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Top2. Theoretical Basis
Theoretical resources for this research are a combination of paratext theory and several schools of cultural translation studies.
What is borrowed from paratext theory is its concept and part of its classification. “Paratext” is a concept of literary interpretation proposed by the French literary theorist Gerard Genette (1997, p.1-3). It refers to the linguistic and non-linguistic materials attached to the text, which supplement or even strengthen the text. The peritext and epitext were the most important types of paratexts. Peritext, the text inside the book, includes author's name, subtitle, cover, title page, inscription, preface, postscript, annotation, etc.; epitext refers to the information about a text, normally provided by the author and publisher outside the book (Genette, 1997, p. 4-5). As paratextual elements contribute to reconstruction of meaning in both source and target setting, peritext subtypes are adapted, in addition to text, to provide the framework for the analysis of the 10 translations of Bushido.
Other important sources of inspiration for the writing of this article are the schools of cultural studies, which provide theoretical perspectives for the case study. The Manipulation of Literature, edited by Theo Hermans in 1985 and later publications (Lefevere, 1992; Bassnett and Lefevere 1990; Toury 1995 among others) argued the idea of translation as a fact in the target setting that reflects a certain ideology and manipulates literature for a certain purpose. Andre lefevere, the representative of the manipulation school, once mentioned the concept of “metatext”, which is an academic comment or criticism of the original text in the form of interpretation (Lefevere, 1970, p. 78). A functionalist approach (Nord, 1997) likewise emphasize the intended function of the translated text as the basis for the translator’s decision.