Intertextuality Is the Name of the Game

The concept of intertextuality often remains a catchphrase for many different phenomena, but it is really a crucially important concept involving all narrative processes from the past to the present. What writer would not borrow from a plethora of sources, whether s/he does it deliberately or unconsciously? In fact, we could identify literature as an infinite fabric of narrative threads, and the more closely we examine a literary work, and the denser its composition, the more we can recognize the essential weave it is composed of. This can be powerfully illustrated in the case of the many different narratives involving the water nixie Undine (or Melusine), who was already popular in the Middle Ages, then was discussed in the sixteenth century, subsequently entered the fantasy of Romantic writers, and has most recently become the subject of a major modern movie. The cultural-historical arc from the past to the present powerfully demonstrates the fundamental working of intertextuality on both the vertical and horizontal axes. Writing, whether creative or factual, constantly operates within a web of narrative exchanges. On this basis, we are on firm ground when we claim that ancient or medieval literature is just as important for us today as nineteenth- or twentieth-century literature as a source of inspiration and influence, shaping both our worldview and value system and this through an intertextual chain of narratives. Of course, we move (hopefully) forward in our own time, but many of the analytic tools available to us are historically grounded

Art · Fantasy · Intertextuality · Literature · Narrative · Romance · Computer Science · German Literature and Culture Studies · Historical, Literary, and Cultural Studies · History · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy

• Early Modern Intertextuality

  Open Access•Sarah Carter•Early Modern Intertextuality•2021

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• Intertextuality

  Gordon Allen, Graham Allen•Intertextuality•2000

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• Authorities in the Middle Ages

  Sini Kangas, Mia Korpiola et al.•Authorities in the Middle Ages•2013

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• Human, All Too Human

  Open Access•Aleksandra Sushchenko, Olena Yatsenko•Humanities•2025

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• Spielregeln für den Untergang

  Jan-Dirk Muller•Spielregeln Für Den Untergang•1998

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• The Pursuit of Signs

  Gregory L Ulmer, Jonathan Culler•SubStance•1981

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