Epic (genre)

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Epic is a narrative genre characterised by its length, scope, and subject matter. The defining characteristics of the genre are mostly derived from its roots in ancient poetry (epic poems such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey). An epic is not limited to the traditional medium of oral poetry, and has expanded to include modern mediums including film, theater, television shows, novels, and video games. Epic poetry dates back millennia to works of literature predating Ancient Greece or the Hebrew Bible, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh. But critique and discourse has continuously arisen over this long period of time, with attempts to clarify what the core characteristics of the “epic” genre really are beginning only in the past two centuries as new mediums of storytelling emerged with developing technologies. Most significantly, the advent of the novel, such as classics like Tolstoy's War and Peace which began to be referred to as “epic novels”, caused critics to reconsider what can be called an...

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