Om genrebegrebet

Genrebegrebet er etableret i litteraturhistorien. Nykritikerne René Wellek og Austin Warren kalder i deres indflydelsesrige »Theory of Literature« (1949) det litterære genre-system for »An institution ... a principle of order. (...) Genre should be conceived, we think, as a grouping of literary works based, theoretically, upon both outer (specific meter or structure) and also upon inner form (attitude, tone, purpose – more crudely, subject and audience)«.