Piot, Coline <br/><br/>
When Laughter Spreads to the Paratext: The Prefictional Space of Short Comedies (1660-1670) 

 -  2017.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 99 
<br/><br/> This article scrutinizes the clear, marked change in tone found in a set of theatrical paratexts beginning in the 1660s in order to identify their main features and functions. Indeed, a new paratextual form is used to introduce these previously unpublished short comedies. A certain unity in tone characterizes the discourse of these authors, which creates a playful relationship of complicity with the reader. The intermediary space of the paratext, with its distinctive form of lightness, supports the reader’s entry into a fictional universe originally conceived for the stage alone. It therefore seems to be an original response to the fear that reading from paper might not be able to convey all the comic flavor of stage representation.