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About intertextuality

A text can never be considered in isolation. Regardless of the context, you will always place a given text into a relation. There is always a connection.

In the book Intertextuality, the author Graham Allen points out that several literary theorists regard all texts as having no independent meaning (Allen, 2000:1 [REF]). Every time you read a text, you unconsciously place it in a network of literary relationships. Interpreting and understanding a text is thus following these relationships, and reading is a process that moves you between the texts. At the same time, there is no "wrong" or "right" way to read a text. Both you and I bring our own expectations, interests, views, cultural background and experiences with us when we read.

Both Graham Allen and most other theorists often refer to Julia Kristeva's work. Kristeva is a Bulgarian-French psychoanalyst, linguist and philosopher. In the late sixties, she worked with texts by the Russian literary scholar Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin. She studied his books and articles and translated them into French. One of Bakhtin's literary theories is that texts consist of subjects in dialogue. Since every text has a voice created by the author, this dialogue can also be understood as an interaction between these voices. The term dialogism has emerged from this; every utterance (text or speech) is understood as part of a relationship to previous utterances within the community where one communicates.

Kristeva took this theory a step further. She believes that all texts within a textual "space" are in dialogue with each other. They are influenced and linked together. They take elements from each other and refer to each other. She called this connection between different texts intertextuality.

[...] horizontal axis (subject-addressee) and vertical axis (text-context) coincide, bringing to light an important fact: each word (text) is an intersection of word (texts) where at least one other word (text) can be read. [...] any text is constructed as a mosaic of quotations; any text is the absorption and transformation of another. The notion of intertextuality replaces that of intersubjectivity, and poetic language is read as at least double.

Julia Kristeva, 1980 in Allen, Graham, "Intertextuality", [REF]

Intertextuality means that any text you read, you will unconsciously interpret and understand as it relates to other texts. In addition, relevant genres and conventions will play a role, as well as your own experiences, knowledge and cultural background.

As with all other literary theories, the concept of intertextuality has been stretched, interpreted and discussed ever since it originated. A general – and concise – definition of intertextuality states that all texts are related and can only be defined through these relationships. Store Norske Leksikon (Great Norwegian Lexica, snl.no) has a fuller explanation (in my translation):

Intertextuality is a term in literary studies that indicates that a text must be understood as a place where texts cross each other. This means that in a text, there are always elements (quotations, allusions, borrowings) from other texts.

Intertextuality is often explained by the fact that texts can be perceived as a mosaic of quotations or a weave of many texts. Intertextuality does not refer to influence or borrowing in the traditional sense but rather to the inevitability of texts relating to other texts and to the production of meaning that thus arises.

The term is taken from Julia Kristeva's work with the Russian literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin's theories about literature as dialogue.

Skei, Hans H.: "Intertekstualitet", Store Norske Leksikon, [REF]

As Kristeva explains intertextuality, the different texts in relation to each other can often be found in different publications or media. A newspaper article can relate to a book, and a news report on TV can relate to a text on Facebook. Some relationships are clear, and others are established implicitly in the reading phase.

Example

In a traditional textbook, an explanatory text will often relate to other texts earlier in the book, and the author assumes that these have been read and understood. This relationship is not normally explicitly stated, but it is conceivable that a reference is made back to the earlier text. The conventions that apply to the genre "textbook" dictate that such references exist. Both author and presenter assume that you know these conventions. The well-worn (and hopeless) expression "We see easily that..." from old books on mathematics implicitly refers to earlier explanations in the same book but says nothing about where these explanations are located. The author assumes that the texts have been read and understood.

Tips

Intertextuality in "practical use" is often about modular writing. Modular writing is described in more detail under the topic "Methodology".


References

  1. Allen, Graham, Intertextuality, Routledge, Oxon, 2000 (ISBN 9780415174756)
  2. Skei, Hans H.: Intertekstualitet. I Store norske leksikon, snl.no, (Link) (Accessed April 2023)

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