Introduction

This introduction first offers to clarify the situation with definitions of sequels, prequels, coquels and other instances of novel expansion in contemporary Anglophone fiction and points to characteristics shared by all. After a necessary distinction between allographic and autographic expansions, the politics that are at the heart of novel expansions are examined to show that expanding may now merge with rewriting, whereas the two notions were initially opposed. The effects of the filling in of the blanks in source-texts are then discussed as they may convey a whole and inclusive vision typical of realism or alternatively a sense of fragmentation. Finally, this introduction questions the reception and impact novel expansions may have on readers, source-texts and memory before introducing the case studies that form the body of this volume.