THE FIRST WORD

epigraph
I have a pet theory about epigraphs. They're an author's reward to herself for years of labor and doubt occasionally relieved by feeble hope (otherwise known as writing a novel).

"Epigraph" comes from a Greek word meaning "inscription." The literary theorist Gérard Genette called the epigraph "a password of intellectuality" by which an author signals which other writers he or she considers peers.