Theme & SymbolAdvanced
Intertextuality
The way a text derives meaning through relation to other texts.
Principle
No text speaks entirely alone.
Takeaways
- It includes allusion, adaptation, quotation, genre memory, and revision.
- Readers may recognise different intertexts at different depths.
- Intertextuality can honour, argue with, or undo its sources.
Overview
Intertextuality describes the network of prior texts, forms, myths, genres, and phrases through which a work makes meaning. It expands allusion into a broader theory of textual relation.
Examples
- A modern novel rewrites a myth from the silenced character's view.
- A detective story gains force by violating rules older detective stories trained readers to expect.