Genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres
Ahybrid genre is aliterary orfilm genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. Hybrid genre works are also referred to ascross-genre,multi-genre,mixed genre, orfusion genre. Some hybrid genres have acquired their own specialised names, such ascomedy drama ("dramedy"),romantic comedy ("rom-com"),horror Western, anddocudrama.
A Dictionary of Media and Communication describes hybrid genre as "the combination of two or more genres", which may combine elements of more than one genre and/or which may "cut across categories such as fact and fiction".[1]
Hybrid genres are a longstanding element in the fictional process. An early literature example isWilliam Blake'sMarriage of Heaven and Hell, with its blend of poetry, prose, and engravings.[2] In cinema, the merging of two or more separate genres attracts a broader range of audience type.[3][4]
In contemporary literature,Dimitris Lyacos's trilogyPoena Damni combines fictional prose with drama and poetry in a multilayered narrative developing through the different characters of the work.[5]
Dean Koontz considers himself a cross-genre writer, not ahorror writer: "I write cross-genre books-suspense mixed with love story, with humor, sometimes with two tablespoons of science fiction, sometimes with a pinch of horror, sometimes with a sprinkle of paprika..."[10]
^Koontz, Dean. "Afterword",Lightning, G.P. Putnam's Sons hardcover edition, January 1988. Berkley Publishing Group, mass market edition, May 1989. p. 360
Freedman, Diane P. (1992).An Alchemy of Genres: Cross-Genre Writing by American Feminist Poet-Critics (1st ed.). Charlottesville, Virginia:University of Virginia Press.ISBN978-0813913773.
