Edward Balcerzan’s Multimedia Theory of Genres. Its Conditions and Perspective

Abstract

This article discusses Edward Balcerzan’s concept of a “multimedia theory of genres,” intended by him to function as a “metaphor for the present,” representing a division of semiotics that would analyze and systematize the consequences for the study of genres of many different forms of expression in cultural space. The concept of “multimedia” is given consideration in the context of this proposed application. The author of the essay presents Balcerzan’s concept in the context of his earlier proposals within the sphere of genre theory and correspondences between or among the arts, at the same time contemplating some possible approaches to supplementing and further developing this theoretical concept.