Can Genre Ever Be Mixed in the Experimental Design

The concept of genres as nodes on a family tree is discussed in some detail. Various studies are discussed that conflate related genres – e.g., Nesi and Gardner were able to distill 70 genres into what they called genre families. Jocker’s statement that, “not all genres exert equal force” is given. The point is made that no one advocates for the mixing of poetry and prose. The warning is given that other confounding variables such as gender and chronology must be controlled. The questions “are narration and dialog separate genres,” “are direct and indirect speech different genres,” and “are narrative and expository style separate genres” are discussed. The answer to the question posed by the title of this chapter is “rarely” and “with great care.”