Literature's Most Unique Book Genres

Readers like to play it safe. Once they find a few genres they like, they refuse to read anything of a different style. Romance, crime, sci-fi and young adult fiction seem to be what’s popular at the moment, but there are so many other genres and sub-genres to explore, many of which you may never have heard of before.


Picaresque
This genre, originating from Spain, refers specifically to stories told about the travels and adventures of a rough but appealing hero told in a series of humourous episodes. Usually focusing on the everyday lives of ordinary people, picaresque novels take a satirical approach to storytelling.

Steam Punk
A blend of science fiction and historical fiction but also found in the fantasy genre,
steampunk novels are based on 19thcentury steam power machinery and set in a particular time period. The steampunk movement was inspired by the unique fashions that came with the dawn of the use of cogs, engines and steam power which is reflected in the work of writers to create interest and originality.

Oulipo
This was a movement in France during the 1960s which was formed by the principle that inspiration was better released when more constraints were in place. This gave birth to a set of strict rules based on mathematical equations which resulted in quite amusing pieces of writing. For example, one rule insisted on replacing a noun with the seventh noun following it in the dictionary. Obviously, this made for some very strange novels, some making absolutely no sense at all.

Saga 
Medieval Icelandic or Norse narrative documenting the line of history of a particular family or social group through prose. Long and dramatic, sagas are nowadays considered to be any particularly theatrical story of history or heroics but many years ago, the tales of the Vikings and their gods were documented and passed down through generations as sagas.

Bizarro
This is quite an unusual contemporary literary genre and is quite difficult to describe but it is pretty much what the name suggests: bizarre. It is a mixture of peculiar human behaviour and twisted satire which creates a genre that is pure ridiculousness. Bizarro fiction can be often grotesquely surreal with obscure metaphors and as weird as it may sound, it is widely popular and apparently it makes for entertaining reading material.

Allegory
Many famous works have been written in this genre and some of them are still not yet fully understood. Allegories are entire novels based on the figurative representations of abstract principles through symbolism and metaphors. This gives multiple layers to a story with both what is written on the surface and the deeper meaning of what it represents beneath as the underlying message.

~Inkpot Blogger

References
https://listverse.com/2015/06/23/10-bizarre-literary-movements-and-genres/
https://www.dictionary.com/e/s/offbeat-literary-genres/#picaresque
www.dictionary.com

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