Review of 'Genre Relations: Mapping Culture' James Robert Martin and David Rose, London: Equinox, 2008, x, 289 pp.

Abstract

'Genre Relations: Mapping Culture' is an excellent distillation of the works on genre theory conducted by scholars within the Sydney School branch of Systemic Functional Linguistics (hereafter SFL). The development of genre theory occurred in several important projects: the Writing Project (1980-1987), Language and Social Power (1986-1990) and Write it Right (1990-1995) and resulted in making the Sydney School well known in the fields of linguistics and education. 'Genre Relations: Mapping Culture' analyses various genres from different disciplines and emphasizes the need to teach them. It consists of six chapters and presents sample texts to elucidate genre families as well as specific genres within each family.