Sender-receiver relationship in the Early German prose novel (based on novel introductions)

The aim of the following article is to investigate peculiarities of an author's textual realization (as a sender S) and reader's description (as a receiver R) and to reveal models of the relationship between them. The novels Ein kurtzweilig Lesen von Dyl Ulenspiegel < . . . > (1515), Melusine (1587) and Lalebuch (1597) (further abbreviated as DU, M and L correspondingly) became the research material. The particular objects of the investigation are novel introductions. The main part of the article describes the analysis of each novel introduction. Means of author's textual realization and receiver's description as well as their pragmatic potential are revealed. As a consequence, a conclusion is made that the paratext of the early German prose novel can be characterized by a variety of S-R relationship models. These models can be classified as binary oppositions answering the following parameters: A. Form of the reference of S to himself; B. Manifest opposition of a particular author as an outside S of the text to the inside S (narrator); C. Direct / distant relations between S and R; D. Degree of the implicit presentation of S and R. According to the A parameter the following texts can be identified: texts with the reference of S to himself by means of the forms of a personal pronoun ich (L) and texts where reference is not limited by only this means (M and DU). Hereby, taking into account the informative value of means of the reference, the latter group of texts can also be divided into two subgroups: a) DU, where the value of reference means is less informative due to the abbreviation of the personal name to one letter; b) M, where S is identified by means of at least personal and family names. By B parameter the introductions to the novels M and DU are opposed to the introduction to L. In the first case the author does not emphasize his disagreement with the narrator intentionally. Considering M introductions their positions are presented as identical. Thus, in the first case, the author intends to convince the reader of the truth of words said about the novel's plot; in the second case, to emphasize the fictitious nature of the story described in the introduction. By C parameter texts where S and R are in a direct contact (L and M with R2 as an abstract reader) are opposed to texts with indirect relations (DU and M with R1 as a concrete reader). D parameter regarding the implicit presentation of S and R is the position of S and / or R that has no direct verbalization in the text but can be determined due to its certain features. The introduction to L belongs to the group of texts with a high degree of implicit S and R specification due to the means of modality.

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