The analysis of paratext in two English translations of Pushkin’s novel in verse Eugene Onegin

Abstract

Two translations out of the existing list of twenty-seven English translations of Pushkin’s novel in verse Eugene Onegin (1830s) are analysed in my article. They are by Douglas Hofstadter (1999) and Stanley Mitchell (2008). The focus is on the paratextual issues of their book covers, such as illustrations and text, and on the translators’ supplementary materials which are usually published as additional chapters to their translations, either part of the translation volume or separately. Genette’s terminology (1997) is lightly used in my article. However, points which are discussed there exemplify and maintain his ideas related to the other types of manifestation – illustrations, material and pure factual – have a paratextual value. It will be shown that paratext is conceptually related to other issue in translation studies, i.e. the translator’s visibility.