Intertextuality

This book is a comprehensive introduction to the idea of intertextuality and the debates surrounding it, focusing on the four key thinkers whose work has been central to these debates - Kristeva, Barthes, Bloom and Genette. A comprehensive introduction to 'intertextuality', a term which describes the idea that meaning only exists between a text and all the other texts to which it refers and relates. Focuses on the four key thinkers whose work has been central to these debates - Kristeva, Barthes, Bloom and Genette, guiding the reader through the original texts of each of these. Of special importance is the author’s reading (and translation) of other parts of Kristeva’s Semeiotiké. Takes a fresh approach to the rival French critics - Angenot, Derrida, Girard and Ricoeur - who also worked on intertexuality and tackles the 'language' of intertextuality, shining new light on some of the terminology most commonly associated with this concept.

Prologue. Introduction. Chapter 1 - Intertextuality. Kristeva’s Term in Context. Kristeva’s Intertextuality and Semeiotikè. Barthes. Riffaterre. Interdiscursivity. Interdisciplinarity. Internet and Hypertext. Chapter 2 – Influence. Influence v Intertextuality. Bloom’s ‘Anxiety of Influence’ in Context. Harold Bloom. ‘Traditional’ Influence. Chapter 3 – Imitation. Imitation in Context: Mimesis or Anti-mimesis?. Richard Dawkins: Genetics and ‘Memetics’. Gérard Genette: Rhetoric and the Mimologic. René Girard: Sandal and Excommunication. Countering the Canon: Imitatio v Plagiarism, Forgery, Counterfeit. Chapter 4 - Quotation. Quotation in context: Dictionary or Postmodern Definitions?. Quotation’s Crystallizations: Illustrations in Few Other Words. AllusionQuotation’s Aptness: Adeptness in Other Words. Abridgement as Allegory and Parable. Bridging as Cycle and Cyclification. Span and Interpretation. Quotation as Extraction: Re-circulations and Exchanges in so Many Other Words. Prophecy. Translation. Coda: the Return of Reference and the Work of Paul Ricoeur. Conclusions. Notes. Refernces and Bibliography. Index. Dictionary of Alternative Terms.