To understand exactly what the word intertextuality means we should know the basic mechanism of philosophical and literary work. One of the… [601045]

Literary Intertextuality
To understand exactly what the word intertextuality means we should know the basic mechanism of
philosophical and literary work. One of the fundamental principles of the humanities is that to better
understand the things that live in the present, it is necessary to retrace the history; to know where
they come from and what path they have traveled. Therefore, to know what to think of the
ideological diversity, we need to know something of the history of heresies, to learn more about the
books and their function; we need to know something of the history of books and libraries, and so
on. So, whenever we face the definition of a term or concept it is a good idea to retrace its history,
step by step until we find the current definition.
Even more this method is necessary for a concept such as intertextuality. It seems to have a
thousand faces and a thousand definitions, and that seems to transform itself in different situations
with different authors.
The term intertextuality was born officially in 1967. In that year, the French psychoanalyst and
literary critic of Bulgarian origin, Julia Kristeva publishes an essay entitled, in the original version,
Bakhtine, le mot, le dialogue et le roman1. According to Kristeva intertextuality is an interaction
between texts; not being able to be a completely independent unit, it would continually cites or
recreate different other works to create a mosaic. The relationship between the two texts is
superimposed on that of interobjective among the authors.
The first manifestation of the term, and its first rough definition, takes place in the essay by
Kristeva in these terms: "Any text, is constructed of a mosaic of quotations; any text is the
absorption and transformation of another. The notion of intertextuality replaces that of
intersubjectivity, and poetic language is read as at least double2". Of course the use of the term text
refers to the broadest sense of the word as used in the field of semiotics and cultural theory; It
doesn't refer only to the literary text.
According to later studies, Roland Barthes affirms that the importance of intertextual links and the
role of the reader would put in crisis the role and the importance of the author3.
The term intertextuality has shifted over the years becoming more enlarged and complex bringing a
different conception to it's meaning, departing itself from Kristeva's original idea. William Irwin
wrote: ''(intertextuality) has come to have almost as many meanings as users, from those faithful to
Kristeva’s original vision to those who simply use it as a stylish way of talking about allusion and
influence4''.
Works such as Joseph Conrad's The Secret Sharer and Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of
Stories are based completely on their complex relationship with other literary works.
Joseph Conrad (Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) was born in Ukraine in 1857 in a family of
Polish landowners. At 17 years, driven by his love for the sea life, he joins the British merchant
marine and works as a simple sailor for many years until he archives captain's rank. In 1886 he
became a British citizen. Conrad was one of the rare cases among the masters of literature that
wrote in a not native language that he learned only as a mature man.
Salman Rushdie was born in Bombay in 1947 in a family of Islamic faith. His most famous work is
The Satanic Verses , 1988, an alluding story towards the figure of Muhammad, considered
blasphemous by Muslims. The book did get Rushdie a fatwa, which decreed the death penalty for
1 Essay included in a collection of multiple works by J. Kristeva entitled Séméiôtiké: recherches pour une
sémanalyse-1969, (English translation: Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art- 1980).
2 From J. Kristeva, Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art.
3 R. Barthes, ''La mort de l'auteur'', In:Ders.: Le bruissement de la langue . Paris 1984.
4 From W. Irwin,Against Intertextuality . October 2004.

blasphemy. The writer managed to escape by taking refuge in the UK, where he was still forced to
hide.
The first novel published after the revocation of the fatwa was Haroun and the Sea of Stories, a
children's novel, originally wrote for his son Zafar and published for the first time in 1990.The plot
follows the pattern of the classic folk tale, in which a young hero travels to foreign lands to break a
spell that oppresses its city. The story is full of literary references and allegories to social problems.
It is a great tribute to the art of storytelling, love for discussions and freedom of speech.
Haroun lives in a sad city that has no name, located beside a mournful sea, (the sea of stories) that
the evil wizard Khattam-shud wants to poison. Throughout the story the protagonist is often aided
by supernatural characters and he clashes with the wizard, who will eventually be defeated. Despite
all the dangers Haroun is able to defeat evil and bring back to life the sea of stories, having as a
prize the liberation of his city from the curse. His city will have a name again and his father will
resume to tell wonderful stories.
''It is basically a story about the poetics and aesthetics of intertextuality, of creativity, and the vital
role of inspired imagination that connects a text with text/s during the process of creation5''
Intertextuality is represented by the Sea of Stories and the question: “What’s the use of stories that
aren’t even true?” aked by Haroun at the beginning of the story is meant to represent the war
between Gups and Chups. While the Chups are represented as bureaucratic functionaries interested
in utility instead of fables, the Gups are defenders of the Sea. In The Encyclopedia of Fantasy , John
Clute writes an entry devoted exclusively to the idea of an Ocean of Story. Somadeva, a Kashmiri
poet, collected various stories in the eleventh century in the Katha Sarit Sagara —“a kind of
encyclopedia of story types” (704). The English translation by Norman Penzer is the ten-volume
anthology The Ocean of Story (1924-8). Like The Arabian Nights ,The Ocean of Story influenced
Rushdie. Clute takes the notion of the “Ocean of Story” to refer “to the current critical
understanding that almost every traditional STORY exists in multiple versions; that it is exceedingly
difficult to sort these versions into chaste stemmata” (704). Stories interpenetrate each other in
patterns that defy linearity.
The Sea is an intertextual body of water. However, when the Chups, who disbelieve in the utility of
Story, poison the Sea, these Streams of Stories, about rescued princesses, for example, become
scrambled and filled with horrors, until they are meaningless. Haroun’s mission is to stop the poison
and let the Sea replenish itself.
Bibliography:
Desire in Language: A Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art by Julia Kristeva
Against Intertextuality by William Irwin
Intertextuality (The New Critical Idiom) by Graham Allen
The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad by J. H. Stape
The New Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad by J. H. Stape
Intertext: A Study of the Dialogue Between Texts by Rama Kundu
Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie
5 From R. Kundu, Intertext: A Study of the Dialogue Between Texts.