Abstract
The present research paper attempts an intertextual reading of When Breath becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, an Indian-American neurosurgeon and a writer. The term intertextuality was originally coined by Julia Kristeva and it refers to the presence of one or more text/s within a text. It rejects the idea of the closure of meaning and it demonstrates the dialogic state of a text. The current research study is significant as it aims to provide a better understanding of the interdisciplinary connection of fiction with that of any non-fiction text. It further highlights that the use of allusions, reminiscences, aphorisms, and quotations, and aphorisms in the novels that call for many interpretations. The current study has applies the theoretical perspective of postmodern historiographic metafiction proposed by Linda Hutcheon in her book Poetic’s of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction (2003). This research uses intertextuality as a tool to analyze the selected text. Early on, the memoir has been studied with respect to limited perspectives; however, the present study aims to analyze it in the light of postmodernism that refers to a trend of plurality, uncertainty, metafiction, fragmentation, identity crisis, pastiche and intertextuality. The research objective explores the extent to which the writer interweaves fiction into historical texts to generate a postmodern blend in a single narrative. This research is qualitative and descriptive, while textual analysis has been used as a research method. This research ends with the findings and recommendations for the future research.
Highlights
Postmodernism, at present, represents the contemporary world with all its characteristics and its influence on an individual’s life
There are many theorists namely Linda Hutcheon, Jurgen Habermas, Ihab Hassan, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Fredric Jameson and Jean Baudrillard who have proposed their understanding of postmodernism
Their attempts could not define the movement in an absolute way as this trend is still in practice and ongoing, it is always vulnerable to change. Lyotard in his The Postmodern Condition states that it is not a new movement rather it emerged after modernism as a consequence of materialistic progress and scientific advancements. He refers to postmodernism as a movement that shows an ‘incredulity towards metanarrativs’ (xxiv), as it challenges the existing perceptions and thought patterns which are based on claims of objectivity and truth
Summary
Postmodernism, at present, represents the contemporary world with all its characteristics and its influence on an individual’s life. There are many theorists namely Linda Hutcheon, Jurgen Habermas, Ihab Hassan, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Fredric Jameson and Jean Baudrillard who have proposed their understanding of postmodernism Though, their attempts could not define the movement in an absolute way as this trend is still in practice and ongoing, it is always vulnerable to change. The emphasis is more on subject content, illusion reality and fragmentation continuation Another renowned postmodern Canadian theorist named Linda Hutcheon was born in 1947. She is serving as a professor of English in University of Toronto Her famous books include A Poetics of Postmodernism, A Theory of Adaptation, History, Theory, Fiction, Narcissistic Narrative, Irony’s Edge, and A Theory of Parody. She calls such postmodern mixture of fiction and history as historiographic metafiction that combines the ‘constructedness’ and ‘story-telling’ together” (Ashraf & Farooq 395)
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