posttext (stage)

Finally in order to make the table completely coherent, a further hypothetical stage should be inserted after the textual stage, that of the posttext, which corresponds to the publishing future of the work (its various editions) after the demise of its author. Many interesting cases fall into this category, from the posthumous edition of a text either completed or left unfinished, such as Bouvard de Péchuchet, to the various transformations (by cuts, the introduction of errors, structural modifications, the appendage of critical baggage, paratextual metamorphoses, etc.) that characterize the post mortem editions of literary works. Clearly, however, this post-textual stage no longer has anything to do with the genetic perspective. lts domain could better be called the criticism of the reception and history of the book.

(Biasi 1996, 41-42)

Contributed by Jesse. View changelog.