Description:
The novels and novellas of Unamuno have an inordinate amount of paratextual material (epigraphs, prefaces, postlogues, notes, epilogues, etc. of various types). These paratexts, which have received some commentary in the cases of Amor y pedagogia and Niebla but are largely neglected in the criticism of Unamuno’s other works of fiction, are an integral part of each narrative. They are, in fact, the most immediately visible, distinguishing characteristic of Unamuno’s fiction.

The present volume discusses the wide variety of paratextual material in Unamuno’s fiction, utilizing the many categories created by Genette. Considering each paratextual type individually, it seeks to examine enough concrete Unamunian examples of that type in order to define the Basque writer’s conception of what each paratextual format can do. The examination of paratextual samples is continually related both to the central narrative and to the many other paratexts in the various editions of each work.

The study does not limit itself to defining Unamuno’s paratextual parameters. It offers - in the case of both individual narrations and the narrative corpus as a whole - an explanation of how the paratexts actually reconfigure the reader’s perception of the narrative core of each work and eventually change the reader’s overview of Unamuno’s fiction as a whole.

The volume presented here attempts to combine various currents of textual theory and several philosophical approaches embraced by Unamuno in order to show that Unamuno’s paratexts represent a performative exercise that produces a philosophical experience of great vitality.


CONTENTS:

Introduction......9

Principal Paratexts of Unamuno’s Narratives......21

Texts and Paratexts in the Unamunian Style......27

Dedications and Epigraphs......37

Introductions, Prologues, Prefaces......47

Notes......81

Epilogues......89

Epitexts......99

Conclusions......111

Works cited......121