Paratext
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Paratexts : Thresholds of Interpretation (1987) - Gérard Genette [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Definition
In literary theory Paratext is, according to Gérard Genette in his work, Paratext: Thresholds of interpretation, "More than a boundary or a sealed border, the paratext is, rather, a threshold". It is "a zone between text and off-text, a zone not only of transition but also of transaction: a privileged place of pragmatics and a strategy, of an influence on the public, an influence that ... is at the service of a better reception for the text and a more pertinent reading of it". Then quoting Philipe Lejeune, Genette further describes paratext as "a fringe of the printed text which in reality controls one's whole reading of the text". --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratext [Jul 2006]
Paratexts : Thresholds of Interpretation (1987) - Gérard Genette
Book Description
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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