Notes #6: Hypertext and Intertext 4)Audience

WHAT IS HYPERTEXT? Careful selection of which "pages" you link your

work to will help to define your audience. For
Hypertext is simply a non-linear way of presenting example, if you write a column on amateur
information. Rather than reading or learning about astronomy, you might want to link it to an
things in the order that an author, or editor, or astronomy page like Shoemaker-Levy's (if they will
publisher sets out for us, readers of hypertext may allow you access), or to a university's astronomy
follow their own path, create their own order-- their department.
own meaning out the material.
WHAT IS INTERTEXT?
This is accomplished by creating "links" between
information. These links are provided so that Intertextuality is the way that one text influences
readers may "jump" to further information about a another. This can be a direct borrowing such as a
specific topic being discussed (which may have quotation or plagiarism, or slightly more indirect
more links, leading each reader off into a different such as parody, pastiche, allusion, or translation.
direction). For instance, if you are reading an article The function and effectiveness of intertextuality can
about marine mammal bioacoustics, you may be often depend quite a bit on the reader’s prior
interested in seeing a picture of a dolphin. Or you knowledge and understanding before reading the
may want to hear the sound it makes. Or you may secondary text; parodies and allusions depend on
even be interested in seeing what a marine mammal the reader knowing what is being parodied or
sound "looks like" in a spectrogram. You might alluded to. However, there also are many examples
even want to find out more about sounds made by of intertextuality that are either accidental on the
other animals in the sea, thus leading you on a part of the author or optional, in the sense that the
completely different, detailed path. reader is not required to understand the similarities
between texts to fully grasp the significance of the
How to write for hypertext? secondary text.
1) Organization The definition of intertextuality was created by the
While readers do develop their own methods of French semiotician Julia Kristeva in the 1960s. She
moving about a series of documents, the author created the term from the Latin word intertexto,
does create the master plan of a piece. Where the which means “to intermingle while weaving.”
author provides links or doesn't, what content is left Common Examples of Intertextuality
in or left out, and the placement or prominence of
content (will it be encased in a "main text," or will it We use different examples of intertextuality
be located "outside" the main document in a link?) frequently in common speech, such as allusions like
all contribute to the organization and impact of a the following:
piece.
 He was lying so obviously, you could almost
2) Style see his nose growing.
 He’s asking her to the prom. It’s like a
Rhetorically, a hypertext writer's style should still happy version of Romeo and Juliet.
be generated for the intended audience. But the  It’s hard being an adult! Peter Pan had the
writer should also keep in mind the limits of right idea.
readers' electronic capabilities.
The concept of intertextuality can also be expanded
3) Content to music, film, advertising, and so on in the way
The amount of competition on the web is nearing that everything produced now is influenced by what
that of the print medium. Which makes content came before. References to pop culture in
even more important--yours should be interesting advertising, films that are made from books, and
and accurate. And it should maintained and kept up diss tracks in rap can all be considered intertextual,
to date. Because a new copy doesn't have to be though they are not strictly texts.
printed out for each reader, there's no reason for Difference Between Intertextuality and Allusion
him or her to wait around for a "new, expanded and
revised" edition of your work. Although both these terms seem similar to each
other, they are slightly different in their meanings.
An allusion is a brief and concise reference that a Example #3:
writer uses in another narrative without affecting
the storyline. Intertextuality, on the other hand, uses The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (By C. S.
the reference of the full story in another text or story Lewis)
as its backbone. In this case, C. S. Lewis adapts the idea of Christ’s
Examples of Intertextuality in Literature: crucifixion in his fantasy novel, The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe. He, very shrewdly,
Example #1 weaves together the religious and entertainment
themes for a children’s book. Lewis uses an
So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by important event from The New Testament,
And the kings who ruled them had courage transforming it into a story about redemption. In
and greatness. doing so, he uses Edmund, a character that betrays
his savior, Aslan. Generally, the motive of this
We have heard of those princes’ heroic theme is to introduce other themes, such as evil
campaigns. actions, losing innocence, and redemption.

(Beowulf, as translated by Seamus Heaney) Function of Intertextuality

Beowulf is an interesting example of intertextuality A majority of writers borrow ideas from previous
because the monster, Grendel, is said to be a works to give a layer of meaning to their own works.
descendant of the Biblical figure of Cain. The first In fact, when readers read the new text with
Beowulf poet would probably have assumed his reflection on another literary work, all related
reader would have understood this allusion and, assumptions, effects, and ideas of the other text
indeed, know a great deal about the Bible stories. provide them a different meaning, and changes the
technique of interpretation of the original piece.
Example #2
Since readers take influence from other texts, and
After all, to the well-organized mind, death while reading new texts they sift through archives,
is but the next great adventure. this device gives them relevance and clarifies their
understanding of the new texts. For writers,
(Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. intertextuality allows them to open new
Rowling) perspectives and possibilities to construct their
stories. Thus, writers may explore a particular
In a moment of subtle intertextuality, the mentor
ideology in their narrative by discussing recent
figure of Dumbledore tells Harry Potter not to pity a
rhetoric in the original text.
dying wizard. The wizard in question has been
living for hundreds of years due to the “sorcerer’s
stone,” and is not afraid of death. J.K. Rowling is
hinting back at the line in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan,
who once uttered, “to die would be an awfully big
adventure.” There are themes in common between
these two fantasy stories of Harry Potter and Peter
Pan, yet the reader does not need to pick up on the
influence to J.M. Barrie’s work to appreciate J.K.
Rowling’s work. J.K. Rowling also borrowed from
other sources, such as from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of
the Rings trilogy and from the horrors of real-life
Nazi Germany, yet once again the reader can
appreciate the story without thinking about its
influences.