In this course, we will explore theories of intertextuality developed by Mikhail Bakhtin, Julia Kristeva, Gerard Genette, and Harold Bloom, among others, and discuss why the debates of intertextuality have provoked such a resonance in contemporary literary studies. In addition to the theoretical underpinnings of intertextuality we will examine concepts such as influence, imitation, allusion, and quotation. A series of literary texts will provide text cases for the various theories. We will discuss exemplary applications of each theory (and their limitations) in close readings of Büchner Prize acceptance speeches delivered by Paul Celan, Ingeborg Bachmann, and Elfriede Jelinek; poems by Bachmann and Celan; and three seminal novels of the 20th century: Bachmann’s Malina, Thomas Bernhard’s Extinction, and W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz. Special attention will be paid to the underlying discourse on memory and trauma in their poetics of intertextuality.
The goals of the course are (1) to provide a solid grounding in the historical development of theories of intertextuality, (2) to provide students with methodological frameworks for critically analyzing literary texts, and (3) to discuss the role intertextuality plays in 20th century cultures of memory.
Please note: Readings and discussions in English. No prerequisites are required.
