Beyond the Nature of Genre

In their essays, both Owen and Dimock present persuasive arguments for the malleable, pliable nature of genre.  The implications of this conception are taken up by Jeanette Winterson.  She argues that the norms associated with genre facilitate greater creativity by authors.  Referring to both Orlando and Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, she writes that in “either case there is an immediate challenge to genre-boxing but there is to, an invitation to believe.  To accept what will follow as truth and as the kind of truth only possible between people who know each other well… We can be taken in by someone who offers truth with a wink and says ‘I’m telling you stories. Trust me.”