Definition of paratext - What it is, Meaning and Concept

Although the notion of paratext is not part of the dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE) , its use is frequent in the field of the linguistics .It is known as a paratext to those messages, postulates or expressions that complement the main content of a text.Its purpose is to provide more information about the work in question and organize your structure.

The title and the subtitles of a book are considered as paratexts, just like a prologue , the dedications , a index , the side notes and other statements.These paratexts are created by the own author.

Suppose an author writes a 120-page novel about a child who wanted to visit the Moon .In all those pages he develops his story : apart, it includes parat excerpts such as the title ( "Dreams that escape the world" ), subtitles ( "The birth of an illusion" , "Preparations for the flight" ) and a dedication ( "To my wife Fatima and my children Romeo and Luis" ).

The publisher, on the other hand, can also include paratexts, regardless of those included by the author.If texts appear in flaps ( "John Kuclick, born March 18, 1940, is an American author who began his literary career when he was 18 years old..."), the loin (" Dreams that escape the world, John Kuclick ") and in others sectors of the book.

When the work in question is a investigation , it is common for the author to mention the sources that he consulted in the bibliography .It is also likely that if the book is of technical character, a glossary is presented.Both sections (bibliography and glossary) are part of the paratextual elements.

The paratext opens the doors to analysis and the criticism of the discourse, as well as its extension or synthesis through notes and prologues that complement the main message.On the other hand, its presence compensates for Somehow the absence of the receiver at the time of writing, which affects the exchange of ideas during reading.

One of the functions of the paratext is to guide the reader to ensure an effective reading.In texts of a technical nature, for example, it is normal to indicate through small notes which section should be consulted for deepen more about a certain subject, or that images are included that help to understand the content.

Within the context it is possible to recognize elements of factual, iconic and material type; Some authors consider that the last two belong to the same class, which they simply call iconic context , of which the graphics and the illustrations, which clearly differ from the verbal components of the factual paratext.Other classifications include the concepts of peritext (surrounds the main text but is found in the book) and epitext (is outside the limits of the book ).

The structure of the peritext, whose definition coincides with the idea generally of the paratext itself, contains information that can be written by the author himself or by his editor ( authorite peritext or editorial , respectively).It is normal for the author to deal with the paratext that seeks to improve the comprehension of the text, while the editor generates the content related to the advertising aspects of the book.

The epitext is a type of paratext that can be used to promote a book, as is the case with the material disseminated by publishers to anticipate a release: reports, presentations, reviews in various media communication, posters and catalogs.While the function of the epitext is different from that of a graphic or a note within a book, it is still related to it, since it has the objective of capturing the attention of the public and direct it to your pages.