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.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Origins: Saussure, Bakhtin, Kristeva 2. The Text Unbound: Barthes 3. Structuralist Approaches: Genette and Riffaterre 4. Situated Readers: Bloom, Feminism, Postcolonialism 5. Postmodern conclusions Conclusion 'The Futures of Intertextuality' Glossary Bibliography Index

Author Biography

Graham Allen is Associate Professor in Modern English at University College Cork. His is author of Mary Shelley: Critical Issues (Palgrave, 2008), Shelley's Frankenstein: A Reader's Guide (Continuum, 2008) and (with Roy Sellars) editor of The Salt Companion to Harold Bloom (SALT, 2007).