Paratexts 2.0: New Perspectives on Twenty-First Century Literary Narrative

In this study, I argue for the need to extend Genette’s typology of the paratext to analyze twenty-first century literary narratives. “Paratexts 2.0” are formalized in a model that presents the new categories of material peritexts and digital epitexts and their main functions. The new model provides a heuristic for contemporary narratives whose authors exploit various semiotic modes in their printed books, and the affordances of Web 2.0 technologies in the digital world. My dissertation is therefore also an attempt to complement the rhetorical approach to narrative with investigations on mediality and modality, and a discussion on the extra-textual dimension of authorial agency. Finally, according to a diachronic perspective, this study explores the ethical values embedded in the choice of using paratexts 2.0 as resources of narrative communication in relation to post-postmodern American literature.