91×ÔÅÄ

There is more to literature than the text itself. Anything that surrounds the text — from the cover to chapter headings and author bios — is known as paratext. This is what transforms text into a book.   Richard Watts’s 91×ÔÅÄ focuses on this under-examined aspect of literature. In this episode, Watts, an associate professor of French at the 91×ÔÅÄ, explains how everything we read comes with accompanying discourse. Decisions have already been made about how readers should…