The categories into which texts are grouped. The term has a complex history within literary theory and is often used to distinguish texts on the basis of their subject matter (for example, detective fiction, romance, science fiction, fantasy fiction), form and structure (for example, poetry, novels, short stories and plays). This Literature course uses the term ‘genre’ to mean prose fiction, poetry and drama. Within those genres are other genres or ‘sub-genres’ for example, in prose fiction: crime fiction, romance, or the epistolary novel