Genre Studies in Focus: Transgression or Reconciliation

Faten Haouioui · Hajer Ayadi

Mar 2024 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this ebook

This collection of essays aims to revise genre theory and studies. Authors in this volume present and discuss different literary genres in transition. They investigate genre hybridization, transformation, reconciliation and evolution. Therefore, the volume reconceptualizes the theory according to novel texts and contexts in, for example, trans-generic film series, feminine poetry, and Arab women writing. It introduces new generic labels in travel literature and new sub-genres in Maghrebean literature.

Genre blurs the boundaries between genre hierarchy, labels, and borderlines. We read a gothic text that encompasses trauma, testimony, resistance and history. Moreover, scholars contributing to this collection astutely point out that genres are hybrid yet flexible by nature. They adopt a cross-cultural and interdisciplinary approach to genre theory. The volume targets researchers, theorists and students reading and interpreting literary and historical texts alongside genre theory.

About the author

Dr Faten Haouioui is Associate Professor of English Literature at the Higher Institute of Applied Studies in Humanities of Tunis, Tunisia. She holds a PhD entitled Trauma, Resilience and Identity Construction in Amy Tan’s Fiction, and an MA on myths and the multiplicity of voices in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and China Men. Her areas of research interest include trauma studies, Asian-American literature, literary theory, and literary studies. She has also published many articles on Chinese-American literature and trauma theory. She is the editor of Defacto Trauma Reconsidered and The Dynamics of Intersubjectivity.

Dr Hajer Ayadi is Assistant Professor at the Higher Institute of Applied Studies in Humanities of Tunis, Tunisia. She holds a PhD with a focus on breaking Maghrebian women’s silence through storytelling. Her expertise spans gender studies, African American literature, and Maghrebian literature. Dr Ayadi has published many articles in international journals, including ‘Towards a Reconstruction of African American Identity in Toni Morrison’s Beloved.’ She has delivered presentations in international conferences and organized numerous academic events.