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Intertextuality:
The shaping of texts’ meanings by other texts
- The concept of a text as an isolated entity which operates in a self-contained manner
Inter: a prefix from Latin; “between”, “among”, “in the midst of”, “mutually”, “reciprocally”,
“together”, and “during”
Textuality: all of the attributes that distinguish the communicative context under analysis
Intertextuality asks us to think about why the author is choosing this particular literary or social
text, how they are including the text in the book, and to what effect is the text reimagined by the
book, or the book shaped by the text.
In a broad sense, intertextuality is the reference to or application of a literary, media, or
social “text” within another literary, media, or social “text”. In literature, intertextuality is when a
book refers to a second book by title, scene, character, or storyline, or when a book refers to a
social “text” such as a media, social, or cultural story. This borrowing invites a comparison
between your understanding of the text outside of the book, and its use inside of the book.
Basically, when writers borrow from previous texts, their work acquires layers of
meaning. In addition, when a text is read in the light of another text, all the assumptions and
effects of the other text give a new meaning and influence the way of interpreting the original
text. It serves as a subtheme, and reminds us of the double narratives in allegories (hidden
meaning).
When factors and concepts from one text are taken out and adapted into another text
and creates a refreshed meaning of the storyline.