Judging a book by its cover : reader responses to paratexts in English and German translations of Chinese banned books

Abstract

This thesis investigates reader responses to paratexts of English and German translations of four different Chinese banned books: Serve the People! and Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke, Tombstone by Yang Jisheng and For a Song and a Hundred Songs by Liao Yiwu. The main aim is to research whether and how paratexts are used to manipulate readers and furthermore how paratexts influence or create expectations of the book. Since all the books chosen for this study are banned in China, this thesis will also analyse whether censorship is used by publishers of translations as a marketing tool and how readers react to it. Finally, this thesis investigates the interplay of the different paratexts and how this influences the appeal of a book to readers. In contrast to the majority of previous studies on paratexts, this thesis not only includes a paratextual analysis of four different paratexts which are all contained in a book’s packaging: front cover, title, praise and back covers (including blurbs) but also uses two reader-response studies to provide evidence for the effects of paratexts on readers as well as the readers’ reception of and opinions on paratexts. The findings of this thesis show that paratexts are not only able to manipulate readers to a varying degree but are actively used to do so by the publishers. The thesis also confirms that paratexts are not standalone items but interact in a larger framework. Readers are often aware of this interplay and clashing paratexts impact on the readers’ reception. By including readers in the research, this thesis offers a new perspective and contributes to the field by providing a basis for future reader-response based paratext research. Furthermore, it might have implications for the publishing industry by providing an insight into readers’ opinions on and receptions of book covers and thereby potentially influence future publication strategy.