Understanding Genre and Text

Neal Learner

“Writing is a technology through which writers create and recreate meaning” 

This quote really stuck out as I read Neal Learner’s passage. This is true to me because writers can create a meaning of something and then over the years they may recreate their meaning and alter it based on their experiences, their judgment, and/or their further studies in the field. It is hard for me to grasp the content of discourse and disciplines if I am being honest, but this quote allows me to think about something that I am familiar with and still be able to understand. The way that I take this quote is similar to how politics are going now; someone writes up a law or a document, the society abides by that law. Then, someone comes and changes the wording or changes the law completely, society then has to change to abide by the new law. 

Kevin Roozen

Shifting gears to Kevin Roozen’s text where he mentions how texts are intertwined and how the term “text” refers to multiple texts, I found it interesting that the Declaration of Independence was written based on other texts. I actually never knew that, but to find out that it was created based on tons of other published pieces such as newspaper articles, pamphlets, and A PLAY, is fascinating. I guess that is how all of these textbooks are formed as well. A bunch of theorists or “experts” in a certain field will write what they believe is important for others to know. They can pull out ideas from other textbooks and student notes and put them into a new textbook. 

Amy Devitt

Finally, looking at Amy Devitt’s piece, she highlights how the genre has changed over time, and the term “genre” does not always mean what everyone thinks it means. Yes, it could mean book genres like romance or mystery but Devitt puts it in a way that goes beyond books. She brings up the old conception of genre and highlights the shift in the new conception of genre and how it differs. She emphasizes that traditional genre is the study of text features marking a specific genre. This can mean multiple things; meter, layout, organization, diction, etc. Then, she moves on to say that the new conception of genre is always changing and dynamic.  It helps more writers understand text and context. She says genre is the “maker of meaning” which is a quote that really had me thinking. Like I previously mentioned these topics can get really confusing, but when Devitt puts it into simpler terms like this it helped me understand it a little better.