In children’s literature, intertexuality is often apparent in the use of
- allusions
- irony
- parody
- literary allusions
- direct quotations
- indirect references
- and the fracturing of well-known patterns.
Intertexuality makes use of the literature which has come before, often building on it, at the least inspired by it. That Bakhtin fellow prefers the term ‘dialogics’. Whatever it is called, the meaning of a text is revealed for the reader/researcher only against the background of previous texts. Whereas ‘comparative literature’ is concerned with how one text has ‘influenced’ the other, an intertextual study considers the two texts as equal.
Intertexuality is one of the most prominent features of postmodern literature for adults, and critics have proclaimed it both welcome and indispensable. In children’s literature most intertextual links are often approached as imitative and secondary.
- Maria Nikolajeva, Children’s Literature Comes Of Age
