Intertextuality

Book excerpt: No text has its meaning alone; all texts have their meaning in relation to other texts. Since Julia Kristeva coined the term in the 1960s, intertextuality has been a dominant idea within literary and cultural studies leaving none of the traditional ideas about reading or writing undisturbed. Graham Allen's Intertextuality outlines clearly the history and the use of the term in contemporary theory, demonstrating how it has been employed in: structuralism post-structuralism deconstruction postcolonialism Marxism feminism psychoanalytic theory. Incorporating a wealth of illuminating examples from literary and cultural texts, this book offers an invaluable introduction to intertextuality for any students of literature and culture.