How To Determine A Literary Genre In Famous Works

How to determine a literary genre in famous works

In academic fields, there is a whole complexity when taking the Bible as literature and therefore, among scientists there is the resistance of accepting it as a literary genre to belong to the religious field;But it should be considered that the Bible is not a book of exclusive use of religious entities, therefore, it cannot be put in obstacles where the same literature did not put them, since literature is written from life, and religion isOne of the deepest experiences that human culture live, as Paul Tillich would say: religion is the substance of culture, and culture is the form of religion, conceiving that cultures are dynamic (1974, p.180) And literature understands that, so, for the most major.

In relation to the apocalyptic gender, three hypotheses were considered throughout the investigations:

The first, affirms that Apocalypse is a literary genre. In this group are authors such as Kummel, who states that apocalyptic literature is a literary genre constituted by a symbolic universe of interpretation of reality (1982);or McGinn, who says that: "Apocalypse belong to a literary form that categorically requires a reading that contains more than the apparent sense". (1997, P. 508)

The second is that the Apocalypse is not a literary genre. For example, Gerhard von Rad believes that the Apocalypse would not represent a literary genre as such and, according to the history of forms, classify those writings as a mixtum compositum (2006, p.

738), but it does accept that this literature received many foreign influences, mainly from sapiential literature with texts of cosmological and eschatological ideas.

The third is that the apocalypse is a non -literary text that has literary aspects, or that is located within a gender macro or subgenres. Authors such as Klaus Koch believe that the apocalyptic genre is a macro gender in which it is necessary to distinguish the various literary types that compose it;While John G. Gammie, places apocalyptic literature as subgenres, for believing that it is not a monolithic block and a variety of forms, including: hymns, prayers, fables, allegories, dialogues, parables, prophecies, etc. (1976, P. 193).

According to the theoretical foundation of this research, the hypothesis that is given more validity is the first, due to the richness of the literary language of apocalyptic works, which does not do justice to consider it only as a carrier of literary aspects, and even less, as not literary. It is based on authors such as Kummel (1982), Richard (1996), McGinn (1997), Valdez (2002), Soares (2006), Scliar (2009), Collins, Hanson and Russel;that defend the apocalypse as a literary genre, with a rich language of meaning, where their authors insert all their socio-political contexts and design prophetic messages from their own realities, thus creating a para-reality through symbols, which will deepenBetter in the third chapter.

However, a literary genre of a work must be determined more by its literary form than by its content, but as Collins states, in the case of the apocalyptic genre, the definition must be given by a combination of form and content 

It must be recognized that even considering it as a literary genre. It is not so simple to establish precisely its delimitations. The author John J. Collins presents three reasons for the varied use of the term Apocalypse: first, because it designates a wide series of literary, phenomenological and social elements;Second, because there is not so clear to recognize the genre in ancient times, since the same genre was only recognized from the apocalypse of Juan and;Third, because Jewish apocalypse take very different literary forms, including visions, legends, wills, etc. 

But, even with these implications, it is possible to establish that between the third centuries.C. and II d.C., There was a complex literary movement that took elements of many other genres, but is recognized for its peculiarities and writing style that is identified as apocalyptic.