15 literary genres (some you’ve heard of; some you haven’t and some that will surprise you…)

Robert McCrum in Monday’s Guardian published a list of 15 different modern literary genres. Not sure how far he was having fun, but even so some surprising omissions.
1. Lit lit ( so good they named it twice…)
2. Ghost lit (Not stories about the white sheet variety but memoirs and novels written by ghost writers)
3. Graphic book lit
4. Chick lit
5. Gran lit (for 60+)
6. Erotic lit
7. Booker lit (Books that the judges might like)
8. US lit
9. Commonwealth lit
10. Oz lit
11. Indian lit
12. Kids’ lit
13. Translated lit
14. SF/fantasy
15. Blog lit (Blogs that become books)

Wonder what happened to historical fiction, crime and thriller.
And is gran lit a white haired version of hag lit I remember hearing about five or six years ago?
And at the other end of the age spectrum what about YA (young adult).

If we are going to have labels, can you think of any other genres that should have been included on the list?

7 comments on “15 literary genres (some you’ve heard of; some you haven’t and some that will surprise you…)”

ann perrin
November 23, 2012

How about comedy lit for funny books, and shit lit for greedy celebs, who fill up book shelves with crap!

Reply
- bridget whelan
  November 23, 2012
  
  Greedy Lit – yes! Especially those glossy over-priced lightweight buy-me-as-a-present books by celebs…
  
  Reply
susioddball
November 23, 2012

blokeit? Specialneedsit?

________________________________

Reply
- bridget whelan
  November 23, 2012
  
  bloke Lit — is that Hemmingway or Andy McNab? And is everything left out just plain old fiction?
  
  Reply
Vikki (The View Outside)
November 23, 2012

I hate all these labels, it’s such a pain! 😦 But I understand why it’s done, and probably does help the reader when book buying.

What is commonwealth lit? Lol

Xx

Reply
- bridget whelan
  November 23, 2012
  
  I guess that’s writing from a commonwealth country that isn’t Australia or Indian because they get their own genre. Hang on, that’s means all of Margaret Atwood’s books – including the wonderful Handmaid’s Tale – would come under commonwealth lit. Weird.
  
  Reply
  - Vikki (The View Outside)
    November 25, 2012
    
    Very weird! Lol
    
    Xx

Leave a reply to bridget whelan Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Information

This entry was posted on November 23, 2012 by bridget whelan in News and tagged Ghostwriter, Literary genre, Robert McCrum, The Guardian.

Shortlink

https://wp.me/p2EeQv-8e