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Preliminary Recommendations

Literary Genre

A distinction is proposed within the category recreation between fact and fiction rather than between literary and non-literary. `Faction' is regarded as a variety of fiction, and, to avoid controversy, religious works are given a separate category of their own. Within fiction the distinction between poetry and prose is reasonably reliable, and between dramatic and non-dramatic text. In prose, there are sagas, cycles, trilogies and various other kinds of serial linkages, which we propose to ignore for a corpus of today's dimensions. The novel, novella and short story are three well-recognised sizes of prose fiction. Novels are sometimes classified further, into historical, psychological, humour, science fiction, romance, thriller, crime, spy, etc., with alarming possibilities of double classification -- spy thriller, historical romance, etc. This is where some use may be made of the category of reflexive -- if a novel declares itself to be such-and-such, then it would be reasonable and economical to record this; but if it does not, then needless labour would have to be expended on deciding, and endless controversies could arise.

Biography and autobiography are factual, along with other categories such as academic works, textbooks, and practical guides, but their purpose is recreational rather than instructional.