THE chronic is a textual genre that records and reports small events of everyday life, together with a personal interpretation of the author, which can be reflective and/or critical. Its characteristics are many, as it is a text that allows the mixing of different text types, that is why is called hybrid genre. We can find poetic, journalistic and even argumentative chronicles. All of them, however, work with trivial events, that is, simple everyday facts.
Read too: How to write a narrative text?
What is chronic?
Chronicle is a very old genre. In its appearance, it was used to report events in temporal sequence. Over time, the genre changed and expanded its characteristics, also becoming a poetic, critical, reflective or humorous genre, for example. So, we can say that the chronicle is a small text that records facts of everyday life, through an artistic or argumentative look.
a chronicler can narrate a fact that has seen or lived. For example, he can talk about an attitude taken by the bakery cashier, or he can talk about his (the chronicler's) response to that behavior. After making the short report, the author
will expose a personal interpretation of the event, trying to show an almost imperceptible detail.Returning to our initial example, let's say that the chronicler was a young man who, when he went to the bakery, was called “sir” and, because of this event, he began to reflect on the passage of time, on growth and maturity individual. This reflection does not have a direct relationship with the fact, but this fact awakens the author's reflection, generating the chronicle.
Chronicle characteristics
the chronicle is a hybrid text genre, that is, it presents a mixture between different textual characteristics, for example:
it can be more journalistic when it focuses on the representation of facts;
it can be poetic, when it presents a symbolic and lyrical language;
it can be critical/reflective, when it presents the author's personal opinions, and
may have more than one of these types.
Thus, the chronicle presents different linguistic and structural possibilities. Depending on the author's choice, it can vary in form, aesthetics and even in the use of language, sometimes being more informal, others more poetic, etc. In any case, the first central feature of the chronicle, regardless of style, is the reporting of everyday facts. THE chronic must start from a trivial fact, adding a personal reflection by the author.
Furthermore, the chronicle is a short genre with narrative, descriptive and argumentative characteristics. It features short stories, followed by a personal interpretation by the author; uses the description to characterize spaces, characters and other elements that are important to the text; and use argumentation when you want to defend a point of view.
Types of Chronicle
The chronicle is flexible and hybrid, so it can have different types. Each type indicates the predominance of one or another characteristic. Below is an explanation of the most known and used types.
journalistic chronicle: reports everyday facts, using a more objective, descriptive and impersonal language (avoids exposing too many personal opinions).
poetic chronicle: is a literary genre and can narrate real facts or create fictitious facts, as long as such facts are possible in the characters' reality. Its predominant feature is the work with language. This type often uses symbolism, word games and speech figures, for example, to express the facts and their interpretations.
humorous chronicle: is the one that presents the reports and interpretations through a bias of humour, irony and satire. It can have a more reflective character, when it uses humor to propose a light thought; or it can be critical, when you use humor in a sour way to weave your opinions and arguments.
See too: What is literature?
Examples of chronicle
Now that you know the main characteristics of the chronicle and you also know that it can have different forms and languages, let's analyze an example: a chronicle written by Luis Fernando Verissimo, in “Commédias para ler na Escola”.
The ball
The father gave his son a ball. Remembering the pleasure he had felt in getting his first ball from his father. A number 5 with no official leather goal. It wasn't leather now, it was plastic. But it was a ball.
The boy thanked him, unwrapped the ball and said "Cool!" Or what boys say these days when they like the present or don't want to hurt the old man. Then he started to spin the ball, looking for something.
— How and what connects? - He asked.
— How, how do you connect? It doesn't.
The boy searched inside the wrapping paper.
— No instruction manual?
The father began to get discouraged and to think that times have changed. That times are decidedly different.
— No need for instruction manual.
— What does she do?
— She doesn't do anything. You do things with her.
— What?
— Control, kick...
— Ah, so it's a ball.
— Of course it's a ball.
— One ball, ball. A ball even.
— What did you think it was?
— Nothing no.
The boy thanked him, said “Cool” again, and after a while his father found him in front of the TV, with the new ball at his side, handling the controls of a video game. Something called Monster Chest, in which teams of little monsters competed for possession of a ball in the form of an electronic beep on the screen while trying to destroy each other.
The boy was good at the game. He had coordination and quick thinking. I was winning the machine.
The father took the new ball and rehearsed some embassies. He managed to balance the ball on his instep, as before, and called the boy.
— Son, look.
The boy said "Cool" but didn't take his eyes off the screen. The father held the ball in his hands and sniffed it, trying to mentally recapture the smell of leather. The ball smelled like nothing. Perhaps an instruction manual would be a good idea, he thought. But in English, for the kids to be interested.
The chronicle above presents the report of an everyday fact between father and son. The father buys a gift, the ball, but this gift seems dull and useless to the child. The sequence of events leads the father to reflect on changes between generations. Objects, which once had an important place, are beginning to lose their value to novelties. Through a funny and amusing text, the columnist allows us to reflect about a seemingly trivial detail.
How to make a chronicle
The chronicle can have different forms, but, even so, it has essential characteristics. With that in mind, here is a list of tips on how to make your own chronicle.
Choose an everyday situation.
Reflect on the curiosities that this situation arouses in you.
Choose an aesthetic for your text: it can be humorous, critical, poetic or reflective.
Begin the text with a brief narrative of the everyday situation that inspired your chronicle.
In the development, expose your ideas, analyzes or curiosities about the daily situation.
Finish your presentation with a thoughtful or powerful catchphrase.
