PARATEXTS IN LITERARY AND SPECIALIZED TRANSLATIONS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FOREWORDS AND INTRODUCTIONS

Abstract In the field of Translation Studies, paratexts included in translated books have been increasingly used by researchers as part of their descriptive-based studies, which has originated a wealth of theory about the functions that paratexts play in translated materials. However, for the most part, researchers have focused on literary translations and, as result, little is known about the functions and characteristics of paratexts in translations of specialized books. The paper addresses this gap by comparing 26 paratexts (forewords and introductions) taken from Brazilian translations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet with 24 paratexts taken from 200 translations of academic books (e.g. medicine, engineering, biology, physics) published over the last six decades. It discusses similarities and differences between the topics that both corpora of paratexts address