ABSTRACT
If we consider the process of literary analysis in everyday practice, we see that readers most often approach literature by selecting and categorizing a text– both as canonicalor non-canonical (see Chapter 1, ‘Introduction: thinking about literature’), and as an example of the genreor type of literature to which it belongs. In most digital film, book, or music stores, genre categories define the entire search and selection process. In brick-and-mortar bookstores, readers may bypass the shelves of popular new releases with glossy photos from film adaptations in favour of the shocking, bold fonts of crime novels, or the jewel tones and elaborate costumes on the covers of fantasy and science fiction. Or perhaps readers march straight to the back of the store, to the darker, more staid covers of fiction classics in blacks, greys, and golds.
