Intertextuality

Discussing “intertextuality” is a matter of discussing how a text does not exist in a vacuum—it is influenced by the works that have come before it, and it will most likely exert some kind of influence over works to follow. Authors may use this particular technique of referencing the style or content of other authors to give readers some background information, while still giving them a new perspective. As discussed in class, reading is always rereading to a certain extent, because of the literary experiences readers already bring to the table. Themes that are relevant and striking to readers in one context often appear again in treatment by other authors, but in variations that offer the audience a newer author’s own interpretation.

At a foundational level of intertextuality, authors incorporate the ideas, definitions, and concepts of their cultures into their works. According to Julia Kristeva, the attributed originator of this term, “texts […] have to be seen as systems of signs that exist in relation to other systems of signs” (Dictionary of Sociology). Because this situation of pulling in background culture can arise without the express knowledge of either the author or the reader, Roland Barthes points out that this can lead to problems. By his analysis, readers may incorrectly seek “the explanation of a work […] in the man or woman who produced it,” when they should instead examine the broader range of factors that influenced the text; the readers’ better understanding should then lead to something resembling the “death of the Author” (Barthes in Allen 71, 70). This extreme viewpoint opens the door for the claim that literary works depend on each other, as opposed to a work depending only on its author.

A completely original text thus seems impossible, although works can be intertextually related to different degrees. Authors virtually never regurgitate a perfect replica of a previous text—instead, they frequently produce “anagram, allusion, adaptation, translation, parody, pastiche, imitation, and other kinds of transformation” as a way to offer their own unique spin on a technique or theme (Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms).

Examples of intertextuality include James Joyce’s Ulysses, which draws from Homer’s The Odyssey, and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, which, in fact, draws from Ulysses. The perpetual influence of intertextuality becomes even more apparent when readers can learn that Mrs. Dalloway is a roundabout product of a Greek epic poem. In terms of a more recent example, Meg Cabot’s Abandon converts the myth of Persephone into a young adult novel set in a modern Florida high school, while also beginning each chapter with relevant lines from Dante Alighieri’s Inferno.

LW

Works Cited:

Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: Signet Classics, 2009. Print.

Barthes, Roland. Image – Music – Text. Trans. Stephen Heath. London: Fontana, 1977. Print. In Allen, Graham. Intertextuality. London: Routledge, 2000. Print.

Cabot, Meg. Abandon. New York: Point, 2012. Print.

Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Classics, 1997. Print.

“Intertextuality.” A Dictionary of Sociology. 3^rd ed. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

“Intertextuality.” The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. 3^rd ed. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.

Joyce, James. Ulysses. New York: Vintage, 1990. Print.

Woolf, Virginia. Mrs. Dalloway. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 1953. Print.