Abstract: Literary genres differ in respect of whether works of the genre have a truth-value, and of whether and how that value is a function of the truth-value of the component sentences. For example, in parables and poetry, in contrast to newspaper reports, truth-value belongs to the whole work but not to its individual sentences. Putting a chunk of writing into a larger or different context may change its meaning entirely. Context includes literary context (the surrounding sentences), social context (the authorship and intended audience), and cultural context.

Keywords: cultural context, contextual meaning, genre, literature, meaning, social context,