Курс английского языка: введение в семиотику

home assignments gradebook works

Lesson 13: Intertexuality

<< back frame 1 of 3 next >>

Notion of Intertexuality

Julia Kristeva referred to texts in terms of two axes:

a horizontal axis
connecting the author and reader of a text,
and a vertical axis,
which connects the text to other texts (Kristeva 1980, 69).

Uniting these two axes are shared codes: every text and every reading depends on prior codes. Kristeva declared that 'every text is from the outset under the jurisdiction of other discourses which impose a universe on it' (cited in Culler 1981, 105).


The British film theoretician John Fiske has made a distinction between what he labels 'vertical' and 'horizontal' intertextuality.

Horizontal intertextuality denotes references that are on the 'same level' ie. when books make references to other books,

whereas vertical intertextuality is found when, say, a book makes a reference to film or song or vice versa.


Similarly, linguist Norman Fairclough distinguishes between 'manifest intertextuality' and 'constitutive intertextuality,'(Fairclough 1992: 117).
The former signifies intertextual elements such as presupposition, negation, parody , irony, etc. The latter signifies the interrelationship of discursive features in a text, such as structure, form, or genre.

Constitutive Intertextuality is also referred to interdiscursivity (Agger 1999), though generally interdiscursivity refers to relations between larger formations of texts.

Class assignment 1 (group work, done orally):

Consider the concepts of authorship and quoting in terms of intertexuality.

Class assignment 2 (pair work, done orally):

Discuss the features of intertexuality that you can observe in the photo below. Then read the artist's commentary and compare his vision with yours.

 

<< back frame 1 of 3 next >>


Resources for Lesson 13:
  • Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners.
  • Kristeva, Julia (1980): Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art. New York: Columbia University Press
  • Culler, Jonathan (1981): The Pursuit of Signs: Semiotics, Literature, Deconstruction. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
  • Fairclough, Norman (1992). Discourse and Text: Linguistic Intertextual Analysis within Discourse Analysis.
  • Agger, Gunhild Intertextuality Revisited: Dialogues and Negotiations in Media Studies. Canadian Journal of Aesthetics, 4, 1999.
  • Пермский государственный университет

    Хостинг от uCoz