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Literary Genres in the Age of Convergence

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Organizer: Francesca Medaglia

Co-Organizer: Daniel Raffini

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Throughout history, literary genres have served various functions, from a simple classificatory role to a more normative one, depending on the context and era. The discussion of genres began with Plato in “The Republic” and has since continued to engage philosophers, critics, and scholars across the centuries, leading to significant debates and profound changes in genre theory. From Aristotle to the scholars of the Alexandrian era—who connected genres with styles and meticulously classified them, attempting for the first time to distinguish subgenres, or πολυμερέστατα—to medieval scholars who created entirely new genres, such as the novel.

Boileau’s “Art Poétique” (1674) also contributes to this ongoing debate, which spans every century, ultimately reaching Goethe in his “West-östlicher Divan”, where the boundaries between genres begin to blur. Not to be overlooked are Schlegel and Hegel with his “Vorlesungen über die Ästhetik”, who sought to integrate both a historical and an atemporal perspective, leading up to Brunetière and later Tynjanov, who opposed the idea of an evolutionary progression of literature. Tynjanov argued that literature advances through leaps and shifts rather than through a uniform development, thus aiming to deconstruct traditional literary genres in favor of new ones emerging from the minor elements of literary production, from the most hidden corners, and from the folds of culture.

Over time, genres have become tools for comparing works, evaluating them, and positioning them within a specific literary landscape, thereby becoming true literary institutions. In many cases, genres have served as a means of organizing the cultural system, either by including or excluding certain works, and as a way of experimenting with and facilitating artistic transformation. With the advent of convergent media, genres have undoubtedly experienced further changes, both theoretically and in practice.

This panel aims to explore how genres engage with the contemporary era of convergence, seeking to determine whether, in today’s literary, intermedia, and digital contexts, genres remain relevant and useful, and whether they have evolved in response to the characteristics of convergent culture, such as transmediality, participatory culture, and collective intelligence. Contributions that examine the notion of genre from a theoretical perspective, assessing its potential changes and adaptability to the age of convergence, as well as more critical analyses of specific cases, will be considered.

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