Paratekst w literaturze fantasy (na podstawie glosariusza)

The content of this article falls within the textual and generic trend of research on paratext. The author describes the meaning of paratexts in fantasy literature via the example of glossaries, which fulfill a special role in the process of creating and perceiving this type of literary text. The argumentation process is subordinated to two perspectives. The first involves the sub-creation of a secondary reality — the Second World in fantasy, which from the beginning to the end grows out of the imagination of the writer and which is complete and internally consistent. In the course of reading, the reader “enters” into a completely different world from that experienced every day. What is needed, therefore, is a kind of guide that allows him to “move around” without disturbing the created universe. Paratext fulfills this function. Hence the second perspective is Gérard Genette’s thesis, according to which the paratext is identified with the text surrounding the proper text, coming from the author and remaining within the same volume (peritext), and one of its basic roles is to help in the interpretation and proper decryption of the creator’s (author’s) intentions. On the basis of the glossaries studied in fantasy texts, it can be concluded that structurally they constitute the determinants of a textual frame, and although there is no linear continuity between the main text and the glossary, considering the content that is contained in it, they serve to strengthen the coherence of the main text. In general, the presence of glossaries facilitates reading the text, allows “unmasking” the intentions of the author and categorizing elements of the plot of a specific work, a given part of the cycle or saga against the background of the whole universe.