The Literary Genres in Theory and Practice A Minority View.pdf

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The Literary Genres in Theory and Practice: A Minority View
Author(s): Joseph P. Clancy
Source:
College English,
Vol. 28, No. 7 (Apr., 1967), pp. 486-495
Published by:
National Council of Teachers of English
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486
COLLEGE
ENGLISH
did not speak of the stages in the develop-
ment of the 'Weltgeist' but, say, of the
postal correspondence of the Bernoulli
family, though it knew that every thought
of however distant a time, surprisedin its
place and at its task, must be laid bare to
our logical commentary. Otherwise it loses
its interest for us and submits to the guid-
ance of the archaeologist or the historian
of costumes, characters, literature, social
and political tendencies and so forth."
Boris Pasternak, Safe Conduct
attitude to historical development. That
repellent condescension to the past was
foreign to the school, and it did not look
down on the past as on a poorhouse where
a handful of old men in chlamyses and
sandals or perukes and long jackets utter
their lying and obscure lines, excusable for
the wonders of the Corinthian order, the
Gothic, Baroqueor some other architectural
style. The homogeneity of the structure of
science was as much the rule for the school
as the anatomicalidentity of historicalman.
. At Marburg they gazed at history
through both of Hegel's eyes, i.e. with
brilliant universality, but at the same time
within the exact boundaries of a judicious
verisimilitude. So for instance the school
(tr. Beatrice Scott), Prose and
Poems, ed. Stefan Schimanski,
Ernest Benn Ltd, London 1959,
pp. 38-39. Quoted by permission
of Ernest Benn Ltd.
The Literary Genres in Theory and Practice:
A Minority View
JOSEPH P. CLANCY
has been ably summarized by Marlies K.
Danziger and W. Stacey Johnson in An
I SHALL DISCUSSthe theory of literary
Introduction to the Study of Literature
genres primarily as it affects pedagogical
shun none of the
practice, especially in the freshman and/ (Boston, 1965). They
or sophomore courses most often called complexities in their chapter on "Literary
"Introduction to Literature." I assume Traditions and Conventions," but they
that in these courses teachers and students forthrightly state: "If we were asked to
must, as a first step towards understand- name offhand the three obvious basic
we should almost without hesita-
ing and enjoyment, ask what W. H. genres,
Auden in The Dyer's Hand (New York, tion say drama, poetry, and fiction" (p.
The book, one notes, is intended as
1962) calls "the questions [one] would 76).
ask if any work of literature, e.g., what a guide for students; the concept it states
kind of writing is this, as compared with is the structural basis for all the antholo-
other kinds? What are its special virtues gies now on the market that employ a
and its special limitations? Judged by its genre framework. Two recent ones
own intentions, what makes one [work edited by distinguished critics, Mark
of this kind] better or worse than an- Schorer's Galaxy (New York, 1967) and
Lionel Trilling's The Experience of Lit-
other?" (p. 211)
The current theory of literary genres erature (New York, 1967), follow this
standard pattern, even to the exclusion
P. Clancy is Professor of English at
of "non-fictional
Joseph
prose" as a fourth genre.
Marymount ManhattanCollege. He is now pre-
and Warren's An Ap-
paring a second volume of translations of
Brooks, Purser,
to Literature (New York, 1964)
proach
Medieval Welsh Lyrics (Macmillan 1965).
I.
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LITERARY
GENRES
IN THEORY
AND
PRACTICE
487
and some other anthologies retain this tice, by making a simple working distinc-
fourth genre: one may speculate that tion: for the purposes of the reader of
what appears to be an increasing ten- literature, "fiction" refers to works whose
dency to eliminate it may have either a esthetic effects do not depend on their
practical cause-the material is already being truthful records of actual experi-
used in composition courses, or a theo- ences (e.g., Donne's "The Canoniza-
retical one-the strong influence of Rene tion"), even though they may in fact be
Wellek and Austin Warren's Theory of such records; "non-fiction" refers to
Literature (New York, 1949), which is works whose esthetic effects do depend
very doubtful about classifying anything on their being truthful records, as far
as this is humanly possible (e.g., C.
"non-fictional" as literature.
I am obviously in a minority-perhaps a V. Wedgwood's A Coffin for King
minority of one-in my belief that cur- Charles).
rent theory and practice are both wrong
III.
in themselves and harmful in the effect
I propose that there are four basic lit-
they have on the way students read lit-
erary works. The belief is based on 15 erary genres:
1. "Lyric," or X: the use of language
years of trying to teach along current
lines, and 3 years of trying to develop a to express the thoughts and feelings of a
reasonable alternative. It is the alternative single character in a single situation. I
that I wish to explore for the remainder have used the term "lyric" because it is
of this essay.
the only literary term we have that is
somewhat applicable, but it carries with
II.
it associations that are not relevant, such
Two preliminary problems, before get- as suitability for musical accompaniment,
and it is often applied to works I would
ting to the heart of the matter.
The first is the distinction between exclude from this genre, such as short
"poetry" and "prose." "Poetry" as a term narrative poems (whether sung or not).
has become so semantically blurred that Hence the quotation marks around the
I find it of little value in criticism and word, and the alternative symbol X.
bewildering in the classroom. It seems to Elder Olson uses the term in approxi-
me more useful to distinguish two me- mately my sense in his introduction to
diums or, following Dryden, two "har- American Lyric Poems (New York,
monies," "verse" and "prose," and to use 1964): "The lyric is concerned, pri-
these terms neutrally, i.e., without im- marily, with personal action or reaction
plying a value judgment on either. as such; that is, with how some indi-
(What the difference is between verse vidual feels or thinks or acts in a given
and prose, and what utility each has for situation; and it is concerned with that
certain kinds of writing, are fascinating behavior in isolation, without reference
questions; they demand classroom discus- to its position in a sequence of incidents"
sion; but I do not propose to handle them
(p. 3).
While I do not wish to lengthen this
here.) I begin, then, in theory and in
teaching practice, by refusing to attempt essay unduly by trying to list sub-groups
to treat as examples of the single genre of for each genre, it may be helpful to
"poetry" such works as "To His Coy clarify this one by distinguishing three
Mistress," "Troilus and Criseyde," and basic types of "lyric," as exemplified in
"An Essay on Man."
three familiar works, Herrick's "To
The second problem is the distinction Dianeme," Frost's "Stopping By Woods
between "fiction" and "non-fiction." I On a Snowy Evening," and the anony-
begin, in theory and in classroom prac- mous "Western Wind." What all three
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488
COLLEGE
ENGLISH
Browne, which can stand independent of
their contexts and be read as "meditative
prose lyrics," but I do not like to apply
the concept to excerpts. John Donne's
Devotions, on the other hand, is best read
as a chronological sequence of "prose
lyrics," analogous to the sonnet sequence
in verse. There are some letters-Raleigh's
to his wife on the eve of his execution,
Johnson's famous one to Chesterfield-
which seem to me most meaningful when
read as X. And Lincoln's Gettysburg Ad-
dress is, by this definition, splendidly X,
a "prose lyric."
Is X or "lyric" fiction or non-fiction?
Fiction, certainly: it does not matter
esthetically, even if we can know, wheth-
er these were or were not the actual
thoughts of the writer in an actual situa-
tion. I can find no esthetic difference be-
tween Burns' "The Banks o' Doon," with
its fictitious female speaker, and John-
son's "On My First Son." In this I agree
with Wellek and Warren: "Even in the
subjective lyric, the 'I' of the poet is a
fictional, dramatic 'I'" (p. 15). Yeats put
it succinctly: "I speak in my own person,
and dramatize myself."
2. Drama: the use of language (and
gesture, usually, and voice) to imitate an
incident or sequence of incidents. In con-
trast to "lyric," drama presents changes
in situation and characters: it shows us,
in Eric Bentley's words, "the dynamics
of relationship"; in Elder Olson's "inter-
personal action." Since I am using the
concept of this genre in its accepted
sense, there is no need for a detailed
explanation. But it may be worthwhile to
stress one obvious fact: drama is the least
"pure" of the literary genres, since it is
normally meant to be seen and/or heard
rather than read. Even in the greatest lit-
erary plays there are moments, such as
the dueling scene in Hamlet, when what
we read is a kind of libretto for actors
and director. Some plays are never more
than this when read, and can be ex-
perienced adequately only in perform-
ance.
have in common is a single character ex-
pressing his thoughts and feelings in a
single situation. In Herrick's work the
speaker is directly addressing another
person: we may usefully call this "dra-
matic lyric," as long as the adjective is
understood to refer not to the tone of
voice but to the fact of direct address. In
Frost's work the speaker is musing to
himself: we may usefully call this "re-
flective" or "meditative" lyric. In "West-
ern Wind" the speaker is obviously alone,
but his meditation is given intensity by
his directly addressing the wind: the
force of the character's feelings makes
it natural for his meditation to be cast
in "dramatic" form. As is evident in the
three poems, the "I" of the speaker may
be explicit or implicit. The same is true
of his situation: his relationship with a
person addressed may be relatively un-
defined, as in "To Dianeme," or very
definite indeed; his physical location may
be very explicit, as in Frost's poem, or
not stated at all, as in Herrick's.
X or "lyric" is short, for the reason
given by Olson: "The peculiar nature
of lyric poetry is related, not to its verbal
brevity, but to the brevity of the human
behavior which it depicts. Its verbal
brevity, in general, is a consequence of
the brevity of its action" (p. 2). Since
the action of a "lyric" is confined to the
thoughts and feelings of one character at
one moment in time and space, it cannot
of its nature be very long: only as much
time elapses within a lyric as it takes its
speaker to think these thoughts and to
feel these feelings before his situation
changes, so that while the work can be
as short as "Western Wind," it cannot be
much longer than "Tintern Abbey" or
"Little Gidding."
Must X or "lyric" be in verse? Not by
its nature, but in English there are few
"lyrics" in prose. There are the psalms,
which in the King James version at least
we read not as translations but as English
"prose lyrics." There are passages in
many writers, such as Sir Thomas
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LITERARY
GENRES
IN
THEORY
AND
PRACTICE
489
Drama can be in verse or prose or a
mixture of both: what many theorists and
teachers refuse to concede to the other
genres they somewhat inconsistently con-
cede to this. There is, of course, the
speaker in Eliot's "A Dialogue on Dra-
matic Poetry" who insists that "prose
drama is merely a slight by-product of
verse drama" (Selected Essays [New
York, 1932], p. 34), and Bonamy Do-
brde's remark in The Lamp and the Lute
(New York, 1964) that "verse on the
stage is no more than the most effective
form of speech for an actor to utter" (p.
147). But no one seriously contends that
prose drama is essentially a different
genre than verse drama.
Is drama fiction or non-fiction? It may
seem absurd to raise the question: we
would usually answer "fiction" without
hesitation. But what of the "documen-
tary" play or film? Here it does seem that
an assurance of the dramatist's fidelity to
facts is an important part of our esthetic
response. And what of such "historical"
plays as Bolt's A Man For All Seasons and
Osborne's Luther? I think we give the
playwright in these cases a license to fic-
tify, but it is far more limited than the
license our ancestors gave, or we our-
selves give, to Shakespeare in Henry IV:
unless we feel that Bolt and Osborne
have been true to the essential facts of
their characters' lives, even if we disagree
with their interpretations, we do not re-
spond favorably to the play.
3. Narrative: The use of language to
relate an incident or sequence of inci-
dents. Like drama, narrative deals with
changes in situation and characters; un-
like drama, which shows these, it tells
of them. It may do so "dramatically," by
means of pure dialogue, but it does not
demand, as drama does, staging for its
fullest effect, and point of view is, one
need hardly stress at this moment in the
history of criticism, of the essence in nar-
rative. As in my discussion of drama, I am
using the term "narrative"in its accepted
sense, and there is no need for a detailed
explanation of its basic elements. But I
include in this genre, in theory and in
teaching practice, narratives in verse as
well as in prose, and non-fictional as well
as fictional narratives, and this requires
some comment.
Current theory sees verse narrative as a
sub-group of "poetry." In current teach-
ing practice, verse narrative is usually
given short shrift; general anthologies and
verse anthologies reflect (or perhaps de-
termine?) current teaching practice. The
nature of narrative verse as narrative is
blurred by treating it together with lyric
and separating it from narrative prose;
the nature of narrative itself as a genre is
poorly served by such a separation. It is
hardly surprising that many freshmen and
sophomores think of narrative in terms of
the novel and the modern short story, a
condition similar to thinking of drama in
terms of its post-Ibsen forms.
I submit that it makes far more sense
to treat narrative verse together with nar-
rative prose, stressing their common
elements more than their differences.
Tennyson's "The Last Tournament," for
example, is an extraordinary work in its
narrative structure, making superb use
of a double plot and of time shift; George
Crabbe's "Peter Grimes" is the story of a
character experiencing psychological de-
terioration: both are best studied in re-
lation to similar materials and techniques
in fictional prose narratives.1 And other
poems gain by such treatment. A col-
league recently confessed to me that she
had never realized until recently that
George Herbert's "Love" is a brilliantly
told story. Herbert writes narrative verse,
in fact, almost as often as he does "lyric"
1Two
anthologies of stories in recent years
have broken with current practice by including
verse as well as prose narratives: Randall Jar-
rell's The Anchor Book of Stories (New York,
1958), and Richard Stern's Honey and Wax
(Chicago, 1966). There is no really satisfactory
anthology of narrative verse: David Herbert's
The Penguin Book of Narrative Verse (Harm-
mondsworth, 1960) is excellent in the range of
its material but abridges the longer poems.
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