Iterations and Evolutions: Paratext and Intertext in Fanfiction

Framework

Gérard Genette (1997) describes the power of paratext by writing that “the paratext is what enables a text to become a book and to be offered as such to its readers and, more generally, to the public” (p. 1). Rarely, as Genette notes, is the text proper presented unadorned, without paratextual utterances accompanying it (p. 1). This perspective on paratext which focuses on the physical book clearly illustrates that paratext is established as an essential tool, or exists as infrastructure, as part of the textual creation or writing and reading experience. As such, this tool can be applied to non-physical or digital spaces. The elements of paratext—peritext and epitext—are located inside and outside of the text, respectively, and share its spatial field (Genette, 1997). Peritextual inclusions, such as titles, certain notes, and dedications, are located within the text, whereas a more distanced inclusion, epitext, originates outside of the text. Genette’s explanation of epitext gives interviews, conversations, and private communication tools such as letters or diaries as examples, as all of these would be separate from the physical book, but linked to it through its own peritextual force.