PARATEXTS ON THE BOOK COVER OF ANDREY KURKOV’S DIARY OF AN INVASION: ORDINARY OR EXTRAORDINARY?

Abstract

The primary question of the present paper is how cultural and political context impact the ways that the cultural value of books is constructed through the publisher’s paratexts. The present paper examines the textual periphery that surrounds and contextualizes the text and mediates the relations between the text, the author, the publisher and potential readers. The paper examines paratextual elements on the book cover of Diary of an Invasion by Andrey Kurkov, the peculiarities of the cover structure and layout of the English-language editions, their functions in communicating the constituent elements of Ukrainian identity to an English- speaking reader. The detailed description of the structural elements of the cover of the book about Russian invasion of Ukraine, written in a time of war and published for English-language readers adds novelty to the research. Moreover, the aim of the paper is to prove that the textual periphery expresses explicitly and implicitly the publisher’s promoting strategy of establishing emotional connection with readers and building credibility to the author and his narrative, that effectively contribute to the reader’s initial interaction with the text. The present paper analyses the structure of the front cover, the back cover and the spine and describes the following paratextual elements: the name of the author, the title, blurbs, logo of the publisher, illustrative material, and a photo.