Transformations of a Genre

The aim of this book is to orchestrate “a generic reconstitution of literary studies” based on a comprehensive theory of genre and generic transformation. Taking “An Excellent Ballad of George Barnwel,” a seventeenth-century broadside of sex and greed, Ralph Cohen analyzes the generic transformations—including Addison’s ballad criticism in The Spectator, The London Merchant, Percy’s ballad editing in Reliques, and Barnwell. A Novel—in which this particular ballad exhibits remarkable continuity over the next four centuries, culminating with his personal re-formation; what was considered non-literary criticism becomes literary. This unique literary history reconceives narrative as a component of genre rather than a genre itself, demonstrates the ineluctably mixed nature of genres and the literary nature of our humanness, and analyzes the shifting generic contexts for interpretation and gender relations. Incorporating theory consciousness into the literary genre he is regenerating, Cohen offers a brilliant example of how future literary histories might be written.

At his death in 2016, Ralph Cohen was widely recognized as the preeminent theorist of genre. He founded and edited New Literary History, a multi-disciplinary journal of theory and interpretation. This book actualizes his vision of a new literary history and stands now as his magnum opus. John L. Rowlett is an independent scholar and former Program Director for the Commonwealth Center for Literary and Cultural Change at the University of Virginia, USA.