Intertextuality of medieval Slavic translators' paratexts against the background of contemporary translators' discourse of Western Europe

Based on nine medieval Slavic translators' paratexts, the article discusses different manifestations of intertextuality. In the Middle Ages, the phenomenon, well-known to us through postmodernist literature, has some specific features: it was a natural characteristic of medieval discourse, not a conscious play with the reader. Intertextuality in Slavic literature of the period has been studied mostly in vitae, chronicles and travel diaries, while its functioning in Slavic translators' paratexts has not been investigated yet. Filling this gap in research was the aim of the study. Unlike that of modernity, medieval culture was the culture of authority not authorship. Therefore, a writer (translator) was free to appropriate, partly or entirely, a text of their predecessors or, the other way round, to ascribe their own speculations to a biblical, patristic or classic authority. The article considers two cases of such appropriation - the prologues to the Latin and Slavic translations of Secret of Secrets and the prologue to Slavic Hexameron, Shestodnev, compiled by John the Exarch. The comparison of John's Prologue with it source Cure of the Greek Maladies by Theodoret of Cyrus shows that the Slavic scholar treated the latter freely removing and adding what he considered necessary. On the other hand, medieval intertextuality also exists in formats more familiar to the modern reader - genuine or fictitious quotations (with or without reference to a particular author) and allusions to the Bible narrative. The article considers such quotes and allusions in connection with the topoi they are part of as well as their particular sources. As for the former aspect, it was concluded that they are most often used in the parts where referring to authority was deemed essential for pragmatic reasons, namely, in modesty topos (to substantiate the decision of the scholar to overcome Christian humility and take on the task - here the Parable of Talents was especially useful) and in validating a translation of a sacred text into vernacular (the claim was often supported by St. Paul's First Epistle to Corinthians). Addressing the patron scholars also tended to use references to virtuous biblical characters to flatter him (or her). Both in Catholic and Orthodox Europe the main source was the Scriptures. However, medieval translators, the Slavic ones to the lesser extent, used other sources the works of Church Fathers and the writers of classical antiquity.