Formen und Funktionen auktorialer Epitexte im literarischen

In literary studies, `paratexts` are all those texts that do not belong to the actual work or the main text, but accompany it and originate from the same author - i.e. are "authorial" - or were formulated in his or her spirit. In the case of texts in book form, this includes, for example, the foreword or the blurb, but also interviews conducted with the author on the occasion of a new publication. Or acceptance speeches that authors give when they receive a literary prize for an individual work or their entire oeuvre. In the first case, i.e. texts that are directly connected to the work in terms of time and space, we speak of peritexts. In the second case, i.e. texts that appear at a greater distance in time and space from the work but still refer to it, we speak of epitexts. In this anthology, we have focussed on the many facets of the second variant of paratexts, i.e. authorial epitexts. As the volume shows with various examples, they are becoming increasingly important in the contemporary literary world, regardless of whether they are self-commentaries at readings or speeches at literary awards ceremonies, interviews or poetry lectures. The various studies were guided by the following question: How have the forms and functions of authorial epi-texts developed in the German- speaking world since the turn of the millennium in a professionalised literary field with changing media conditions? What possibilities do they offer for the staging and role of authorship and the connection between author and work? The contributions in this volume address these questions with a view to the dynamic relationship between (complete) work, authorship and paratext, as articulated in epitexts in particular. The significance and facets of the concept of epitextuality in general as well as along the specific manifestations of different epitexts are examined.