Academic literature on the topic 'Dragonlance Chronicles'

碩士
國立高雄科技大學
應用英語系
107
This study aims to find out what types of paratext are used in the cover designs, the difference between early and republished editions of translated fantasy novels in Taiwan, and explore the implications of the findings from the functionalistic perspective. Based on Genette’s (1997) paratext theory, this study examined the cover designs of two editions of translated fantasy novels in Taiwan. Vermeer’s (1989/2000) skopos theory is applied to support the intended purpose of using different paratexts in the cover designs of different translated fantasy novels at different times. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses are conducted to examine the cover designs of the translated Dragon Raja, Dragonlance Chronicles and the Lord of the Rings series. The paratexts on the covers fall into three categories: 1) basic information of the book, 2) pictorial paratexts, and 3) additional information. A further analysis of the three types of paratexts show some differences between the early and republished editions of translated fantasy novels: pictorial paratexts change from concrete images to abstract symbols; content-related information changes from short to detailed descriptions; promotional texts change from recommendations from local celebrities to readers’ recommendations; and publishers identify the same novel series as different types of books. The changes suggest that in different periods of the development of translated fantasy literature in Taiwan, the target audiences and the publishers, publication policies are different. These differences affect the purposes and functions of translated fantasy novels, and so the paratexts of cover designs are adjusted to achieve the intended purposes.