emergence and overcoming of the conflict, are rather homogeneous. Comedies are divided into several completely types, according to the action taking place: parody, farce, vaudeville, comedy of positions and characters, sketch and interlude.
Classification of genres of literature by form
When classifying genres by form, only such formal features as the structure and volume of a work are taken into account, regardless of their content.
Lyrical works are classified most clearly in this way, in prose the boundaries are more blurred.
According to this principle, thirteen genres are distinguished: epic, epic, novel, story, novella, story, sketch, play, essay, essay, opus, ode and vision.
Literature genres
Literary genres - historically formed groups of literary works, united by a set of formal and substantial properties (in contrast to literary forms, the selection of which is based only on formal features). The term is often incorrectly identified with the term "type of literature".
The genera, types and genres of literature do not exist as something unchanging, given from time to time and eternally existing. They are born, theoretically realized, historically developed, modified, dominate, freeze or retreat to the periphery, depending on the evolution of artistic thinking as such. The most stable, fundamental is, of course, the extremely general concept of "genre", the most dynamic and changeable is the much more specific concept of "genre".
The first attempts at theoretical substantiation of the genus make themselves felt in the ancient doctrine of mimesis (imitation). Plato in The State, and then Aristotle in Poetics, came to the conclusion that poetry is of three kinds, depending on what, how and by what means, it imitates. In other words, the generic division of fiction is based on the subject, means and methods of imitation.
Separate remarks about the ways of organizing artistic time and space (chronotope), scattered in Poetics, constitute the prerequisites for further division into types and genres of literature.
Aristotle's concept of generic characteristics is traditionally called formal. Its successors are representatives of German aesthetics of the 18th-19th centuries. Goethe, Schiller, Aug. Schlegel, Schelling. Around the same time, the principles of the opposite - a meaningful approach to the generic division of fiction were laid down. It was initiated by Hegel, who proceeded from the epistemological principle: the object of artistic knowledge in the epic is the object, in the lyrics - the subject, in the drama - their synthesis. Accordingly, the content of an epic work is being in its integrity, dominating over the will of people, therefore the event plan prevails in it; the content of the lyric work is the state of mind, the mood of the lyric hero, therefore the eventfulness in it recedes into the background; the content of a dramatic work is striving for a goal, a person's volitional activity, manifested in action.
Derived from the category of the genus, or, rather, clarifying, concretizing its concepts are the concepts of "species" and "genre". We traditionally call a species a stable structural formation within a literary genus, grouping even smaller genre modifications. For example, an epic consists of small, medium and large types, such as a story, an essay, a short story, a story, a novel, a poem, an epic. However, they are often called genres, which, in a strict terminological sense, concretize the types either in the historical, or thematic, or in the structural aspect: an antique novel, a Renaissance short story, a psychological or industrial essay or a novel, a lyrical story, a story - an epic (“Fate man "M. Sholokhov). Some structural forms combine specific and genre characteristics, i.e. types of genre do not have varieties (such are, for example, types and at the same time genres of medieval theater soti and moralite). However, along with synonymous word use, a hierarchical differentiation of both terms is relevant. Accordingly, the types are subdivided into genres according to a number of different characteristics: thematic, stylistic, structural, volume, in relation to the aesthetic ideal, reality or fiction, main aesthetic categories, etc.
Literature genres
Comedy - type of dramatic work. Displays everything that is ugly and ridiculous, funny and absurd, makes fun of the vices of society.
Lyric poem (in prose) - a type of fiction that emotionally and poetically expresses the feelings of the author.
Melodrama - a kind of drama, the characters of which are sharply divided into positive and negative.
Fantasy - a subgenre of fantastic literature. The works of this subgenre are written in an epic fairytale manner, using the motives of ancient myths and legends. The plot is usually based on magic, heroic adventures and travel; the plot usually contains magical creatures; the action takes place in a fairy-tale world reminiscent of the Middle Ages.
Feature article - the most reliable type of narrative, epic literature, displaying facts from real life.
Song, or song - the most ancient type of lyric poetry; a poem consisting of several verses and a chorus. Songs are divided into folk, heroic, historical, lyrical, etc.
Story - medium form; a work that highlights a number of events in the life of the protagonist.
Poem - type of lyrical epic work; poetic story narration.
Story - small form, a work about one event in the life of a character.
Novel - large form; a work in the events of which many characters usually take part, whose fates are intertwined. Novels are philosophical, adventure, historical, family and social, and social.
Tragedy - a kind of a dramatic work telling about the unfortunate fate of the protagonist, often doomed to death.
Utopia - genre of fiction, close to science fiction, describing the model of the ideal, from the point of view of the author, society. Unlike dystopia, it is characterized by the author's belief in the perfection of the model.
Epic - a work or cycle of works depicting a significant historical era or a major historical event.
Drama- (in a narrow sense) one of the leading genres of drama; a literary work written in the form of a dialogue between the characters. Intended for performance on stage. Focused on spectacular expressiveness. The mutual relations of people, the conflicts that arise between them are revealed through the actions of the heroes and are embodied in a monologo-dialogical form. Unlike tragedy, drama does not end with catharsis.
