Intertextual References Research Articles

Centenary Paper: ‘Nossas amorizades’: Homosexual Love in José Luandino Vieira’s João Vêncio: os seus amores

The Angolan writer José Luandino Vieira was imprisoned by the Portuguese colonial regime from 1962 to 1972, first in a Luanda prison, then, after 1964, in the Tarrafal concentration camp on the island of Santiago. Most of Vieira’s fiction was written during his incarceration. His early stories and short novels presented the mixing of the Portuguese and Kimbundu languages in the poor musseques (Black townships) around Luanda as a potentially revolutionary idiom capable of forging the future Angolan nation. The present article argues that, due to external pressures that accumulated in 1968, Vieira’s short novel João Vêncio: os seus amores marks a watershed in its more free-flowing linguistic experimentation and its explicit account, glossed over by earlier criticism, of a homosexual male relationship. Through textual analysis and the study of intertextual references to the work of João Guimarães Rosa and Ernest Hemingway, this article establishes João Vêncio: os seus amores as both a pioneering work of gay fiction in Angolan literature and the necessary prelude to the books that Vieira would write during his final years in Tarrafal.

Testimony, Lying and Calumny at the Interface of Islamic Law and Arabic Poetry

Abstract The significance of the concept of ‘testimony’ permeates Islamic jurisprudence and it is invoked in Arabic literary texts as well. Truthfulness and lying (kaḏib) were a preoccupation of many Arabic literary critics and authors in assessing literary works, while the notion of ‘testimony’ could be used figuratively in poetic texts. On the other hand, Islamic law emphasises the crucial role of trustworthy testimony in legal proceedings and has developed a sophisticated system of ascertaining the integrity of witnesses. Within this context Muslim jurists sometimes explicitly discuss poets and poetry, not surprisingly in view of the fact that the Quran characterises poets as mendacious, and some ḥadīṯs also denounce poetry. Certain literary genres in particular (especially hiğāʾ and ġazal) could be interpreted by jurists as cases of calumny that substantiate legal charges of false testimony (qaḏf). Offering a copious source of intertextual references at the interface of law and literature, legal discussions of the problem of potential qaḏf in poetry are the focus of this paper and can help clarify the peculiar ways in which premodern Muslim jurists would view and assess literary texts.

Mediating Change: Pamphilus Gengenbach, Print Culture, and the Vernacular in Early Reformation Basel

The relationship between the Reformation movement and print media has long fascinated scholars, yet much of the focus has centered on renowned figures, often overlooking local lay protagonists. This article shifts the spotlight onto one such unsung figure: Pamphilus Gengenbach, a Basel writer, printer, and publisher. Gengenbach, a fervent supporter of political and religious reform, emerged as a leading advocate of Protestant thought in Basel. His aggressive promotion of the vernacular and his adept use of intertextual references to contemporary debates and events reveal a sophisticated grasp of print media’s potential beyond mere dissemination. Leveraging his experience as an author, printer, and publisher, Gengenbach engaged his audience effectively, translating and transmitting Protestant teachings with remarkable impact. This article asserts that Gengenbach’s strategic communication and local influence were instrumental in paving the way for the Basel Reformation, underscoring the vital role of grassroots actors in the Reformation’s success.

Reinterpreting the Participle ὁ αἴρων in John 1:29. A Proposal for “who carries”

In John 1:29, John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus, exclaims: ἴδε ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. Most prominent English translations render the Greek participle ὁ αἴρων in John 1:29 as “who takes away.” However, the authors of this article present evidence that John 1:29 contains an intertextual reference to the figure of the Servant of YHWH from Isa 53:7. In light of this, the proper interpretation of the participle ὁ αἴρων is better understood as “who takes up and bears. “Therefore, the proposed translation of John the Baptist’s words in John 1:29 is: “Behold, the Lamb of God who carries the sin of the world.”

Along came this song

This article explores the use of songs in fantasy televisual media, considering what types of songs are being sung, where they are placed within the context of the show, and by whom they are being sung. I analyze elements of culture and character that enhance worldbuilding as well as explore the use of repetition through leitmotifs, context, and intertextual references. I focus on songs from The Witcher: Blood Origin , Game of Thrones , and The Witcher. Invoking Petra Zimmerman’s concept of the “semantic co-text” (2013), I examine the context of each song, including what occurs before and after the choice for characters to sing, considering what drives them to the point of song and what it adds to their internal story. This, combined with a hermeneutic approach to semiotic analysis, allows for a close reading of the lyric text. Finally, I draw together the analysis through a consideration of the phonaesthetic choices ( Fimi 2010 ) and the performance of each song as an act of “musicking” (Small 1998) to consider them as individual moments as well as connected motifs within the broader fantasy context. Songs in longform fantasy media enrich the fabric of the text and provide audiences textual clues to hook into and return to. Music is integral to cultural practices; therefore, when examining texts which create new fan communities and new fantastic contexts, it is imperative to pursue the elements which support interior authenticity and allow audiences to accept the context and authority of the story being told.

Allusion as a means of implementing intertextuality in English-language online film review

The article discusses ways to actualize allusion as an intertextual element. Intertextual inclusions in the texts of the film review are designed to illustrate the degree of professional competence of the reviewer and his interpretative qualities using the comparative analytical method. Allusion, being a stylistic device for the realization of intertextuality, contains a certain pretext. This pretext performs the function of a precedent phenomenon associated with some collective invariant component of linguistic consciousness. The purpose of this article is to consider in film review the ways in which allusion functions as an intertextual reference. The empirical material of this study was a corpus of 30 movie reviews from 2021–2023, taken from the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. Direct or indirect reference to a specific cinematic phenomenon not only increases the general erudition and awareness of the reader, but also serves as a means of providing a perlocative effect when reading this film review. Allusion, being a means of realizing the author’s pragmatic intentions, performs a comparative function by building intertextual references. The referents in film reviews are the names of films, directors, actors and other precedent units of the world of cinema.

Vaguening Revenge: Beckett, Marston, and All That Fall

At the beginning of Samuel Beckett’s radio play, All That Fall, Mrs Rooney famously forgets her lines: she cannot quite remember the precise phrase that she strains to recall from John Ford’s The Lover’s Melancholy. However, what has been overlooked is Beckett’s own forgetfulness as to the origins of this intertextual reference. Repeatedly, he attributes this line (and others from his wider stock of notes) to one of Ford’s close contemporaries: John Marston. This article recovers Beckett’s many mistaken allusions to Marston, and begins to think through the ways in which his curious recurrence in Beckett’s thinking at the time of All That Fall’s composition might betray a particular interest in the revenge genre (in which Marston is so influential). It posits that, in writing All That Fall, Beckett works to ‘vaguen’ many of the formal tropes that recur over the course of revenge drama’s long literary history. It then goes on to explore the possibility that this play for voices might engage specifically with this generic tradition in order to stage a critique of religion.

Transculturation in Latin American Video Game Production: Between Regionalism and Cosmopolitanism

This research explores the manifestation of transculturation, a literary paradigm designed to situate Latin American production in the context of globalization, in video game production, evaluating its applicability to the study of cultural representation. Embracing a documentary research and content analysis methodology, the study analyzes 29 video games from nine Latin American countries, classifying them as “regionalist” or “cosmopolitan” based on settings, themes, audiovisual elements, and intertextual references. The regionalist category exhibits a preference for realism, natural settings, representation of myths, and an emphasis on cultural preservation. Conversely, the cosmopolitan category favors the fantastic, urban settings, reinterpretation of myths, and an emphasis on cultural exchange. By scrutinizing video games through the lens of transculturation, the study revalidates this theory as a relevant paradigm for understanding cultural representation in the digital age, offering new insights into the interplay between local and global influences in Latin American video game narratives.

Landscaping gender, sexuality, and hope in the 2022 Philippine presidential elections

Abstract This paper investigates the Linguistic Landscape (LL) of Leni Robredo’s 2022 presidential campaign rallies in the Philippines and explores the role of gender and sexuality in constructing prefigurative spaces within the offline-online nexus. Through artifacts used during the campaign, the paper examines how Robredo supporters utilize semiotic resources and intertextual references from popular and meme culture as well as LGBTQ+ media to adopt stances vis-à-vis gender and sexuality. The paper suggests that the aggregation of these stances elicit affects that facilitate a prefigurative genderscape where participants enact an ethos of hope. While these practices cannot completely transcend entrenched forms of power (e.g., macho populism and dynastic democracy), they materialize a potential future characterized by a people-driven movement. The paper proposes a future direction for LL studies: engaging prefigurative politics in the examination of the emergent spaces that respond to increasing precarity and sociopolitical upheavals.

Süezer smac. Gardens as a refuge for leisure in literature of the Middle Ages

The depictions of gardens in literary texts from the Middle Ages are not aimed at mimetic referentialization, but represent mental concepts, i.e. conceptions, ideas or imaginations that are shaped by very different literary intentions and contexts. Intertextual references, i.e. the connection to the tradition of the literary field, as well as functions within diegesis play an important role in their interpretation as places of action. Therefore, the tradition of depicting gardens (ancient literature, the Bible) and the inner-literary functions of the garden as a setting (place of relaxation/leisure, sexual seduction, harmonious/disharmonious interaction with nature, etc.) and its symbolisations are taken into account in the article. The investigation focuses on the dichotomous evaluation of the garden as a place of auspiciousness and at the same time of sensual seduction. Right from the start, the vernacular literature of the Middle Ages was not only an affirmative medium of aristocratic representation and community building, in which gardens were portrayed in their positive functionality as recreational spaces, but also one of the most important media of aristocratic self-criticism based on Christian values. These Christian values condemn the pleasures of the worldly man as manifestations of an Epicurean way of life.

Norwid in contemporary poetry. Forms of presence

The article attempts to establish the character of references to Norwid in texts by poets representative of Polish modernity, accounting for functions of intertextual allusions, initially in the area of collective consciousness. As it turns out, during the interwar period and the Second World War works by the Romantic master were referenced at all stages of developing a distinct literary identity. Poets would not just read Norwid’s texts, but in fact regard themselves in the mirror of his works. However, after 1956 Norwid’s presence in literary life was rooted in the needs of literary scholars rather than in actual intertextual references. This tendency also manifests in studies of works by individual authors. It does happen – especially when we speak of implicit traces of Norwid in contemporary poetry – that the plane of relations between authors is not addressed by interpreters. Sometimes, dialogue as a research category disappears from their view, while the body of Norwid’s works is treated merely as a context, becoming a kind of mirror meant to display more fully a certain theme or characteristic of somebody’s writing. However, the most important forms of Norwid’s functioning in contemporary times are ones that facilitate meetings(successfulor not), as demonstrated by the fascination with Norwid’s poetry recognizable in texts by authors such as Mieczysław Jastrun, Julian Przyboś and Tadeusz Różewicz.

Application of Intertextuality in English Literary Works in Senior High School Students‘ English Reading

Reading and appreciating literary works plays an important role in high school English quality education, which plays an important role in cultivating students' reading interest and improving students' reading quality. This article explores the application of intertextuality theory in the English reading practices of senior high school students. Preliminary findings indicate that while some students demonstrate a high level of proficiency in identifying overt intertextual references, others struggle to discern more subtle connections between texts. Moreover, students' interpretations of intertextuality often reflect their individual experiences, interests, and prior knowledge, highlighting the subjective nature of literary analysis. However, exposure to intertextuality theory and instructional strategies aimed at fostering intertextual awareness appear to positively influence students' reading comprehension and critical thinking abilities.

Features of Intertextuality in the Vocal Part of Abai from the Opera by Akhmet Zhubanov and Latif Hamidi

The presented article is devoted to the analysis of the vocal part of Abai from the same-name opera by Latif Hamidi and Akhmet Zhubanov using the method of intertextuality. The study is conducted in the context of the rich traditional culture of Kazakhstan, including musical, literary and semantic aspects of the opera part. The authors of the article turn to modern theoretical concepts of intertextuality to analyze the connections between the musical elements of opera and various cultural texts. Special attention is paid to intertextual references in Abai’s vocal part, which makes it possible to understand the deep context and semantic load of the musical utterances of the main character. The authors turn to numerous sources, including contemporary studies in the field of musicology, opera and culture, to present a deeper analysis of the “Abai” opera and its place in cultural context. The results of the study help not only to understand the complex structure and content of opera, but also to expand the awareness of how the intertextuality method can contribute to a deeper analysis of musical works.The work is based on the theory of intertextuality and includes the analysis of musical, literary and cultural aspects of the opera. A comparison of Abai’s vocal part with folk songs, poetic works and historical plots is carried out. Also, intertextual connections were revealed, as well as its correlation with the cultural heritage of Kazakhstan. The influence of the national musical heritage on the creation of the opera is discussed. The results of the analysis are presented, which make it possible to expand the understanding of the “Abai” opera in the context of the opera art of Kazakhstan.The conclusions of the study emphasize the importance of using the intertextuality method for in-depth analysis of opera music. The article contributes to the development of the research direction and fosters to a deeper comprehention of the cultural significance of the “Abai” opera.

The descriptive analysis of paratextual elements in the case of poetry translation

Paratextual elements are significant for the construction of meaning in textual analysis. In this context, the role of paratextual elements in poetry translation, which are believed to be challenging or even impossible, is worth analyzing. Delving into the functionality and efficacy of paratextual elements, this study aims to unravel the translation choices within the light of paratextual uses in the field of poetry translation. Through the case study of Cem Yavuz’s translation of T. S. Eliot’s poetry, the study qualitatively analyzes the types of paratextual elements that are mainly provided at the notes section, the preface and a YouTube interview. Commenting on T. S. Eliot's poetic profile, Cem Yavuz emphasizes the concepts of dramatic monologue and objective correlative and bases his translation approach on these concepts. The findings acquired from the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock reveal that paratextual elements such as religious, mythological, historical and technical notes are presented to enlighten the intertextual references, enhance reader engagement and awareness, and discover the authentic linguistic and emotional richness in the source. The examples extracted from the study show that the translator not only uses elegant language to sound poetic and natural, but also gives the paratextual elements a teaching role.

How Heroes Are Made. Erich Kästner's The handstand on the Loreley

Erich Kästner's poem Der Handstand auf der Loreley is an intertextual reference to the well-known Romantic ballad Loreley by Heinrich Heine. There are also intertextual links to other works of German literature. Kästner wrote the poem shortly before the Nazis came to power in Germany, as he had recognized the signs of the times: the latent rearmament, but above all the propagandistically prepared, ever more explicitly expressed cult of the hero. The heroization of even the most banal things or people in everyday life was a part of National Socialist propaganda. Kästner wanted to expose this process with his text, but it was already too late.

‘The problem of other minds’: disappropriation and the limits of polyphony in Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School

ABSTRACT This essay argues that Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School (2019) complicates Mikhail Bakhtin’s dichotomy between monologism and polyphony through strategies resonating with Cristina Rivera Garza’s concept of disappropriation. In contrast to Bakhtinian polyphony, Lerner’s novel posits the necessity of exposing the author’s agency behind the characters’ voices to refrain from appropriating them; it thus embraces authorial fallibility and turns it into an ethical project. Despite comprising multiple narrators, The Topeka School is metafictionally presented as authored by an older version of its teenage protagonist Adam Gordon, serving as Lerner’s alter ego. Adam’s overarching authorial presence is suggested by the narrative’s frequent rejection of individuation and mimesis in its depiction of different characters’ speeches; yet, by presenting individual voices as interwoven, the novel also emphasises the collective nature of language. I discuss how this tension between authorial control and interconnectedness is reflected in textual interferences across different narrative perspectives, in the oscillation between authorial and figural narration in the interludes dedicated to the character Darren, and in the infiltration of various intra and intertextual references into Amber’s as well as Adam’s voice. Through these disappropriative techniques, Lerner’s novel avoids solipsism while also moving beyond the dialogic strategies of previous post-postmodern metafiction.

Stance and food activism on Arabic Twitter (X): a multimodal analysis

Abstract Expanding on classic theories of stancetaking and theorizing digital activism as nexus analysis, I examine how Omani Arab citizens used discourse and images to canalize a failed food boycott campaign on Twitter (X) into a united negative stance against alleged corruption. I highlight the role of multimodality, impoliteness, indirectness, intertextual references, participation framework and Arabic cultural practices in creating a multi-layered, accreted stance with manifold implicit functions (e.g., defining Omani identity, lamenting and signalling dissent). I argue for the need to widen the scope and level of analysis of stance acts to include interplays between texts, emoji, actions and images. I also highlight the role that stance can perform in expressing dissent and managing cultural face in the understudied Arabic context. I, therefore, demonstrate the multidimensionality of stance acts made visible by social media affordances and user creativity.

The Individuated, Messianic Servant of OG Isaiah 41–45

Abstract The study examines the servant oracles of Isaiah 41–45, which in the MT present a collectivist, national understanding of the figure, but in the OG are rendered so that the servant is individuated, both in the sense that he is granted clearly the quality of individuality, and in the sense that he is distinguished clearly from the collective nation he serves. The servant is also thereby rendered messianic, as Israel’s eschatological rule is transferred to this individual, along with God’s epithet, ‘your king’, and as intertextual references identify this figure as one and the same with the Davidic king of Isaiah 9 and 11. Thus OG Isaiah 41–45 attests the emergence of individualist interpretation of the servant well before the common era. These chapters also show the place of messianism in the Septuagint and in second century Alexandria.

Navigating Identity Negotiation and Cultural Adaptation in 'American Fever': A Critical Discourse Study

The current study aims to analyze the discursive construction and representation of the processes of cultural adaptation and identity negotiation among Pakistani students in America in Dur e Aziz Amna's novel American Fever (2022). The study utilizes Homi K. Bhabha’s concepts of hybridity and mimicry (1994) to unveil students' strategies during their stay in America. Fairclough’s three-dimensional model (1992) was also employed to examine linguistic choices underpinning power and resisting strategies used by the protagonist to establish her position in society. The findings indicate that Pakistani students adapt to American norms, contrasting their native culture. Power dynamics play a significant role in identity negotiation, as Islamophobia and the Pakistani identity of the students affect their power position in American society. The author has used evocative language, metaphors, intertextual references, and code-switching to render the complexities of cultural adaptation and manifest her resistance to prevailing ideologies, including Islamophobia and gender norms.

Yoga and the “Pure Muhammadi Path” of Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib

This article addresses the question of how early modern Sufis dealt with yoga. Some scholars have argued that a movement of Sufi reform occurred in South Asia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, representing a shift towards legal Islam, which would call for the rejection of non-Islamic practices. This explanation overlooks the rhetorical construction of Sufi claims of spiritual status and shari‘a legitimacy, and it fails to distinguish eighteenth-century examples from the very different reform movements created in the nineteenth century in response to European colonialism. This article considers as a case study Nala-yi ‘Andalib (“The Nightingale’s Lament”), the central text produced by the pre-colonial founder of the “pure Muhammadi path”, Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib (d. 1758), with the help of intertextual references to the masterpiece of his son, Khwaja Mir Dard (d. 1785), ‘Ilm al-Kitab (“Knowledge of the Book”). The consequence of their evaluation of yoga was not the systematic rejection of non-Islamic practices, but a guarded acknowledgement of their efficacy within a framework that used Indic references as a straw man for intra-Islamic debates.