Chapter 1- Understanding Genres

After going over the first chapter within “The Bedford Book of Genres”, I learned several things about genres in particular that I honestly did not know about prior to my reading. One thing that caught my eye in particular was the fluidity of genres themselves. For the longest time, I had always assumed that genres were secular sections, each consisting of their own criteria that makes the item (whether it be a document, notebook, letter, etc.) fixated in that particular genre. After my reading, I was able to learn that genres typically overlap, so that some things can be fit into other genres based on their content. Taking this into context, I can go as far as to apply things to other various things that have genres, such as movies and music, that contain various aspects of each genre combined together. In addition to this, I was able to gain valuable insight on what in particular you should evaluate and determine when it comes to writing in a particular genre. I knew about the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos in a rhetorical situation; but I was surprised to learn that even the modes and media in which your work is displayed to the audience play a part in how your writing is experienced and taken by said audience. Using multiple modes and a particular media can have a big impact; which was something I did not consider.