The Genre attribute is assigned to AustLit works selectively.

Some definitions were derived from The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms.

A work with central themes dealing with hazardous or perilous enterprises and daring feats.

(Genre added May 2006.)

Used with Work form Musical Theatre. A humorous theatrical work involving parody and grotesque exaggeration of serious or well-known plays, operas, classical legends and children's stories. Nineteenth century burlesque featured songs and lively dancing, chorus girls (often semi-clad), comic buffoonery and cross-casting, all fashioned into an energetic spectacle, e.g. Garnet Walch's Pygmalion and His Gal (a Dear!), or, The Celebrated Living-Stone of Ancient Athens (No Relation to the Doctor)

Fiction intended for a 0-13 year old audience.

A work where the central theme is that of criminal activity. May be used in conjunction with 'Detective' genre.

A work where the central character is a detective whose main purpose is to solve a mystery, with the focus on the detective and his motives rather than the psychological and factual circumstances surrounding the crime and its perpetrator. May be used in conjunction with 'Crime' genre. Used for Children's and Young Adult works where the crime element is often less important.

Genre added March 2007. Used for works that relate to a creation story from the Dreamtime. These often relate to a particular Australian Indigenous nation or clan group. Dreaming stories are often intended for children and the genre can be used in combination with other genres - 'Indigenous story' or 'Children's' and with the form 'Children's fiction'. If the work is not intended for children use the form term 'Prose'. Example: Uncle Willie Mackenzie's Legends of the Goundirs

A work that is essentially a telling or retelling of a fairy tale, fable, myth or legend (not used for those works where a legendary figure is the subject of a 'modern' work).

A work that depicts imagined worlds in which magical powers and other impossibilities are accepted.

A work of fiction in which the action occurs during a specific historical period, two or more generations before the time of writing (approximately 50 years) and where the author attempts to depict the customs and attitudes of the period with some accuracy and to convey the atmosphere of the times.

Includes a wide range of works whose common thread is that the action involves something dreadful, shocking, frightful, fearful, and often dealing with monsters. Violence and sensationalism are primary aspects.

Includes farce and tall stories.

Used for works that are a telling or retelling of an Australian Aboriginal tale. These works are often difficult to characterise as short stories, novels, poetry. For non-Australian indigenous tales AustLit uses the form Myth/Legend.

A work where the primary focus is on mysterious happenings; it can also be a crime or detective story.

Used for traditional narratives that ratify social customs or account for the origin of the human species and natural phenomena (usually in supernatural terms). Austlit assigns this genre also to ancient myths and legends or non-Australian indigenous tales but not to modern 'urban myths'.

(Genre added May 2006.)

Used with Work form Musical Theatre. A dramatic form which uses vocal and instrumental music to convey story, emotion and entertainment. Closely related to drama, using the theatrical elements of stage action, scenery, costumes and dialogue. In opera, however, the words are traditionally sung rather than spoken, e.g. Montefiore's Don John of Austria.

Includes Comic opera and Operetta.

(Genre added May 2006.)

Used with Work form Musical Theatre. Traditionally a seasonal entertainment (although not confined to Christmas or Easter). A form of musical theatre comprising comedy, music and physical action. It also favoured well-known stories (particularly fairytales) and spectacle. often presented on two levels – one for children and the other for their adult company with topical references and adult jokes, while retaining a child-like world of fantasy e.g., The House That Jack Built, or, Harlequin Progress and the Loves, Laughs and Labours of Jack Melbourne, and Little Victoria : A Fairy Extravaganza Opening to Pantomime.

(Genre added May 2006.)

Used with Work form Musical Theatre.

Revues are a form of popular culture entertainment in which unrelated sketches comprising elements of song, dance and dialogue are organised around a unifying idea or theme (usually intimated in the title). The genre traditionally features comedy and topical references, often with a sharp satiric edge, e.g. Frank Dix's Come Over Here.

Revusicals are one act musical comedies that feature comedy and song and dance. While closely aligned with intimate revue in terms of production values, the revusical differs through its use of a storyline to hold the various sketches and improvised scenes together. The Australian revusical emerged primarily as a vehicle for two principal comedians, who were supported by a small but versatile ensemble of variety performers and six scantily-clad chorus girls e.g. Nat Phillips's Plumbers.

A fictional work relating the adventures of idealised characters in remote or enchanted settings.

Writing that exposes the failings of individuals, institutions or societies to ridicule and scorn.

Fiction that explores the likely consequences of improbable changes to the basic conditions of human existence.

(Genre added May 2006.)

A sketch, in the theatrical sense, generally refers to a short play or performance of slight dramatic construction and often of a light or comic nature. Although the term has been applied to a number of related popular culture genres, notably farce and revusical, a sketch invariably differs in terms of the number of performers, the style of presentation (particularly in terms of comedic delivery), and production values. Generally speaking a sketch is presented by a small ensemble of performers (up to about six, and commonly with only two or three actors). It may or may not involve musical performance. In comedy sketches the humour is less physical (as with farce), relying more on verbal and psychological interplay, e.g. Jim Gerald's 'The New Recruit'.

Exciting, sensational works, often involving espionage and/or political intrigue, with fast-paced action.

A work in which a journey(s) forms the basis of the subject content.

Literature written either by a participant in the war or by and about civilians responding to the pressures of war. Works in which war is a background theme only, are assigned the Subject-Concept 'War', not a genre.

A work, usually a novel, with a setting (often) of the American West, and involving cowboys, ranchers, cattle rustling, etc. Some Australian pulp fiction writers of the 1940s and 1950s wrote in this genre, eg. Carter Brown and G. C. Bleeck.

Fiction intended for teenagers or young adults approximately 13-18 years olds.