Genre transformation
A creative writing technique where a story is retold in a different genre, transforming conventions, form, and style while maintaining narrative core. For example, retelling a fairy tale as dystopian fiction.
Real World
Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber retells Beauty and the Beast as gothic horror, subverting the passive female role of the fairy-tale genre to expose its patriarchal assumptions — a classic exam text for genre transformation.
Exam Focus
Name both the source genre and the target genre, then explain what the transformation reveals or critiques about the original.
How well did you know this?