My oldest daughter is a master of “genre” analysis. I see it most after her daily trip to the mailbox, as she pushes aside the bills and advertisements to select the letters from friends or family. With every new piece of literary composition, we almost always identify genre. We decide (consciously or unconsciously, rightly or wrongly) whether a text is a research paper or poem, a factual history or a fairy tale. We look for clues in format, presentation, introductory or closing