epitextn.
/ˈɛpᵻtɛkst/, U.S. /ˈɛpəˌtɛkst/ Literary Theory.
1. A preface; a piece of peritext (peritext n.). rare (now superseded by sense 2).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > a written composition > parts of a written composition > [noun] > prologue or introduction
forespeechc1000
prologuec1350
proemya1382
preamblec1395
proemc1410
exordyc1430
prolocutory1447
protocolc1450
forespeaking1480
preface1484
prooemiumc1485
preparation1526
introduction1529
induction1533
introducement1536
epistle?1548
prelude1548
proposition1553
foretalk1565
exordium1581
prolegomenons1600
inducement1605
isagoge1652
propylaeum1693
programma1711
foreword1842
foretalking1872
programme1880
pronaos1894
peritext1977
epitext1978
1978 V. A. Raoul French Fictional Jrnl. (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Toronto) ii. 45 In more recent works authorial comment is still occasionally directly presented in the epi-text.
2. Textual and visual materials that derive from a published work, e.g. reviews, advertisements, interviews, etc., regarded as external supplements that contextualize the work and shape its public reception. Cf. peritext n.Chiefly with reference to books, but also used in relation to films, computer games, and other forms of media.Informed by the concepts of French literary theorist Gérard Genette (b. 1930).
ΚΠ
1987 Poetics Today 8 466 Genette establishes a distinction between the ‘peritext’, which accompanies the published text, and the ‘epitext’, the paratext outside the book.
1997 J. E. Lewin tr. G. Genette Paratexts xiii. 351 The publisher's epitext and the semiofficial allographic epitext lie outside the declared responsibility of the author.
2007 N. Morris Cinema S. Spielberg v. 67 ‘Epitext’ typically includes promotion and publicity: posters and trailers; criticism, interviews and behind-the-scenes reports.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1978