In the article “The Paratext and Literary Narration: Authorship, Institutions, Historiographies,” Florian Sedlmeier, an Assistant Professor at Freie Universität Berlin, explores the concept of paratext. Over the weekend I was browsing the databases for any additional texts on paratext that might be a better fit for my project and came across this piece. What drew me to this article initially was how the title promised discussion of paratext in relation to both authorship and narration, topics which I thought would be interesting when looking at The Princess Bride.
While discussing authorship, Sedlmeier brings up a quote from Genette that explains how paratext acts as commentary from the author of the piece (67). I think this idea is interesting given how Goldman acts as the abridger of the novel because every note he has explaining he edits to the “original” text is based on his own opinion and perspective. Sedlmeier also introduces Genette’s concept of “autographic paratexts,” which are paratexts specifically attributed to the author (prefaces, titles, epigraphs, etc.) (69). In the article, Sedlmeier and Genette present paratext as a kind of link between the author, the text and literary historiography. This being said, Sedlmeier doesn’t explore how paratext could be used to mislead readers and spread misinformation.
As stated earlier, The Princess Bride does display aspects of paratext that Sedlmeier describes in the article, but it also uses paratext to create an illusion of reality. In the introduction, notes and epigraph of the novel, Goldman talks about Florin and Guilder as if they were real places with lengthy histories. Paratexts also complicate Goldman’s connection with the text because while his own opinions are explicitly stated in some paratext, the S. Morgenstern pseudonym that Goldman writes the novel under and his constant claim to being only the abridger in other paratextual elements limit his connection to the original piece. This divide between Goldman and the text also complicates my previous ideas regarding escapism because if The Princess Bride is supposed to be Goldman’s way of escaping reality, why does he try to distance himself from it by hiding behind a pseudonym? Or does Goldman’s escape lie in the paratexts where he takes on a narratorial role and becomes part of the story in that sense?
Sedlmeier, Florian. “The Paratext and Literary Narration: Authorship, Institutions, Historiographies.” Narrative, vol. 26, no. 1, 2018, pp. 63–80. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26405564. Accessed 11 Nov. 2024.
As I was reading your selection for class tomorrow, I kept wondering how this paratext changes our understanding of the author. Mostly importantly, I think, I was stuck on the idea that Morgenstern is a real person, and not a pseudonym because this best allows us to think about how we look at and value the original words of the author. Goldman specifically mentions Moby Dick and the chapters about the history of whaling and how the reader can skip them without missing anything of the story. I suppose the question that follows is: Should you skip those Chapters? Should we value all the authors words the same or just the ones we find interesting? I would contend we should read all of Moby Dick even the boring parts because they are all part of the novel and the story that Melville is trying to tell. That is, if we’re reading a novel all of the words matter because they contribute meaning to the broader text.
Your discussion of paratext and your mention of Genette’s view of paratext as authorial commentary is so interesting; after our class discussion of your excerpt of The Princess Bride, I kept thinking about Alasdair Gray’s novel Poor Things. Though real-life Gray is the author, literary Gray is the editor of this found text. Though most of the content, like the Editor’s Introduction, probably counts as metatext, Gray (the editor) has a series of explanatory notes that could qualify as paratext. These serve to explain certain historical references or the timeline of publication of the various documents that comprise Poor Things. This is where the novel really connects to your discussion of The Princess Bride: Gray, like Goldman, creates “an illusion of reality.”
This is so interesting! I think understanding this book not only as a narrative, but a physical object is so important to how the pretext works. I know everyone in class was recommending other sources, but have you read Don Quixote? I think some Quixotic scholarship would be helpful in framing how the physicality of the book functions, and how a reliable/unreliable narrator forms through this construction. I really love your project and am so excited to see how it progresses!
I think you have reached some incredibly interesting ideas and posed some important questions regarding narration and authorship in your post. I think considering escapism in Goldman’s use of paratext is fascinating- particularly because reality relies on the truth, but narrators, such as himself, have the agency to skew the truth, as you have stated, and spread misinformation through their own narrational voice. I think it would also be interesting to look at paratext specifically in the fantasy genre- as you stated, the novel uses it to create an illusion of reality, but in fantasy novels, we have no way to really know what the reality is.