These opening lines in David Duff's anthology of seminal works on genre contain in nuce some of the main problems that the definition and use of genre as a major theoretical and methodological instrument in modern literary criticism poses for scholars. The very instability of this concept is closely tied to the heterogeneity of critical standpoints from which it has been approached over the course of the last two centuries: either to define and delimit it, or to decree its utter inutility, or even to castigate genre's pernicious nature as the negation of the author's freedom in the creative process.

The broad divergence of opinions that can be discerned in the history of the changing fortunes of genre as a literary category in modern criticism is best viewed against the background of the shift of theoretical paradigms and frameworks that characterise the development of Western literary discourse in increasing measure during the course of the twentieth century. In principle, though, it is safe to assert that any reflection on genre was, and still is, undertaken as a part of a broader investigation of the very nature of literature and the limits of literary activity.

Broadly speaking, modern genre theory can be described as developing around a polarisation of critical stances, corresponding to two major approaches: either normative or descriptive. The normative approach is based on a prescriptive principle and is usually traced back to the traditional tripar- tite system of epic, lyric and drama, derived from Aristostle's and Plato's works. The descriptive stance is ultimately rooted in Russian Formalism and aims to study literary genres as historically contingent artistic configurations, thus avoiding any kind of evaluation based on the degree of adherence of works to a formalised set of predetermined generic features.

If the critical perspective is broadened to include the discourse on genre in medieval literatures, the difficulties that are inherent in the reconstruction of the cultural coordinates of the production and reception of literature in the Middle Ages inevitably enhances the degree of uncertainty.