Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the property of a text to enter into dialogue with other texts through quotations, allusions, reminiscences, parodies, stylizations, and other forms of intertextual interaction. The term was introduced by Julia Kristeva (1967), drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of dialogism: every text is a 'mosaic of quotations,' an intersection and transformation of other texts. Roland Barthes radicalized the idea, proclaiming any text a 'tissue of quotations.' Gérard Genette, in 'Palimpsests' (1982), systematized the types of intertextual relations (transtextuality), introducing the concepts of intertext, paratext, metatext, hypertext, and architext. Intertextuality is a fundamental feature of postmodern literature but is inherent in the classics as well. In Ukrainian letters, Lina Kostenko's 'Marusia Churai' and the prose of Yuri Andrukhovych are markedly intertextual.