The Madness of Genre MARGARET MULLETT 4(• n author-even a Byzantine author-de- does violence not only to the sensibility of the critic serves to be regarded as an entity, not to be but also to the object he is studying. In the case of torn to pieces in the interests of proving the eter- genre, however, there has been a considerable re- nal stability of genres."' We need not be led astray vival. Much literature is emanating from such di- by the disarming parenthesis. The volume from verse schools of thought as New Criticism, Russian which this quotation is taken has transformed the Formalism, Structuralism, and Rezeptionstheorie,6 study of Byzantine literature as a serious study in and in classical studies generic analysts have its own right; its authors show nothing but scorn formed something of a school in themselves in the for scholars who delight in discussing Byzantine wake of Francis Cairns' GenericComposition in Greek literature simply to point out how bad it is. It used and Latin Poetry.7 Since Byzantine literary study is to be that "Byzantine literature has never had a so young, it may be helpful to learn what literary good press, least of all from its own students,"2 but theorists say about genre. The first point is per- that, after Kazhdan and Franklin, is no longer haps that, with the possible exception of the clas- true. The volume's opening chapter, which was sical genericists, no theorist of genre would now first given as a paper at the Institut fuir Byzantin- proclaim any eternal stability or immutability of istik in Vienna, points out the inadequacies of the genre. Even the indefatigable Paul Hernadi, trying Handbuch approach to Byzantine literature before desperately in more than three hundred pages to turning to a passionate plea for the study of au- arrive at a genre diagram that works for more than thors rather than genres. My aim is not to cham- a short period of time, falls back on the stratagem pion one against the other (my own interest lies of modes of discourse "depending on the critic's with the reader), but rather to demonstrate the im- approach."s Most theorists work with the assump- portance of genre in Byzantine literature in the as- tion that the immutability of genres is an ancient sessment of both composition and reception. misapprehension,9 as foolish as the assumption In many ways neither author nor genre is at the that writing within a genre in some way stunts an forefront of current literary debate. The tendency author's creativity.'0 For the formalists, genre was is toward depersonalization, to a voice embedded important precisely in the dynamics and shifts of in text, and to an indeterminacy of meaning that one genre system to another." For Hans Jauss the ignores generic signals.3 In 1968 Roland Barthes tension between synchronic and diachronic visions proclaimed the death of the author.4 As for genre, that service was provided in 1902 Benedetto by 6For a brisk survey see H. Dubrow, Genre, The Critical Idiom Croce, who proclaimed that every work of art was 42 (London-New York, 1982), 82-104. F. Generic in a genre in itself.5 For him, classifying literature ac- 7 Cairns, Composition Greekand Roman Poetry(Edin- C. "Ovid Amores and cording to genre denies its nature and hence burgh, 1972); cf., e.g., J. McKeown, 3.12," very J. G. Howie, "Sappho Fr 94 (LP): Farewell, Consolation and Help in a New Life," both in Papers of the LiverpoolLatin Seminar, 1A. Kazhdan and S. Franklin, Studies on ByzantineLiterature of ed. F. C. Cairns, ARCA 3 (Liverpool, 1979), 163-77, 299-342, the Eleventh and TwelfthCenturies (Cambridge, 1987), viii. esp. 330-35. M. E. with 2 Mullett, "Dancing Deconstructionists in the Gar- 8P. Hernadi, Beyond Genre: New Directionsin LiteraryClassifica- dens of the Muses," BMGS 14 (1990), 258-75, reviewing recent tion (Cornell, 1972). developments in the study of Byzantine literature. 9See, e.g., A. Fowler, Kinds of Literature:An Introductionto the 3These and related themes are discussed in V. B. Leitch's use- Theoryof Genresand Modes (Oxford, 1982), 37. ful Deconstructive Criticism: An Advanced Introduction (London, 10C. Guillen, Literature as System:Essays towards the Theory of 1983). LiteraryHistory (Princeton, 1971), 377, 111-12, 120, 129. "The Death of the in 4R. Barthes, Author," Image, Music, Text, 11E.g., J. Tynjanov, "On Literary Evolution," in Readings in trans. and ed. S. Heath (London-New York, 1977), 142-48. Russian Poetics, ed. L. Matejka and K. Panaska (Cambridge, 5B. Croce, Estetica, trans. D. Ainslie (New York, 1968), 38. Mass., 1971), 66-78. This content downloaded from 147.52.9.55 on Sun, 5 Oct 2014 16:37:47 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 234 MARGARET MULLETT of a genre system enables him to bridge the gap advantages and disadvantages of both.18 It uses an between art history and material history to provide echo of an intrusive genre to cast a shadow of dif- a "new literary history."12But for students of Byz- ferent values and assumptions;19 it can solve major antine literature, particularly in the Vienna mold, traditional problems (at least for a time),20 it can this is a novel, and dangerous, thought, and for illuminate the thought processes of any literary so- them certainly Kazhdan and Franklin were right ciety,21it can aid the detection of parody;22 it can to emphasize genre as an indicator that there was help in evaluation-Is this work good of its kind? no development in Byzantine literature. Just as an- More than that?23-and it offers a backdrop tiquity for Cairns is a time-free zone, in which ge- against which to view originality.24 It has been used neric prescriptions are eternally played and re- to defend the determinacy of literary meaning (al- played, so for Herbert Hunger and indeed for though this is by no means necessary)25 and to Cyril Mango'3 Byzantine literature never really solve various major critical problems; it has been changed, even behind its facade of immutability. I seen as "an organizing principle of the redundan- must reject this view, since it appears to undervalue cies by which it is possible to break the hermeneu- the complexity and sophistication of Byzantine lit- tic circle and reconstruct old or difficult works";26 erary discourse, or, to put it more bluntly, to take it objectifies response to any piece of ancient po- the Byzantines at face value, or to ignore the enor- etry;27 it offers a clue to authorial intention, for by mous social and educational changes like the catas- opting to write within a genre the writer makes a trophes of the mid-sixth century, the Byzantine statement about his relationship with his predeces- Dark Ages, the defeat of Mantzikert, and the Com- sors, his anxiety, or his influence.28 It locates indi- nene revolution, which-as an unregenerate his- viduality vis-a-vis intention: "Without knowledge torian-I believe must be analyzed in relation to of revenge tragedy Hamlet would be incompre- the way Byzantines wrote and read. hensible."29 In short it brings the author (for me Let us first examine what theorists of genre con- uncomfortably) back into the spotlight and allows sider the main benefits of a generic approach, be- sidelong lunges at his intentions, unhoped for fore observing some disadvantages and then pro- after the depredations of William Wimsatt and ceeding to a discussion of Byzantine systems of Monroe Beardsley.30 If only half of these claims genre. All (with the possible exception of Hernadi) can be substantiated for Byzantine literature, agree that classification is not a useful purpose of Kazhdan and Franklin, far from decrying genre genre. Many would see genre as a communication should seize upon it as a technique entirely con- system for the use of writers in writing, readers in sistent with their own aims and viewpoint. reading and interpreting;14 most would allow the It is generally agreed that, in contrast to the role of generic recognition in the reading process: Genre, 25-26, is of romance and fabliau a single paragraph is read differently according to 18Dubrow'sexample, Bil- in the juxtaposed Knight's Tale and Miller's Tale. whether it is read as a murder mystery or a 19Dubrow's examples, ibid., 26-27, are of pastoral in King dungsroman.'5Many see an advantage in setting a Lear and comedy in TheJew of Malta. in a historical to observe the sub- 20Cairns, Generic Composition,31. work perspective, 21Cairns, ibid. sequent genre generated by it (every work changes 22Dubrow, Genre, 24. the genre in which it is written)." Genre enables a 23Fowler, Kinds of Literature,272-76. reader to avoid faults of rather 24R. Cohen, "Innovation and Variation: Literary Change and seeing composition Literatureand ed. R. Cohen and M. an assumed Georgic Poetry," in History, than a writer's exploitation of familiar- Krieger (Los Angeles, 1974), 3-42, esp. 5 ff. ity with a forgotten genre.17 It enables a writer to 25E. D. Hirsch, Validityin Interpretation(New Haven, Conn., one form off another, and show the 1967). play literary 26Fowler,Kinds of Literature,278. 27 Cairns, Generic Composition,31. 28Fowler, Kinds of Literature,257 ff. R. "Theory of Genres and Medieval Literature," 29Fowler, ibid., 262. 12H. Jauss, "The Intentional Fal- trans. T. Bahti, Towardsan Aesthetic of Reception (Minneapolis- 30W.K. Wimsatt and M. C. Beardsley, The VerbalIcon: Studies in the Brighton, 1982), 76-109. lacy," Meaning of Poetry (Lexington, a revival of discussion see D.