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prologue: belongs to the text. written by the author in the same mode as the main narrative and a fundamental part of the story. placed before the first chapter. sets the scene and provides context/background for the main part. often includes essential exposition. can be a short scene or a whole chapter in its own right.

preface: not part of the main text. written by the author in their own voice. an opportunity to talk about the text itself, about the writing process, the inspiration for it, how it came into being. often used to explain changes in later editions.

foreword: written by someone else as an endorsement of the text and to vouch for the author's credibility. being asked to write a foreword for someone's book is a big deal. not part of the main text.

introduction: strictly speaking, a preface talks about the text itself, while an introduction talks about the content of the text. it is a fundamental part of nonfiction texts, where it, well... introduces the central themes and/or arguments ("tell them what you're going to tell them"). for fictional texts, things are a little fuzzier. comprehensive introductions by the author are rare, and the job of introducing readers to the text can be done by the preface or the prologue (or both), depending on who is speaking and the diegetic level (i.e., where that material lives in relation to the story world). more commonly, so-called "introductions" to fictional texts are a special, detailed kind of foreword: written by somebody else, often in an academic tone, to provide historical context and/or biographical information about the original author. common for classics and a key part of critical editions. to sum up, in nonfiction, "introduction" refers to the opening section of the main text, written by the author of course; in fiction, it is generally a separate text by someone else that is included in the front matter.

epilogue: fundamental part of the text. placed after the last chapter. counterpart to a prologue. provides closure after the main action has concluded. can smooth out an abrupt ending, reflect on the main part of the story, or tie up loose ends to deepen cataharsis for the reader. like a prologue, it is often separated from the main narrative by a time jump and/or a shift in tone.

afterword: not part of the main text. can be written by the author, but is often written by somebody else. serves a similar function as a foreword by contextualizing the main text or commenting on its genesis.

author's note: not part of the text. can come before or after it. similar to a preface, but typically addresses a specific detail, sometimes to anticipate criticism. often much shorter and less formal than a preface.

acknowledgements: thanks to people or institutions. often in the back, though sometimes in the front.

appendix/appendices: extra material that supports the main text. tables, charts, maps, etc.

notes/endnotes: explanatory or citation notes that appear at the end instead of as footnotes

keep in mind that some of these terms overlap. in reality, even publishers use a lot of them interchangeably. in beloved, for example, the "foreword" is technically a preface, written by morrison herself. so many books use "prelude" instead of prologue. sometimes a prologue is simply called "chapter 1". in the handmaid's tale, the epilogue is confusingly titled "historical notes" (as mentioned in one of the screenshots above) and so on and so forth.

but anyway. most things on this list can be considered supplementary materials (indeed like dvd bonus features), and they often differ by edition. they can provide valuable insights, but skipping them won't negatively affect your understanding of the main text. ask any publisher and they'll tell you not to put important info in the preface because nobody really reads the front/back matter.

prologue and epilogue on the other hand are part of the main text. skipping them is like skipping random chapters, or the first and last 10 minutes of a movie. like...... sure, you'll probably get the gist but you're definitely gonna miss out on some crucial stuff.

I am not uptight about privacy because I'm hiding something. I'm uptight about it because the people who dismiss my right to privacy are dangerous to you and me and our families, personally, all the time.