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Shaping Readerly Taste

Paratextuality in the Publishing Mission of Mxit‘ar of Sebastia

Jesse Arlen    Zohrab Information Center / Fordham University    

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abstract

Making use of theoretical insights from ‘history of the bookʼ scholarship, this paper examines the way in which Mxit‘ar of Sebastia made use of paratexts (title pages, frontispieces, dedications, epigraphs, prefaces, illustrations, headings, epilogues, appendices, etc.) in his ‘publishing mission’ (to use Sahak Čemčemean’s appelation) to shape readerly taste and influence the way in which his books were read, received, and interpreted. Through introductory poems, illustrations, and playful word games, he presented himself as a second Maštoc‘ and his own students like the famous fifth-century disciples of that vardapet, who were meant to transmit and create in the same Armenian Christian literary tradition, under the aegis of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pubblicato
22 Novembre 2023
Accettato
12 Maggio 2023
Presentato
03 Marzo 2023
Lingua
EN

Keywords: History of the bookMxit‘arist congregationMxit‘ar of SebastiaReader responseParatextuality

Copyright: © 2023 Jesse Arlen. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.