Titles and Incipits as Literary Appetizers: Three Romanian Versions of Tolkien’s “Hobbit”, or Three Faces of an Interface

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse a series of (sub)titles and incipits as interfaces with the (young) readers and as literary ‘appetizers’ likely to stimulate them to continue reading. Our case in point is J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit, or There and Back Again” in Romanian translation (with a particular focus on three versions published in 1975, 1995, and 2012 respectively).

Cuvinte-cheie: paratext, incipit, genul fantastic, literatură pentru copii, traducere

REZUMAT

Lucrarea de faţă îşi propune să analizeze (sub)titlurile şi incipiturile ca interfețe ale cititorului (tineri) şi ca ‘aperitive’ literare cu potenţial de stimulare a lecturii ulterioare. Studiul nostru de caz porneşte de la romanul lui J. R. R. Tolkien, „The Hobbit, or There and Back Again”, în traducere românească (având în vedere cu precădere trei versiuni publicate în 1975, 1995, respectiv în 2012).

LANGUAGES OF PUBLICATION

English (main text and corpus) and Romanian (corpus)

UDC: 811.111.09`255.4”19”(092)Tolkien J.

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Received: February 14, 2019 | Reviewed: February 26, 2019 | Accepted for publication: April 15, 2019

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