Extrinsic genre
A reader's or critic's conception of a work's genre that differs from the author's, sometimes referred to as the "wrong" genre, as it is not true to the author's original intentions (Fowler, 1971).
Reference:
Fowler, A. (1971). The life and death of literary forms. New Literary History 2(2): 199-216.
Example:
Although Henry Fielding classified his book Joseph Andrews as "comic epic poem prose," critics referred to it as other genres in their reviews. In Fowler's (1971) view, the critics' interpretations (being different than the author's intentions) are the extrinsic genres.
Original Use:
Hirsch, E. D. (1967). Validity in interpretation. New Haven: Yale UP.
Contributed by:
Emerging Genres class, N.C. State University, Spring 2010
