Divisões do gênero romance: um estudo da noções de romance de entretenimento e romance literário

Abstract

This final paper addresses the issues surrounding the distinctions between literary fiction and entertainment fiction, a dual categorization of the novel genre that was incorporated into the Jabuti Prize regulations in 2020. Through a theoretical and exploratory investigation, the primary objective aim was to understand this fragmentation of the novel genre by mobilizing notions, ideas, and concepts related to the culture industry, the current cultural context, and literature itself. The theoretical framework situates literature within the context of the culture industry, understanding it as an art form affected by the cultural and market mechanisms of a particular era and also marked by processes of hybridity. Certain notions and concepts of literature were discussed in order to understand urgent questions that affect literature—or literatures. Furthermore, we mapped some distinguishing aspects of literary fiction and entertainment fiction based on a theoretical discussion involving form, content, aesthetic quality, and the contemporary context. A comparison chart of the two types of novels was created in order to apprehend meanings of these distinctions, which are always in transformation. In conclusion, it can be stated that the fragmentation of the novel genre into literary and entertainment categories reflects a tension within literature between valuing high-quality literary form and acknowledging market trends through entertainment fiction.