What is an example of a paratext?

In the case of literature, paratext refers to everything that constitutes a book that is not the story itself. The cover is an obvious example of paratext. The art on the cover of a book will place the reader in a certain frame of mind prior to reading. All of this is paratext.

What does the term paratext mean?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In literary interpretation, paratext is material that surrounds a published main text (e.g., the story, non-fiction description, poems, etc.) supplied by the authors, editors, printers, and publishers.

What is a paratext in film?

A paratext is a sub-text that supports a main text and shapes an audience’s perceptions and knowledge of the main text; paratexts are “texts that prepare us for other texts” (Gray 25). Jonathan Gray applied this paratext theory to film in his book Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts.

What is the purpose of paratext?

The main text of published authors is often surrounded by other material supplied by editors, printers, and publishers, which is known as the paratext. These added elements form a frame for the main text, and can change the reception of a text or its interpretation by the public.

What is the function of paratext?

The functional paratext includes the preface, epilogue, book reviews that appear on both covers and even some in-text paratexts which perform paratextual narrative and/or commentary functions either complementing, or echoing or helping reveal the textual narrative in one way or another.

Who coined the term paratext?

Gérard Genette
Paratext is a term coined by the French literary critic Gérard Genette. The term appears for the first time in Genette’s Introduction à l’architexte (1979) and is mentioned again in Palimpsests (1982) as one of five types of relationship between literary texts [1].

Is a trailer a paratext?

On the one hand, a trailer can be seen as a meta- or paratext, surrounding, supporting and sometimes subverting film by modifying its reception.

What is paratext of the Bible?

In recent literary theory, attention has been drawn to “paratexts”, i.e. all material accompanying a main text. Virtually all biblical manuscripts have some of these features. Examples include brief introductions, biographies, tables of contents, poems, cross-references, prayers, and indexes.

What is literary paratext?

Paratext is all of the information that surrounds a story and that create expectations about the story. Thus, it is involved in the continuous process of creating literary value.

What is the role of paratext?

The informative paratext by contrast only functions to offer readers some information about the book but which may not necessarily influence the understanding of the text proper. It includes the copyright information, the author’s name, the acknowledgments and bibliography and so on.

Is a promotional poster a Paratext?

Considering the first function of paratext (the interpretivefunction), the entryway paratexts such as a film’s poster, trailer, director’s name, promos and previews attempt to usher the spectators into the cinema (Gray 2010, p. 23). Put simply, the entryway paratexts are considered as an appetizer.

Are Paratexts a form of intertextuality?

Intertextuality could be in the form of quotation, plagiarism, or allusion. Paratextuality is the relation between one text and its paratext that surrounds the main body of the text. Examples are titles, headings, and prefaces.