75 Distinct Literary Styles. No Pictures

 75 Distinct Literary Styles. No Pictures
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Compiling a definitive list of 75 distinct literary styles is challenging because literature is constantly evolving and subgenres emerge all the time. However, here's a breakdown of some major and influential literary styles across various periods:

Ancient World

    Epic: Long narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds and adventures. (e.g., Homer's Iliad and Odyssey)
    Drama: Plays intended for performance in a theater. (e.g., Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Euripides' Medea)
    Pastoral: Idealized portrayal of rural life. (e.g., Virgil's Eclogues)

Medieval Period

    Romance: Adventures of chivalry, love, and magic. (e.g., Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)
    Allegory: Narrative with a symbolic meaning beneath the surface. (e.g., John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress)
    Fabliau: Short, bawdy tales in verse. (e.g., Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales)

Renaissance

    Sonnet: 14-line poem with a specific rhyme scheme. (e.g., William Shakespeare's Sonnets)
    Pastoral comedy: Lighthearted plays set in a rural landscape. (e.g., William Shakespeare's As You Like It)
    Elizabethan drama: Plays from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, known for their grand language, complex plots, and historical settings. (e.g., Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus)

Enlightenment

    Satire: Writing that uses humor, irony, or exaggeration to criticize society. (e.g., Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels)
    Epistolary novel: Novel written in the form of letters. (e.g., Samuel Richardson's Pamela)
    Bildungsroman: Coming-of-age story. (e.g., Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship)

Romanticism

    Gothic fiction: Style of writing characterized by mystery, horror, and the supernatural. (e.g., Mary Shelley's Frankenstein)
    Romanticism: Movement emphasizing emotion, imagination, and individual experience. (e.g., William Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads)
    Transcendentalism: Philosophical and literary movement that celebrates nature, intuition, and the human spirit. (e.g., Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature)

Realism

    Realism: Depiction of everyday life in a realistic and objective manner. (e.g., Honore de Balzac's Human Comedy, Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist)
    Naturalism: Literary movement that depicts human beings as determined by heredity and environment. (e.g., Emile Zola's Germinal)
    Regionalism: Focuses on the specific characteristics and culture of a particular region. (e.g., William Faulkner's novels set in the American South)

Modernism

    Modernism: A rejection of traditional forms and a celebration of experimentation. (e.g., James Joyce's Ulysses, Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway)
    Stream of consciousness: Narrative technique that attempts to replicate the unfiltered flow of thoughts in a character's mind. (e.g., Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse)
    Lost Generation: Refers to a group of American writers who came of age during World War I and expatriated themselves to Europe. They are known for their disillusionment with traditional values. (e.g., Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises)

Postmodernism

    Postmodernism: Movement that questions grand narratives, emphasizes fragmentation, and plays with self-referentiality. (e.g., Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose)
    Magic realism: Literary genre that incorporates magical elements into an otherwise realistic setting. (e.g., Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude)
    Postcolonial literature: Literature written by authors from former colonies that critiques colonialism and explores the experiences of colonized people. (e.g., Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart)

Contemporary

    Science fiction: Fiction dealing with imagined future technological and social advancements. (e.g., Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale)
    Fantasy: Fiction set in a fictional universe, often with magic, supernatural creatures, and non-realistic settings. (e.g., J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings)
    Creative non-fiction: Genre that blends factual information with literary techniques. (e.g., Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma)

 Here's a deeper dive into some additional literary styles, venturing beyond the major categories:

Specific Poetic Forms

    Haiku: Traditional Japanese poem with three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables.
    Villanelle: Nineteen-line poem with a strict rhyme scheme and two repeated refrains.
    Limerick: Humorous five-line poem with a specific meter and rhyme scheme.

Genre Variations

    Dystopian fiction: Explores negative futures where society has collapsed. (e.g., George Orwell's 1984)
    Urban fantasy: Fantasy set in a modern urban environment. (e.g., Neil Gaiman's American Gods)
    Historical fiction: Fiction set in a specific historical period. (e.g., Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall)

Narrative Techniques

    Epistolary novel (mentioned earlier): Told entirely through letters.
    First-person narration: Story unfolds from the perspective of one character.
    Third-person omniscient narration: Narrator has complete knowledge of all characters and events.
    Unreliable narrator: Narrator's perspective is biased or inaccurate.

Rhetorical Devices

    Metaphor: A comparison between two things that are not alike but share a similar feature. (e.g., "Life is a journey.")
    Simile: A comparison using "like" or "as." (e.g., "She is as brave as a lion.")
    Symbolism: The use of symbols to represent ideas or concepts. (e.g., A white dove often symbolizes peace.)

Other Styles and Movements

    Absurdism: Theatre and literature that explore the meaninglessness of life. (e.g., Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot)
    Surrealism: Art and literature that use dreamlike imagery and juxtapositions. (e.g., Salvador Dali's paintings)
    Noir: A genre of detective fiction characterized by cynicism, violence, and moral ambiguity. (e.g., Raymond Chandler's novels)
    Chick lit: Light-hearted fiction focusing on the romantic and social experiences of young women. (e.g., Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding)
    Cyberpunk: Science fiction genre featuring advanced technology in a dystopian future. (e.g., William Gibson's Neuromancer)