Why is there an introductory paragraph in a book translated into German?

Question

I am reading a German translation of the American novel "The Pastures of Heaven" by John Steinbeck, and I noticed that on the first page there is a short summary paragraph that does not exist in the original version.

For reference, the paragraph reads:

Dies ist die Geschichte eines Tales, dessen Anblick für viele Menschen eine große Verheißung war. Manche träumte davon, einmal an diesen Ort zurückzukehren, dessen Schönheit sie einst geschaut hatten, um für immer dort zu bleiben.

I own several editions of the original version (in English) and none of them contain this first paragraph. Was this added for a particular reason, or is this a common practice for German translations?

Answer 1

This is an editorial decision of the publisher to add an appetizer to German readers. In the 60's and 70's it was even common to publishers in the German Democratic Republic to add introductions that tried to figure out how the attitudes of persons in the book would correspond to socialism in general. I know for example a translation of "white fang" (Jack London) with an attempt to set the wolf's attempts of surviving into a perspective of companionship toward the pack, toward people etc

Answer 2

Incorporating such paragraphs into the body text would be highly unusual. But in contrast to American publishing, it is not uncommon for German books to contain brief summaries in the front matter of the book -- often with info about the publisher.