Paratexts 12/26/11 23:33 PM

Paratexts

!ehnaz Tahir Gürça"lar

References

Handbook of Translation Studies 2011

© 2011 John Benjamins Publishing Company. Not to be reproduced in any form without written
permission from the publisher.

The analysis of verbal and visual material surrounding and presenting published translations
is increasingly becoming integrated into empirical research on translated texts. These
materials which lie at the threshold of translations are referred to as ‘paratexts’, a term initially
conceived to cover presentational elements of works in the literary field, including, but not
limited to, translations. Typical examples of paratexts include titles and subtitles,
pseudonyms, forewords, dedications, epigraphs, prefaces, intertitles, notes, epilogues, and
afterwords (Macksey 1997: xviii) which all constitute devices and conventions, both within a
book and outside it, which mediate the work to the reader. The term ‘paratext’ was elaborated
by Gerard Genette in his book Seuils (1987) translated into English as Paratexts: The
Thresholds of Interpretation (Genette 1997) and has rapidly caught the attention of
translation scholars who wish to focus on elements that bridge translated texts with their
readers and therefore shape their reception in a major way.
In an attempt to reveal the norms observed by translators, scholars have been analysing
textual material, i.e. translations and comparative analyses of source and target texts, and
extratextual material, i.e. secondary sources in the form of statements on translation or on
specific translated texts or translators (Toury 1995: 65). The study of paratexts complements
this framework and contributes to revealing the way translations are presented to their
readers, which in turn informs the researcher about the conventions, concepts and
expectations of a society regarding translated texts. Although paratextual elements are often
part and parcel of the translated texts, they also have an independent existence since they
stand physically separate from the translated text and are more likely to meet the reader
before the translation itself.
Genette maintains that paratexts can be defined spatially (in terms of where they are
located), temporally (in terms of when they appear or disappear), substantially (their modes of
existence), pragmatically (the sender and addressee) and functionally (in terms of what they
aim to do). In terms of their location, paratexts can be either in the same volume as the text
(peritexts) or at a distance from the text (epitexts), disseminated through the media or private
communication, such as interviews and letters (Genette 1997: 5). Paratexts of both the
peritextual and epitextual kind offer a great deal of information when they accompany

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translations, including clues regarding the visibility of the translator, the target readership, the
aim of the translation or the concept of translation favoured by the specific culture and/or
publisher, as reflected in the way the text is presented in the title page.
The place of translation within Genette's conceptualization of paratexts, though, is
somewhat dubious. Genette does not elaborate on translation in his book but remarks that
translations, especially self-translations, have an “undeniable” paratextual relevance since
they “serve as commentary on the original text” (1997: 405). This problematic statement
means that, according to Genette, a translation can only serve in relation to an ‘original’
because paratexts are “always subordinate” to the texts which determine their existence (1997:
12). Considering translation as a form of paratext thus reinforces the conventional hierarchy
between the source text and its translation and encourages disregard of the separate life a
translation may lead in the target context, assuming a different genre, addressing a different
readership or taking on a completely different function than the source text. Furthermore,
limiting translation to a mere commentary on the original text prevents the inclusion within
the ambit of Translation Studies of marginal translation cases, such as pseudotranslations
and concealed translations, since these texts challenge the very existence of the notion of the
‘original’.
Genette's misplacement of translation notwithstanding, the growing emphasis on cultural
and ideological issues in translation research has made the study of paratextual elements
surrounding translations methodologically indispensable. While many researchers prefer to
adopt Genette's concepts and terminology explicitly, some have concentrated on
presentational elements around translated texts without explicit reference to paratexts, an
example being Harvey (2003), who opts to use the term ‘binding’ to deal with more or less the
same phenomenon.
One of the earliest studies bringing together translations and their paratexts is Urpo
Kovala's essay analyzing how paratextual mediation serves ideological closure (1996). Based
on a corpus of Anglo-American fiction translated into Finnish, Kovala creates a typology of
paratexts and argues that paratexts may belong to four distinct categories: the “modest”
paratext, which only offers basic information including the author's name and the title, the
commercial paratext, advertising other books by the same publisher, the informative paratext,
describing and contextualizing the work, and the illustrative paratext, drawing attention to the
illustrations in and around the text (Kovala 1996: 127). Obviously these types are context-
dependent, and other cultures and periods may give rise to new typologies.
The 2000s have seen a rise in the interest shown in paratexts of translations. Tahir
Gürça!lar (2002) invoked the methodological relevance of paratexts for historical translation
research and argued that paratexts can offer valuable information about translations,
especially in the field of popular literature, where extratextual statements or self-reflexive
theorization by translators are rare. Based on a corpus of classics and popular fiction
translated into Turkish, she maintained that peritexts in particular help reveal patterns of
production and reception for translations, enabling a problematization of concepts such as
authorship, originality and anonymity, which are hardly identifiable in translations

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themselves. Numerous case studies have demonstrated the way in which paratextual data
challenge, tease out and complement translational issues that are latent in translated texts
themselves. A few examples include Watts (2000), who has explored paratexts as instruments
of cultural translation in the various editions of Cahier d’un retour au pays natal, Torres
(2002), who has examined the status of the translated text through searching for indicators of
translation in the paratexts of Brazilian literature translated into French, or Asimakoulas
(2006), who has demonstrated the way in which paratexts served as parts of a strategy of
political defiance and resistance in the context of translations of Brecht's works into Greek
during the Junta era.
The need to incorporate available paratextual data into translation research is by now
widely recognized; however, caution needs to be observed in studies which focus solely on
paratexts of translations and not on translations themselves. The findings of such studies
reveal the mediational features of the paratexts and show how translations are presented, but
not how they are. Examination of paratexts such as titles, prefaces or translator's notes may
provide the researcher with information pertaining to translation strategies and the concept of
translation operational in the specific work, yet it cannot be a substitute for textual translation
analysis; that is, analyses of paratexts are best fit to serve as complementary devices in
revealing the actual translation norms observed by translators. A further problematic aspect of
studies based on paratexts is the issue of agency. Paratexts may reveal different types of
agents at work, depending on their nature. While translator's notes or prefaces/postfaces
may be seen as strong indicators of the translator's agency, illustrations, covers, blurbs and
epitexts located further away from the translated text are usually not controlled by translators
and are shaped by agents such as publishers or editors, either exclusively, or in interaction
with the translator. Therefore, attributing these types of paratexts to a translator can be
misleading in terms of identifying the limits of the translator's agency in a given context.

References

Asimakoulas, Dimitris. 2006. “Translation as a Means of Resistance: Paratexts in Translations of Brecht's

Works during the Greek Junta (1967–1974).” In CTIS Occasional Papers 3, Samh Fekry Hanna (ed.),
79–103. Manchester: University of Manchester. TSB
Genette, Gérard. 1987. Seuils. Paris: éditions du Seuil.
Genette, Gérard. 1997. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Tr. Jane E. Lewin. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Harvey, Keith. 2003. “‘Events’ and ‘Horizons’. Reading Ideology in the ‘Bindings’ of Translations.” In
Apropos of Ideology. Translation Studies on Ideology-Ideologies in Translation Studies, María
Calzada Pérez (ed.), 43–70. Manchester: St. Jerome.
Kovala, Urpo. 1996. “Translations, Paratextual Mediation and Ideological Closure.” Target 8 (1): 119–148.
Macksey, Richard. 1997. “Foreword.” In Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation, Gerard Genette (tr. Jane E.
Lewin), xi–xxiii. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tahir Gürça!lar, "ehnaz. 2002. “What Texts Don’t Tell: The Use of Paratexts in Translation Research.” In

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Crosscultural Transgressions. Research Models in Translation Studies II: Historical and Ideological
Issues, Theo Hermans (ed.), 44–60. Manchester: St. Jerome.
Torres, Marie-Hélène C. 2002. “Indices de statut de roman traduit - 1. Paratexte.” Meta 47 (1): 5–15.
Toury, Gideon. 1995. Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Watts, Richard. 2000. “Translating Culture: Reading the Paratexts to Aimé Césaire's Cahier d’un retour au
pays natal.” TTR 13 (2): 29–46.

Related articles: Norms of translation, Pseudotranslation, Agents of translation

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