miker wrote:
"The value in definition is that there is some understanding
between folks discussing the subject."
As others, especially John Cawelti, have pointed out, labels
are initially applied retroactively as someone proposes
similarities between artists. If those labels have been
accepted, a genre enters a self-conscious stage, as we long
ago did with noir and hardboiled.
From a reader's point of view, labels are helpful in pointing
out books
(or movies) in a similar vein that I might enjoy. However, if
the author too slavishly adheres to a label's "rules," I'm
liable to find that boring. Ideally, there is a nice balance
between genre convention and innovation.
Mark
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