Paratexts are those liminal devices and conventions, both within and outside the book, that form part of the complex mediation between book, author, publisher and reader: titles, forewords, epigraphs and publishers' jacket copy are part of a book's private and public history. In this first English translation of Paratexts, Gérard Genette shows how the special pragmatic status of paratextual declaration requires a carefully calibrated analysis of their illocutionary force. With clarity, precision and an extraordinary range of reference, Paratexts constitutes an encyclopedic survey of the customs and institutions as revealed in the borderlands of the text. Genette presents a global view of these liminal mediations and the logic of their relation to the reading public by studying each element as a literary function. Richard Macksey's foreword describes how the poetics of paratexts interact with more general questions of literature as a cultural institution, and situates Gennet's work in contemporary literary theory.
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Paratexts are those liminal devices that mediate between book, author and reader: titles, forewords, dedications, epigraphs, notes, intertitles, interviews and conversations with the author, and publishers' jacket copy all form part of a book's private and public history. In this first English translation of Paratexts, Gerard Genette explores how these paratextual elements which surround and support a text influence its reception.
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I give the name publisher's peritext to the whole zone of the peritext that is the direct and principal (but not exclusive) responsibility of the publisher (or perhaps, to be more abstract but also more exact, of the publishing house) - that is, the zone that exists merely by the fact that a book is published and possibly republished and offered to the public in one or several more or less varied presentations. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I give the name publisher's peritext to the whole zone of the peritext that is the direct and principal (but not exclusive) responsibility of the publisher (or perhaps, to be more abstract but also more exact, of the publishing house) - that is, the zone that exists merely by the fact that a book is published and possibly republished and offered to the public in one or several more or less varied presentations. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Genette's theme is paratexts, all those texts connected to a literary text but not a part of it, like foreword, titles, notes, title page, dust-jacket blurb etc. With a lot of examples drawn primarily from French literature Genette shows what functions these paratexts may have and how they steer our reading of the text itself.
Genette writes in a sometimes wry and witty style, which makes what could have been dreary stuff both interesting and entertaining.
The book can't help being self-referencing, and that in itself makes it interesting. One point is that Genette strongly advocates the reader's right to be informed about the typography used, the name of the type it is set in etc. No such information is available in this book about itself - have the publishers not read it?
2 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A reader
Format:Paperback
I cannot help but disagree with the other reviewer. This is a very pedestrian trawl through all the various sorts of paratexts available to a writer or publisher. It offers very little in terms of theoretical insight into the contributions paratexts may make to the production, controlling or opening up of literary meaning, focussing instead on ideas of what he calls 'function'. His basic point that paratexts are to be seen as the 'thresholds of interpretation' is banal.
The book is, by Genette's own admission, limited largely to French literature, which is another drawback for anyone interested in paratexts related to English or other literatures. Furthermore, examples are generally drawn from texts written after the eighteenth century, so while he has much on types of paratext like book covers, bibiliographic information and critical prefaces, he glosses over (pun intended) a lot of the really interesting critical implications of early forms of paratextuality, including marginal notations added by readers themselves (although this may not strictly fall within the legitimate scope of his study).
If you want a more interesting theoretical approach to the ways framing devices and marginal types of textuality inform the main body of a text, try Derrida's work on marginality instead.
The book is, by Genette's own admission, limited largely to French literature, which is another drawback for anyone interested in paratexts related to English or other literatures. Furthermore, examples are generally drawn from texts written after the eighteenth century, so while he has much on types of paratext like book covers, bibiliographic information and critical prefaces, he glosses over (pun intended) a lot of the really interesting critical implications of early forms of paratextuality, including marginal notations added by readers themselves (although this may not strictly fall within the legitimate scope of his study).
If you want a more interesting theoretical approach to the ways framing devices and marginal types of textuality inform the main body of a text, try Derrida's work on marginality instead.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars
2 reviews
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant essay
10 Aug 1997
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Paratexts (titles, epigraphs, notes and the like) add dimensions of meaning and effect, theme and rhetorical power to literary works; yet, oddly, before Genette, they were taken for granted, that is: mis-taken.
Like his other major works, Narrative Discourse, and Palimspestes, Paratexts is a clear, well supported, and coherent encyclopedia of sub-forms defined and illustrated in a series of brilliant analyses. Genette's insights improve the reader's, not only into works both know, but above all, perhaps, into those as yet unread by either.
Of all recent French theorists, Genette is closest in spirit and method (as well as accessibility) to mid-century American formalists. And though his work can be exploited by cultural studies and even gender theorists, it remains sharply focused on the alpha and omega of literary study: the text.
David Lee Rubin
Like his other major works, Narrative Discourse, and Palimspestes, Paratexts is a clear, well supported, and coherent encyclopedia of sub-forms defined and illustrated in a series of brilliant analyses. Genette's insights improve the reader's, not only into works both know, but above all, perhaps, into those as yet unread by either.
Of all recent French theorists, Genette is closest in spirit and method (as well as accessibility) to mid-century American formalists. And though his work can be exploited by cultural studies and even gender theorists, it remains sharply focused on the alpha and omega of literary study: the text.
David Lee Rubin
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A landmark in narratology
14 Oct 2012
By Amanda Garzia
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I thought that this classic work by Genette was going to be a tad daunting. However, I couldn't have been more mistaken. I purchased "Paratexts" to better analyse the paratextual features of a number of autobiographical novels written for children even though Genette's focus is on literature in general. Genette goes into a lot of detail yet his explanations are always very clear. Although the examples provided are often taken from the canon of French literature, this should not,in my opinion, prove to be an obstacle for any reader, whether literature scholar or enthusiast. The text deals with practically each and every facet of the paratext and it is invaluable for any scholar, particularly scholars who are interested in aspects of narratology which are often ignored or simply taken for granted. This book has made me realise that paratexts coach the reader into adopting the role moulded for him or her by the author and/or publishing house. But can paratexts subtly influence the reader's potential to read against the grain? "Paratexts" is the kind of enterprise that makes one think seriously about this and other intriguing questions occupying narratology today.
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