Commercial Paratexts on the Book Covers of Translated Literary Books in Iran

Abstract

This paper examined the commercial paratexts on the book covers of translated literary books in Iran over the past thirty five years. The purpose was to reach a better understanding of marketing and advertisement methods for translated books and to learn about the viewpoints of translators and publishers about readers and the book market. Also, the position of the translator and translation in the advertisements on the book covers was analyzed. To do so, the covers of 200 books were examined on the basis of Kovala’s model and the paratexts were classified. Further, the aspects which the paratexts drew attention to and the functions which they foregrounded were noted. The results showed that such paratexts focused on the publisher, the book and its writer, the translator and his/her translation, and the cover designer. The paratexts drew the reader’s attention to such things as the literary/artistic value of the work, its commercial success, its appeal for the reader, its awards, and the list of best books it had appeared on. These paratextual elements, when playing their informative, conative, phatic, and poetic functions, mostly concentrated on the work itself and its writer and did not pay much attention to the translator and translation. It seems that advertisers of translated books consider the readers as more interested in the literary work itself rather than its translation. Consequently, not much is said about translator and translation in the advertisements on the book covers.