What Is Paratext? In Search of an Elusive Category

Abstract

This volume is about paratext. But what is paratext? This essay problematizes the notion of paratext by several different means. It first shows that paratext is a relative-ly recent notion, developed by the French narratologist Gérard Genette, first in rela-tion to modern printed books. From its outset, the term was problematic and has undergone considerable definition and redefinition. The notion of paratext cannot be considered without also considering the notion of text, itself a problematic con-cept. This paper then examines several different kinds of text – including ontologi-cal, phenomenological, philological, literary, linguistic, semiological, and text-critical texts – as a means of narrowing the discussion to differentiating between matters of form and function. The definition of paratext remains unresolved, since varies ac-cording to context and the one seeking to examine it.