Paratexts are those liminal devices and conventions, both within and outside the book, that mediate between book, author and reader: titles, forewords and publishers' jacket copy form part of a book's private and public history. In this first English translation of Paratexts, Gérard Genette offers a global view of these liminal mediations and their relation to the reading public. With precision, clarity and through wide reference, he shows how paratexts interact with general questions of literature as a cultural institution. Richard Macksey's foreword situates Genette in contemporary literary theory.
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Paratexts are the liminal devices and conventions, that mediate between book, author and reader--e.g. titles, forewords, publishers' jacket copy, etc. This first English translation offers a global view of liminal mediations and their relation to the reading public.
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
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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
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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75
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- Les Contemplations (French Edition) by Victor Hugo on 7 pages
- Henri Matisse, roman (French Edition) by Louis Aragon on 6 pages
- The Chouans (Penguin Classics) by Honoré de Balzac on 5 pages
- Doctor Faustus (Everyman's Library) by Thomas Mann on 5 pages
- Cousin Pons (Poor Relations, Part 2) (Penguin Classics) by Honoré de Balzac on 5 pages
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- Debussy and the Fragment (Chiasma 18) by Linda Cummins on page 151, page 165, and page 168
- Textual Patronage in English Drama, 1570-1640 by David Moore Bergeron in Front Matter, page 23, and Back Matter
- Graphic Design, Print Culture, and the Eighteenth-Century Novel by Janine Barchas in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Lost Property: The Woman Writer and English Literary History, 1380-1589 by Jennifer Summit in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Narrative Form by Suzanne Keen on page 139, and Back Matter
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