Paratext: peritext and epitext

Literary theorist Gérard Genette stated that external aspects of a book (like the cover and blurb) can work alongside the text itself to provide helpful insights into a literary work. Elements like these are called paratext and they help to frame the work, with the power to influence the reader’s interpretation of the text.

Nicholas Basbanes, a literary scholar, extended the concept of paratext to include other aspects of a book, such as the illustrations, dust jackets, indexes, appendices, typefaces and binding, as well as even the thickness or weight of the paper! All of it does add up to form the overall book, acting as individual elements contributing to the whole reading experience.

What is paratext?

Paratext encompasses all elements surrounding a book, including the text supplied by the author and other elements added by additional editors, publishers, publishers and printers, like the title, footnotes, front matter and back matter. Additionally, editorial decisions such as formatting or typography count as the paratext of a book, too!

History of paratext

Coming from long ago in history, before the mediaeval times, texts were copied by hand in order to ensure there were enough of them for the public to enjoy. The more high-valued texts were increasingly intricate, with illustrations, quality binding, annotations and other personal touches.

Following the printing press and other advances in the printing industry, now mass-production was a thing. Collector’s editions fetch a pretty penny – and things progressed even further with the creation of the e-book (not to mention audiobooks): but the thing that unites all of these is that they often include extra value-for-money through their paratext to make them a more enticing purchase.

Research and analysis

Paratext also lends itself useful to a framework called the PLT (peritextual literary framework), springboarded from Genette’s original ideas. The PLT delves into much more detail on the functions of peritext, and even the main types which can be found across genres and written works.

Para-next!

This blog post was all about paratext – which is made up of peritext and epitext, the innards (and outers!) of written material. Including things like illustrations, the blurb or even the paper itself, each aspect works together and forms the whole book as is. Neat!