Intertextuality
From Free net encyclopedia
Intertextuality is a relationship between two or more texts that quote from one another, allude to one another, or otherwise connect. In the work of Roland Barthes, intertextuality is the concept that the meaning of an artistic work does not reside in that work, but in the viewers. In the work of Julia Kristeva (who coined the term in 1966), intertextuality suggests the interdependence of texts, the continual deferment of meaning through and between texts.
New Testament passages that quote from the Old Testament are one example of intertextuality. Another example is Old Testament books such as Deuteronomy or the prophets that refer to the stories found in Exodus. Whereas a redaction critic would use such intertextuality to argue for a particular order and process of the authorship of the books in question, literary criticism takes a synchronic view that deals with the texts in their final form, as an interconnected body of literature. Some postmodern theorists like to talk about the relationship between "intertextuality" and "hypertextuality." There is also more recent post-structuralist theory, such as that formulated in Daniela Caselli's, Beckett's Dantes: Intertextuality in the Fiction and Criticism (MUP 2005), which re-examines "intertextuality" as a production within texts, rather than as a series of relationships between different texts.
While the theoretical concept of intertextuality is associated with post-modernism, the thing itself is not new. For example many poems and paintings refer to Biblical or Classical history or mythology. Bullfinch's 1855 work The Age Of Fable was, according to its author, "...for the reader of English literature, of either sex, who wishes to comprehend the allusions so frequently made by public speakers, lecturers, essayists, and poets...".
Sometimes intertextualiy is taken as plagiarism. So it happened to the Spanish writer Lucía Etxebarría whose poem collection Estación de infierno (2001) was found to contain metaphors and verses from Antonio Colinas. Etxebarría claimed that she admired him and applied intertextuality.
Intertextuality in Pop Culture
Intertextuality is almost omnipresent today in modern popular culture as it resonates with a young audience which is renowned for its cynicism.
Intertextuality occurs frequently in popular media such as television shows, movies, novels and even interactive video games. In these cases, intertextuality is often used to provide depth to the fictional reality portrayed in the medium, such as characters in one television show mentioning characters from another. Fox Television's The O.C. is one example of television using intertextuality, with its frequent references to comic book and movie characters such as Spider-Man and Star Wars protagonist Luke Skywalker.
Other notable examples of intertexuality include the animated series Futurama, Family Guy, and The Simpsons, which are very heavily dependent upon intertextual references as a source of humor.
the term intertextuality was coined in 1969
See also
fr:Intertextualité he:אינטרטקסטואליות no:Intertekstualitet pl:Intertekstualność pt:Intertextualidade sv:Intertextualitet