Functions of Paratextual Elements in Early Romanian Translations. Examples from Alecu Beldiman’s Writings
Functions of Paratextual Elements in Early Romanian Translations. Examples from Alecu Beldiman’s Writings

Summary/Abstract: Starting from a presentation of the particularities of the Romanian pre-modern period, also known as Romanian Enlightenment, this paper emphasizes the role of secular translations during that period. The Romanian intellectuals of the time were involved in a rich activity of translating various popular writings from European languages, such as French, German, Greek, or Italian. Most of these translations were in fact adaptations of the source texts, and the voices of translators or editors were present not only in the texts themselves, but also in the paratextual elements – mostly forewords and afterwords – that sometimes accompanied these writings. Based on the functions of the paratext, as defined by Gerard Genette, this article explores some examples of paratexts from early Romanian translations done by Alecu Beldiman, with the aim of showing the essential functionality of these paratextual elements, namely to guide the readers.

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