Intertextuality is how the meaning of a text is influenced by another text. This can happen through intentional methods used by writers, such as quoting, alluding to, translating, or imitating other works. It can also occur when readers notice connections between similar or related texts. These references may be planned and require readers to know about the original text, but sometimes the effect happens by accident. Intertextuality is often linked to creative writing, like fiction, poetry, or drama, and even non-written forms like performance art or digital media. Today, it is seen as a natural part of all texts.
Intertextuality is divided into two main types: referential and typological. Referential intertextuality involves using parts of other texts within a work. Typological intertextuality focuses on patterns and structures found in common texts. Another distinction is between iterability and presupposition. Iterability refers to the ability to repeat certain parts of a text that contain "traces" of other texts, which help create meaning. Presupposition refers to the assumptions a text makes about its readers and the context in which it is read. As philosopher William Irwin noted, the term "intertextuality" now has many different meanings depending on how it is used, from those who follow Julia Kristeva's original idea to those who use it to describe allusions and influences.
History
Julia Kristeva created the term "intertextuality" to explain how texts are connected to other texts. This idea builds on the work of Ferdinand de Saussure, who studied how signs and symbols create meaning through the structure of a text. It also includes the ideas of Mikhail Bakhtin, who believed that texts have ongoing conversations with other works and writers, and that words and stories can have many different meanings. Kristeva argued that the idea of intertextuality replaces the idea of "intersubjectivity," which is the belief that meaning is directly passed from a writer to a reader. Instead, Kristeva said that meaning is shaped by "codes" shared between writers and readers through other texts. For example, when reading James Joyce’s Ulysses, readers might see it as a modernist experiment, a response to older stories, or part of many overlapping conversations. Roland Barthes supported this view, saying that the meaning of a text is not fixed but is created by readers based on the text itself and the many other texts connected to it.
The idea of intertextuality is often linked to post-modernism, but the practice of using one text to reference another is not new. For example, the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, and Old Testament books like Deuteronomy and the prophets refer to events in Exodus. Some critics study these connections to understand the order in which texts were written, while literary critics look at texts in their final forms as part of a connected group of works. This connection also includes later poems and paintings that reference Bible stories, as well as texts that connect to Greek and Roman history and myths.
More recent post-structuralist theories, like those in Daniela Caselli’s Beckett’s Dantes: Intertextuality in the Fiction and Criticism, focus on how intertextuality is created within a single text, not just between texts. Some postmodern thinkers compare "intertextuality" to "hypertextuality," which is different from the term "hypertext" used by Gérard Genette. Intertextuality shows how each text is part of a larger network of texts, just as each hypertext link connects to many other web pages. The World-Wide Web is seen as a place where texts are deeply connected, with no single text being central. Instead, the web creates a shared image of a community of people who write and read texts using specific ways of communicating.
Examples in literature
Intertextuality in literature refers to how texts connect to or use other texts. Linguist Norman Fairclough explains that intertextuality involves "recontextualization," which means placing something in a new situation or meaning. Per Linell describes recontextualization as the process of moving and changing something from one text or situation to another. This can be clear, like when a text directly quotes another, or more subtle, such as when the same general idea appears in different texts but is expressed differently.
Scholars have noted that recontextualization can affect how people understand ideas and politics. For example, Adam Hodges studied how White House officials changed a military general's words to fit their goals, focusing on parts that supported their message and ignoring others. Jeanne Fahnestock found that when popular magazines share scientific research, they often make the findings seem more unique or certain than they are. John Oddo observed that American reporters covering Colin Powell's 2003 U.N. speech changed how Powell's words were presented, making his claims appear more certain and adding new details to support them.
Oddo also introduced the idea of "precontextualization," which is like predicting future events in a text. He explains that precontextualization involves introducing elements of an event before it happens. For example, American journalists prepared readers for Colin Powell's U.N. speech by discussing it in advance, as if it were already happening.
Intertextuality is a complex term, but it is sometimes confused with "allusion," which is a brief or casual mention of something. An allusion is a short reference to a story, person, or idea, often relying on the reader knowing the original source. Unlike intertextuality, allusions are usually simple and not deeply connected to the original text. For example, saying "I was surprised his nose was not growing like Pinocchio's" refers to The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, where the character's nose grows when he lies. If this were part of a larger literary work, it would likely be connected to other similar references throughout the text.
Plagiarism
Sociologist Perry Share explains that intertextuality involves complex ethical issues. Intertextuality does not always require citations or punctuation like quotation marks, and it can sometimes be confused with plagiarism. Although these two ideas are connected, the purpose behind using another person's work is important in telling them apart. When using intertextuality, a short part of an existing text, called a hypotext, is often used to help explain the themes, characters, or background of a new text, called a hypertext. Elements from older texts are reused, and this can create new meanings when placed in different situations. Intertextuality focuses on creating new ideas, while plagiarism tries to claim someone else's work as one's own.
Students who are learning to write may copy or imitate others' work and have not yet learned how to rewrite sources and cite them properly. This process, called "patchwriting," might be unfairly treated as intentional plagiarism. Because writing studies and literary theory have different goals, the idea of intertextuality has been described in different ways, with a focus on how writers use intertextuality to place their ideas in relation to other ideas and previous knowledge. Students often struggle to learn how to use others' words and ideas while also showing their own unique perspectives and contributions.
Non-literary uses
The idea of intertextuality has been studied in areas outside of literature and art. For example, Devitt (1991) looked at how tax accountants use different types of letters to refer to tax codes in specific ways. In another example, Christensen (2016) used intertextuality to examine how workers in a hospital use written materials. The study found that the collection of documents created and used in a hospital department forms a group of written texts. From this group, workers create connections between texts that are useful for specific tasks. These connections can include different types of intertextuality, such as complementary texts, texts that refer to other parts of the same text, and texts that rely on other sources. In this way, the concept of intertextuality has influenced fields beyond literature and art.
In scientific and other scholarly writing, intertextuality is important because it shows how knowledge is built together. Citations, or references to earlier work, help organize how knowledge is shared, how it is officially recorded, and how professionals are recognized for their contributions. Scientists can carefully choose which earlier works to reference to highlight the value of their own research. However, modern citation practices began only in the late 18th century and differ across fields, partly because different disciplines have different ways of understanding knowledge.