Understanding Intertextuality and How It Can Be Used in Story Sack - Essay Example

Understanding Intertextuality and how it can be used in Story Sack By: Presented Date In almost every genre of contemporary literature or art, intertextuality occupies a central and pivotal position (Allen, 2013, p.14). The norm that originated in the early 20th century by the mastermind of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and was devised later by Julia Kristeva of Bulgarian-French origin can be defined as the interdependency of a previous text on the other within one particular piece of art/literature/media.

(Juvan, 2008, p.12) Intertextuality means employing the concept/research of any existing textual compilation, poetic excellence or cinematic ploy into a brand new thought process. The methodology includes quotations, plagiarism, citation, parody, textual, imagery, and metaphor. The drive behind adopting intertextuality can be varying and diverse. It can be used to propagate an acclaimed theory, quote someone’s exclusive thoughts to make a point, or to promote and popularise cultural orientation and fashion/ lifestyles of different regions.

Intertextuality is also applied to explain certain ambiguous concepts of any literary or artistic work. Furthermore, it can be adopted to present a brand-new perspective on an existing work. Sudha Shastri provided a perfect example of intertextuality by pointing out the fact that Jean Rhys wrote “Wide Sargasso Sea” (1966) to present a neutral and modernized take on Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel “Jane Eyre” (1847). (2001, p.3) Steven Pressfields The Legend of Bagger Vance (1995) borrowed its plot from the epic Hindu verse Bhagvad Gita.

(Byrd, 2007, p.3) Similarly Jane Austen’s masterpiece literature Emma was the influencing factor behind Amy Heckerling’s year 1995 movie Clueless. (Baker, 2008, p.534) Story sack is an innovative concept to make kids learning process at school fun-filled and effective (Browne, 2007, p.76). It is an over-sized cloth bag that contains additional props related to a story such as audio-visual sources like CDs or DVDs, toys and models of the characters, games, and entertaining activities like jigsaw puzzle or painting related to the story.

Chris Dukes writes that it is an interesting way to “illustrate the story and make shared reading a memorable experience” (2007, p.84). It not only enhances the process of story-telling but teachers, and parents can also aptly utilize the concept of intertextuality to teach kids about numerous other aspects of life like positive virtues, beliefs, and values by opting for making story sacks on intertextual books. For example, biblical stories and their adapted cinematic versions can be shown to kids so that they could gain an understanding of the story, and the message that it transmits.

Story sacks on stories like Little Moon, and The Ten Suns can be united with intertextual sources to enhance kids’ knowledge of planets and universe, and on Chinese culture or numeric information. Intertextuality and story sack are complimentary to each other and can easily amplify the impact of learning. Reference List Allen, G. (2013) Intertextuality. Routledge, p.14. Baker, W., (2008) Critical Companion to Jane Austen: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work. Infobase Publishing, pp.534. Browne, A. (2007) Teaching and Learning Communication, Language and Literacy. SAGE, pp.76. Byrd, C. (2007) The Bhagavad-Gita in Black and White: From Mulatto Pride to Krishna Consciousness.

Backintyme, pp.3. Dukes, C., (2007) Developing Pre-school Communication and Language. SAGE, pp.84. Juvan, M. (2008) History and Poetics of Intertextuality. Purdue University Press, pp.12. Shastri, S., (2001) Intertextuality and Victorian Studies. Orient Blackswan, pp.3.