ABSTRACT
This never before published essay is an occasional piece written for a conference held at the University of Alberta on November 12, 1987, on “Prefaces and Manifestos, History of the Literary Institution.” Godard playfully reminds the reader of the dynamic liminal function of the “preface” as writing situated “between the text and the extra-textual” and thus capable of enacting “movements in culture conventions” that provide an evaluative frame and a powerful orienting experience for the reader. Extending Genette’s meditations on peritexts to include questions pertaining to translation, Godard advances an argument for evaluating the translator-function in a text according to the presence or absence of the translator’s preface.
