Reflections upon Childhood and Adolescence - Intertextual Dialogue in "The Cement Garden" (ePub)

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, University of Gdansk, course: British literature, intertextuality, language: English, abstract: Within the full spectrum of various literary theories offered by modern criticism,
the theory of intertextuality deserves a particular attention. This ambitious concept,
proposed by Julia Kristeva in the 1960's, shed new light on the understanding and
approach to a literary text. Influenced by Bakhtin's theory of dialogism, the French
scholar suggested a new model of communication which consists of two axes:
horizontal, involving communication between subject and addressee, and vertical which
is in an interaction between a text and a context. The two axes, as she claimed, coincide
which stresses the fact that "each word (text) is an intersection of word (texts) where at
least one other word (text) can be read" (Kristeva in: Allen: 2000, 39). She further drew
a conclusion that "any text is constructed like a mosaic of quotations; any text is the
absorption and transformation of another" (Kristeva in: Allen: 2000, 39). Consequently,
we can assume that any literary text does not exist on its own, but is rather in various
ways linked with other literary texts.
Barthes further develops Kristeva's original concept and states that:
[...] a text is [...] a multidimensional space in which a variety of writings, none of them
original, blend and clash. Text is a tissue of quotations drawn from innumerable
centuries of culture [...] (Barthes in Allen: 2000, 13).
The text exists only in respect to other, prior literary texts, called intertexts, with which
the new text enters into a discourse. Literary plots, genres, stylistic devices, different
cultural symbols and images, methods of narration and many other aspects of a literary
work already existing in the literary tradition become a part of new text. (Allen: 2000,11) In this way a new literary text is always enriched by its intertexts which
complement the new text and shape its meaning. Intertextuality, thus, can be understood
as a study of those aspects of a literary work which indicate a great dependence of both
creation and reception of a given text on the whole network of the literary tradition
(Nycz: 1995, 62 ).
Another important facet of the theory of intertextuality is strictly connected with
an active role of the reader. As "the act of reading plunges us into a network of textual
relations" (Allen: 2000, 1), a considerable competence of the reader is required. In order
to grasp a full potential of the text, the readers should be aware of the rich literary
discourse which takes place in the text. [...]