Rethinking Genre Studies

Cultural-Ecological Perspectives and Ecological Metaphors of Genre

Authors

• Sari Kivistö Tampereen yliopisto https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9565-9291
• Saija Isomaa Tampereen yliopisto https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0313-383X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30665/av.152075

Keywords:

genre theory, cultural ecology, metaphors of genre, analogies of genre, genre fields, transnationalism, transmediality

Abstract

This article revitalises the historical genre theory of literature by developing a cultural-ecological approach to conceptualising and understanding genres. It examines the significance of literary genres as builders of cultural sustainability. By critically evaluating the biological metaphors previously employed in genre theory, the article highlights the differences between the developmental processes of nature and culture and analyses the idea of the creative formation of literary genres and the emergence of new ones. We argue that the biological metaphor, which has served as an epistemological tool in previous genre theory, can be developed into an ethical concept for examining genres from an ecological perspective. Alongside the critical dissection of metaphors, we propose new biological metaphors, such as mutualism, as epistemological tools for genre thinking. We also discuss biological metaphors and ecology as alternative ways to examine the development of genres and analyse the significance of genre fields, transnationalism, and transmediality, which have played a minor role in previous genre theory, in the sustainability of genres. An ecological understanding allows literary genres to be seen as platforms of creative cultural-ecological processes and recombinations. The revision of biological metaphors in the new historical context contributes to the internal historical discussion of genre theory and connects it to current ecological questions about the significance of literature in culture and society.