Cross-genre

A cross-genre (or hybrid genre) is a genre that blends themes and elements from two or more different genres.

Hybrid genres are not new but a longstanding element in the fictional process: perhaps the most famous example is William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell, with its blend of poetry, prose, and engravings.[1] In contemporary literature, Dimitris Lyacos's trilogy Poena Damni (Z213: Exit, With the people from the bridge, The First Death) combines fictional prose with drama and poetry in a multilayered narrative developing through the different characters of the work.[2]

Many contemporary women of color have published cross-genre works, including Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Giannina Braschi, Guadalupe Nettel, and Bhanu Kapil’s.[3] Giannina Braschi creates linguistic and structural hybrids of comic fantasy and tragic comedy in Spanish, Spanglish, and English prose and poetry.[4][5] Carmen Maria Machado mixes psychological realism and science fiction with both humor and elements of gothic horror.[6]

Fredric Jameson has highlighted the progressive elements in Third World Literature that defies genre expectations such as Xala; and in science fiction like The Left Hand of Darkness with its exploration of gender roles.[7]

Dean Koontz considers himself a cross-genre writer, not a horror writer: “I write cross-genre books-suspense mixed with love story, with humor, sometimes with two tablespoons of science fiction, sometimes with a pinch of horror, sometimes with a sprinkle of paprika...”[8]