Literatures of Western Europe and parachute elements of the United States in modern romance (based on the novel by Daniel Stael "Message from Nama")

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Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University

English Philology Department

daniela's partextual female romance

Literatures of western Europe and the Usa paratextual elements in contemporary romance (based on Danielle Steel's novel «Message from nam»)

Ella Mintsys

Senior lecturer

ABSTRACT

Mintsys Ella. Paratextual Elements in Contemporary Romance (based on Danielle Steel's Novel«Message from Nam»).

The article deals with analysis of the paratextual elements in the novel by Danielle Steel Message from Nam. It aims at tracing the interaction between the paratext, the environment of the book, and the text. It presents an outline of the latest paratext-related researches and comments on the role played by such paratextual elements as the title, epigraph, dedication, abstract and some of the publisher's notes in understanding the message of the book. The paper is of interest because it is the first attempt to analyze romance-based paratext and describe the functions performed by the paratextual elements - they interest, tempt and inform the reader, render the author's idea and explain the author's intention, establish the link of the novel in question with the creative activity of the author, and, finally, throw some light on D. Steel as a personality. The article is of help to those who deal with literary studies, literary criticism and text analysis.

Key words: paratext, paratextual elements, romance, title, epigraph, dedication, abstract.

Запропонована стаття присвячена аналізу паратекстуальних елементів роману Даніели Стіл «Почати спочатку». Мета статті - простежити взаємодію між паратекстом, який є безпосереднім оточенням книги, та текстом. У ній узагальнені деякі з останніх досліджень у галузі паратексту та проаналізована роль, яку відіграють такі паратекстуальні елементи, як назва книги, епіграф, присвята, короткий зміст та редакторські нотатки у розумінні головної ідеї роману. У статті вперше зроблено спробу проаналізувати паратекст жіночого роману та описати функції, які виконують паратекстуальні елементи - вони зацікавлюють та інформують читача, передають ідею та художній намір авторки, встановлюють зв'язок між твором та всією творчістю письменниці, а також допомагають розкрити характер Д. Стіл. Результати дослідження можуть бути використані у викладанні теоретичних курсів, зокрема зарубіжної літератури, літературознавства та аналізу тексту.

Ключові слова: паратекст, паратекстуальні елементи, жіночий роман, назва книги, епіграф, присвята, короткий зміст.

The problems of paratext has been an object of discussions in literary studies and literary criticism since the concept was introduced by G. Genette, a man possessing «broad erudition and a sharp eye for the anatomy of discursive practices and narrative strategies» [4, p. XII], in 1982. The scholar explained the role of paratextual elements in enabling a text to become a book and be of interest to its readers. The growing interest in the role of paratext accounts for the topicality of the present paper.

Gerard Genette in his work Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation (1987) presents a profound analysis of paratextual elements, «the literary and printerly conventions that mediate between the world of publishing and the world of the text» [4, p. XVII]. He called them «thresholds» and divided them into two subcategories: 1) the peritext, which «necessarily has a location that can be situated in relation to the location of the text itself», can be found «within the same volume» and includes everything between or on the covers (the author's name, the title, blurbs, cover illustrations, dust jackets, dedications, the preface, chapter titles, maps, authorial appendices, afterwords, footnotes, glossaries, etc.); 2) the epitext, which comprises elements that do not appear inside the book or anywhere its direct surroundings, i.e. not physically attached to it (interviews, reviews, literary criticism, conversations, letters, diaries and others) [3; 7; 9]. Both the paratextual subcategories can be produced either by the author of a work or by his publisher.

Genette defines paratext as «a zone between text and off-text, a zone not only of transition but also of transaction: a privileged place of pragmatics and a strategy, of an influence on the public, an influence that... is at the service of a better reception for the text and a more pertinent reading of it» [10]. Scholars investigating the text, consider paratext as its environment, without which it cannot exist. Following G. Genette's idea of «threshold», they also call it a «vestibule», «reinforcement and accompaniment», «adornment», «a fringe of the printed text», etc.

Paratext-related issues have been considered from literary and linguistic perspectives. A. Coldiron, researching on English translations of French books and on Chaucer's literary legacy, considers paratexts to be «an extremely useful site for printers and translators working in a new medium and for literary historians». The researcher views paratextual Chaucerianism as «a special strategy of appropriation and naturalization of the foreign» [2, p. 2]. Literary scholar Cynthia Brown defines the paratext as «the book- related material physically surrounding the literary text» [6, p. 185]. Peter Burke points out that the translations of such paratextual elements as forewords and addresses to the readers help them to support the ideas existing in the target culture [1, p. 20]. Some scholars' researches are based on the analysis of paratextual peculiarities of concrete authors or concrete paratextual elements. For example, A. A. Kolotov investigates the foreword, afterword and geographical maps in the novel «The Riddle of the Sands» by Erskine Childers [11] The Russian and Ukrainian texts are translated by the author of the present article (E. M.).; O. V. Pogorelova's article deals with the title and epigraph in A. Irvanets's poetry [13]; L. Miroshnichenko focuses on the paratext in Doris Lessing's novel «The Cleft» [12]. O. B. Rogoza, emphasizing the importance of the preface, states that «either consciously or in spite of himself, the author pins hopes on the preface, trying to draw attention of “his own” reader, to give a sign that the book is written for him» [14]; V. Marciulioniere's research deals with fiction book blurbs [5 ], etc.

As no romance-based reasearch of paratext has been done, it becomes the focus of the present paper and testifies to its novelty. Therefore, the aim of the article is a thorough and objective highlighting of the paratextual elements in Danielle Steel's novel «Message from Nam».

D. Steel is an extremely prolific contemporary American writer who is famous for her numerous romances, which she has been creating for about forty years. Critics consider the name of the writer and the term «romance» to be synonyms. Love is in the focus of her novels. At first sight the plots of her novels are banal, similar and predictable, but in fact each of them has its own conflicts, intrigues, unexpected twists, happy and tragic moments. The author herself considers that her books are not about love but about human characters. In some of her novels Danielle Steel presents the relationships between her personages on the background of historic events: No Greater Love (1991) - the wreck of Titanic, Message from Nam (1990) - assassination of John Kennedy and war in Viet Nam, Zoya (1988) - the revolution of 1917 in Russia and death of the Tzar's family, Crossings (1982) - World War II, and others. It adds to the dramatism of the characters' description, therefore the stories of her female characters are perceived as true-to-life stories of real people who were the participants or witnesses of those events.

Thus, the twenty-fifth bestselling novel by D. Steel Message from Nam [8] tells about the San Francisco Morning Sun journalist Paxton

Andrews who spent seven years in Viet Nam reporting from the front to the Associated Press.

Among the paratextual elements which G. Genette refers to the publisher's peritext that are found in the analyzed book (on the outside and inside front and back covers) are the name of the author, the title of the work, dedication, epigraph, specific illustration, the name of the publisher, mention of other works by this author, the abstract [4, p. 24-25].

So, let us start with the name of the author. The name appears on the cover and on the title page in the same size and is more conspicuous than the title itself, which testifies to no small reputation of the author, which. It proves G. Genette's statement that “the better known the author, the more space his name takes up” [4, p. 38]. Besides, the author's name performs a pragmatic function. As Danielle Steel is famous for her romances, it gives the reader a hint that the book is not a war epic or a historical novel, although the war theme permeates through it from start to finish.

As for the title of the book, Message from Nam, it is rather conspicuous, too, but it is placed under the author's name, which once again emphasizes the role of the latter. The title in question performs all the three functions defined by G. Genette: to designate, to indicate subject matter, to tempt the public [4, p. 76]. Although being more independent than other elements, the title is the name of the novel, its part, its first sign. It undoubtedly tempts the reader, affects their emotional perception, catches their attention from the start. Each of its words has a certain code to be deciphered later on in the text. The presence of the word Nam, abbreviation from Viet Nam, as well as the picture of a helicopter on the cover, implies that the book is about the war waged by the USA. The title clearly indicates the author's intention to go beyond the limits of the conventional «love story», and the war theme that permeates through the whole novel, predicts the description of more than just the drama of the main characters, but also of a number of human fates, and is not to leave the reader indifferent.

An important role for understanding the personality and intention of the author is played by the dedication. In the analyzed novel it is personal and characterizes D. Steel as a loving wife and an affectionate mother which is also supposed to affect the reader positively: «To the love of my life, John, who makes every moment worth living. And to our beloved boys, Trevor, Todd, Nicholas, Maxx, may you never, ever have to fight a war, like this one. With all my heart and love, d. s.» [8]. Although the nature of the relationship is not precisely stated, it is clear that the addressees are D. Steel's husband and their sons (although she mentions other children, too, in her other novels' dedications). The mention of her sons only is done on purpose: the author wishes that her husband and sons would never be sent to the war and tries to tune in the reader on the anti-war theme of the novel.

The epigraph is a quotation placed at the head of the work [4, p. 144]. It is a paratextual element which presents the author's concept, world view, system of values. It performs the function of a citation used in the work and, finally, it can introduce the theme of the text, reflect the title and give information to the reader [15]. One of the peculiarities of the novel Message from Nam is that it has two epigraphs. The first one is taken from John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address «The torch has been passed to a new generation» [8], in which the USA president said a lot of things that can be related to the future war in Viet Nam and the role of the USA in that war. It is a certain reference to history which renders the author's attitude to the events in Viet Nam. It is not very common for novels to have several epigraphs. That is why the use of the second one, the poem «The Boys Who Fought in Nam», can be considered as a kind of literary experiment. It relates to the events and emotions discussed in the book. It blames those who sent young Americans to death and calls upon to remember «the boys who died, who lived, who cried, the boys who fought in Nam» [8].

The abstract of the analyzed novel which is written on the back cover performs the function of informing the readers of its theme and partially its plot. It also performs the so-called signaling function - after reading it the consumer will decide whether the book meets their requirements and corresponds to their interest. The abstract in question does not reveal the whole plot, it just hints at the issues touched upon in the novel and acquaints the reader with the main character Paxton Andrews. And the first part of the abstract which presents a chain of rhetorical questions («How do you tell someone what it's like to kill a man hand to hand, run a bayonet through his guts, or shoot a sniver in the face who turns out to be a woman? How do you explain the nine-year-old boy who throws a hand grenade and kills your best friend How do you tell them what it's like?» [8]) produces a dramatic effect and makes it clear that the book is not an easy reading but an account of true- to-life tragic events. While reading such an abstract the addressee will decide on the value of the whole novel.

On the inside front cover the book contains a list of twenty-five titles of the novels written by Danielle Steel, and on the inside back cover - an abstract of her novel «Daddy», which are also paratextual elements aiming at convincing the readers that the author is extremely prolific and further interesting them in her writings.

Thus, the present paper presents a thorough analysis of the paratextual elements in the novel by Danielle Steel Message from Nam. It presents an outline of paratext-related researches and comments on the role played by the title, epigraph, dedication, and publisher's notes in understanding the message of the book. The paper is of interest because it is the first attempt to do a romance-based research which proves that all the paratextual elements perform various functions - they interest, tempt and inform the reader, render the author's idea and explain the author's intention, establish the link of the novel in question with all the creative activity of the author, and, finally, throw some light on D. Steel as a personality.

REFERENCES

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Genette G. Paratext. Thresholds of Interpretation / Gerard Genette. - Cambridge University Press, 1997. - 427 p.

Marciulioniene V. Publisher's Blurb on English Books of Fiction: A Diachronic Genre Analysis [Electronic resource] / V. Marciulioniene. - Mode of access : http://vddb.Ubrary.Medora/get/LT-eLABa-0001:J.04~2006~ISSN_1392- 561X.N_11. PG_ 61-71/DS.002.1.01.ARTIC

Morgan R. J. Spanish American Saints and the Rhetoric of Identity, 1600-1810 / Ronald Jay Morgan. - University of Arizona Press, 2002. - 238 p.

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