Nature and significance
In the classification of literary genres, whether it is "three-way division", "four-way division" or "five-way division", it is only relative. Because, in the process of its formation and development, some literary genres often absorb some factors from other literary genres, thus forming a situation in which this genre and that genre cross each other. For example, the genre of prose poetry, from its content, has the quality of poetry and is full of the author's strong feelings and imagination, but it appears in the form of prose, which is quite different from poetry in genre and closer to prose. This genre, if divided by "quartering", can be attributed to both prose and poetry. This is a situation. Secondly, when using some literary genres, the author often absorbs and uses the characteristics of other literary genres in order to better express his life and attract readers. For example, poetic drama is an obvious example. Generally speaking, poetic drama belongs to drama, but the lyrics in it are written in the form of poetry, and independence is poetry. In addition, some schools have different interpretations of its connotation, so it is difficult to classify specific works. For example, fables can be classified as novels or essays; Reportage and short stories are sometimes not so easy to distinguish. As for the specific names or boundaries in the same category (such as the boundaries between novels and novellas), it is more common. When talking about "trigonometry", belinsky said: Epic, street poetry and drama "exist differently from each other, but when they are presented in individual poems, they are not always clearly divided. On the contrary, they are often mixed together, so that some works are epic in form, but they have the characteristics of drama, or vice versa. " This is also the case with the "quartering method". This fully shows the relativity of literary genre classification, indicating that classification can only be general, not absolute.
The classification of literary genres is not only relative, but also develops with the rich development of practical experience in literary creation. As I said before, literary genre has its formation and development process in history. When a literary genre has not been produced or matured in creative practice, it cannot be reflected in genre classification theory. For example, in the literary history of our country, novels and dramas matured late, so in the theory of literary genre classification, they were only divided into three categories: poetry, prose and myth for a long time. Secondly, after the emergence of a certain literary genre, it is still in constant development and change. Therefore, to study the classification of literary genres, we need to pay attention to their different situations in different periods. For example, China's novel genre has experienced different stages of development, such as Six Dynasties, Tang and Song Legends, Song and Yuan storybooks, Zhang Hui novels in Ming and Qing Dynasties and new novels after the May 4th Movement, and each stage has different characteristics. People generally use "three-way division" or "four-way division" to divide literary genres, which is mainly based on the current actual situation besides historical reasons. With the development of social life and the accumulation of creative experience, in order to express a new life, new literary genres are bound to emerge constantly, so the classification of literary genres cannot be fixed. For example, with the high development of modern science and technology, especially the development of photography and recording technology, a new comprehensive art form-film art has emerged on the basis of drama art, and a new genre of film literature has been born accordingly. Others, such as radio novels, TV dramas, science fiction, etc. , are new schools that have emerged and developed in modern times and even in modern times. Therefore, if we treat "three-way division" and "four-way division" in a fixed way, we will not be able to adapt to the situation that new schools are constantly emerging.