Epitext

Epitext is a term in Gérard Genette’s theory of paratexts that refers to texts associated with a work but located outside the primary text itself. Introduced in Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation (1987), epitexts are contrasted with peritexts, which are elements physically attached to the book (such as the title page, preface, and dust jacket) and with the main text.

Epitexts encompass material produced beyond the book’s pages, including author interviews, newspaper and journal reviews, press notices, promotional or catalog descriptions, and letters or statements about the work. In the digital age, epitexts extend to online interviews, publisher websites, social media posts, and other multimedia discourse surrounding a text. They function to shape reception and interpretation by providing context, framing, or commentary that readers encounter before, alongside, or after reading the work.

Scholars study epitexts to understand how a text is circulated, interpreted, and valued within cultural and media networks. Epitexts can create authorial persona, influence market reception, or guide readers’ expectations, thereby contributing to the text’s meaning even though they are not part of the book’s interior text. The boundaries between epitext and other paratextual categories can be fluid, especially as forms of media converge in contemporary circulation of literary works.

Related topics include paratext and peritext, and the concept remains useful for analyzing how external discourse participates in the construction of a text’s interpretation.