Blog #4- BBG Ch. 1- A Response

Genre has always been a difficult concept for me to grasp when it comes to literature. Music genres are rather simple to determine, the song sounds a certain way and is made using certain instruments or technology and you can easily tell which genre it fits, like a techno song has synthesized sounds and a death metal song has a lot of screaming. with literature, its never been as cut and dry, and I often find it difficult to determine which genre a piece falls under. The first chapter of Bedford’s Book of Genres helped me to realize that my high school teachers were wrong, a piece doesn't have to fall under one category. This makes a lot more sense to me because pieces of literature are so complex and can communicate so much outside of just one genre. I also like how the book talked about how there are overlapping purposes for writing a piece too, its not just to persuade or inform or etc, but maybe to do multiple things. Its also important to know your target audience so you can communicate effectively with them and make the most of your piece. The book helped me to see how limited my previous teachings had made my understanding of literature genres and purpose. I also thought it was interesting to see how they mentioned that people chose a way of writing based on what was popular in the time, as we often don’t think of writing styles going through eras as much as we may with say films or music.