A hybrid genre is a literary genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres. Works in hybrid genres are often referred to as cross-genre, multi-genre, mixed genre, or fusion genre. Hybrid genres are a longstanding element in the fictional process. An early example is William Blake's ''

Marriage of Heaven and Hell ''The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'' is a book by the English poet and printmaker William Blake. It is a series of texts written in imitation of biblical prophecy but expressing Blake's own intensely personal Romantic and revolutionary beliefs ...

'', with its blend of poetry, prose, and engravings.

Examples

In contemporary literature, Dimitris Lyacos's trilogy '' Poena Damni'' combines fictional prose with drama and poetry in a multilayered narrative developing through the different characters of the work. Many contemporary women of color have published cross-genre works, including Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Giannina Braschi, Guadalupe Nettel, and

Bhanu Kapil Bhanu Kapil is a poet, and author of books, including ''The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers'' (2001), ''Incubation: A Space for Monsters'' (2006), and ''Ban en Banlieue'' (2015). Career Kapil's first book, ''The Vertical Interrogation of ...

. Giannina Braschi creates linguistic and structural hybrids of comic fantasy and tragic comedy in Spanish, Spanglish, and English prose and poetry.

Carmen Maria Machado ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

mixes psychological realism and science fiction with both humor and elements of gothic horror. Dean Koontz considers himself a cross-genre writer, not a

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

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..."

List of hybrid genres

* Action comedy ( action and comedy) *

Comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...

(comedy and drama) * Comedy-horror (comedy and

) * Comic fantasy (comedy and fantasy) * Comic science fiction (comedy and science fiction) *Crime fantasy ( crime and fantasy) *

Dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

(horror and fantasy) * Docufiction ( documentary and

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...

) * Ethnofiction (

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

and fiction) * Fantasy Western (fantasy and Western) * Horror Western (horror and Western) * Romantic comedy ( romance and comedy) * Romantic fantasy (romance and fantasy) *

Science fantasy Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientif ...

(science fiction and fantasy) * Science fiction Western (science fiction and Western) * Tragicomedy ( tragedy and comedy)

References

{{Reflist, 2}

Examples

List of hybrid genres

See also

References

Further reading