Guillén writes, "The concept of genre occupies a central position in the study of literary history [. . .] because it has succeeded so well and for so long in bridging the gap between critical theory and the practice of literary criticism" (108). The significance of individual texts and writers is naturally phrased in terms of their roles in processes of intra-generic "evolution", and inter-generic "mixture" that are central to modern genre theory (Duff). Hence the individual work that ushers in the birth of a new genre by manipulating existing genres epitomizes the nature of creativity in generic literary history (Todorov).
According to Relihan, Lucian's Necyomantia and Icaromenippus typify the generic blend defining Menippean satire:
"three essential parodies [. . .] are to be related to the theme of the fantastic voyager in the land of ultimate answers, whose experience champions the values of common sense. [. . .] Menippean satire is compounded of the Odyssey's tale of a liar shaman and his battle against both death and immortality; Old Comedy's exaltation of common humanity over charlatans; and Plato's apocalyptic dramatization of the relative values of philosopher and theory." (31-34)
Cognitive schema theory has been effectively adapted to the study of genres as "templates" for creation and interpretation (Colie, Rosmarin, Chandler, Viehoff). Fauconnier and Turner's theory of conceptual blending models the integration of networks of "mental spaces" structured by schemas; it is a "mechanism of creativity". These two texts will serve to test how well blending theory can reflect, refine, and explain the large-scale patterns in this history (parody, combination, transformation).
[M.S.]
Works Cited
Chandler, Daniel. "An Introduction to Genre Theory." 1997. The Media and Communications Studies Site. U of Wales, Aberystwyth. 19 Sept. 2000.
Colie, Rosalie. The Resources of Kind: Genre-Theory in the Renaissance. Ed. Barbara K. Lewalski. Berkeley: U of California P, 1973.
Duff, David, ed. and introd. Modern Genre Theory. Essex: Pearson Education, 2000.
Fauconnier, Gilles, and Mark Turner. "Conceptual Integration Networks" Cognitive Science 22.2 (April-June 1998): 133-187. Expanded web vers. 10 Feb. 2001. Blending and Conceptual Integration. Ed. Mark Turner. March 2001.
Guillén, Claudio. Literature As System: Essays Toward the Theory of Literary History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971.
Lucian, Works. Trans. A. M. Harmon. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991.
Relihan, Joel C. Ancient Menippean Satire. Johns Hopkins UP: Baltimore, 1993.
Rosmarin, Adena. The Power of Genre. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1985.
Todorov, Tzvetan. "The Origin of Genres." Modern Genre Theory. Ed. David Duff. Essex: Pearson Education, 2000. 193-209. Rpt. from Genres in Discourse. Trans. Catherine Porter. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990.
Turner, Mark. "Figure." Figurative Language and Thought. Counterpoints: Cognition, Memory, and Language. Albert N. Katz, Cristina Cacciari, Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr., and Mark Turner. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1998. 44-87.
---. The Literary Mind. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.
Turner, Mark, and Gilles Fauconnier. "A Mechanism of Creativity."² Poetics Today 20.3 (Fall), 397-418.
Viehoff, Reinhold. "Literary Genres as Cognitive Schemata". Empirical Approaches to Literature: Proceedings of the Fourth Biannual Conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature - IGEL. Budapest, August 1994. Ed. Gebhard Rusch. Siegen, Germany: LUMIS-Publications, 1995. 72-76.