Intertextuality

The aim of the following chapter is twofold: it seeks to show (1) the extent to which Kristeva’s introduction of the term ‘intertextuality’ was already based on striking conceptual inconsistencies, and (2) how a more restricted and precise conception of intertextuality makes it possible to describe phenomena that cannot adequately be grasped within the framework of traditional theoretical approaches. In so doing, ‘intertextuality’ will be differentiated from ‘systemic reference’ (= ‘interdiscursivity’) and defined as a communicative-semiotic concept designating the differential production and reception of a specific text with regard to at least one other specific text. In contrast, the term ‘systemic reference’ is applied to all possible relations between a particular text and text types such as genres, modes, discourses, and/or other socio-cultural subsystems/discourse types.