Intertextuality permeates all literary and media production. Every text stands in relation to others – whether through allusions, quotations or references to well-known works. The term ‘interextuality’ was coined by Julia Kristeva and Gérard Genette and shows that literature never exists in isolation – instead, it is always part of a broader network of texts, authors and cultural influences.
Intertextuality plays a particularly important role in schools: It helps students understand texts within their cultural and historical context and to engage critically with them. It is also central to (school-based) writing: Consciously or not, students draw on stories, motifs and text structures they are familiar with when writing their own texts. This not only fosters creative writing but also encourages critical engagement with literature.
At the same time, intertextuality raises questions around originality and creative approaches to source texts. Closely linked to intertextuality are phenomena of intermediality: Written texts can be represented in, and interact with, other media such as film, music or art, an aspect which is especially relevant in literature for children and young adults.
This issue of literacy.forum.ch is dedicated to these questions and invites readers to explore intertextuality and intermediality from the perspectives of literary studies, pedagogy and media. More
Maik Philipp examines intertextuality in multiple non-fiction texts from the perspective of cognitive-psychological reading research. He presents the development of theoretical models which increasingly account for the complexity of intertextual comprehension, one of the most challenging reading skills. He discusses these models theoretically and in light of existing empirical findings.
At the heart of Klaus Maiwald’s article on literature teaching methodology is the idea of intermediality as an ‘umbrella concept extending beyond pure intertextuality’. The author first surveys key concepts around intermediality and their origins. He then goes on to concretise these concepts and to discuss them using the example of intermedial adaptations of Goethe’s ballade ‘The Sorceror’s apprentice’ («Der Zauberlehrling».
In their article, Alice Spreafico, Bruno Védrines and Anne Monnier-Silva reflect on the production of literature for schools through the lens of the reading anthology. They examine from a historical perspective how literary reputations are formed in the school context.
Emilie Schindelholz Aeschbacher investigates literary and cultural references in classical fairy stories in literature for children and young people, taking as her starting point statements made by teachers. She examines intertextuality in relation to current pedagogical challenges and raises the question of what is taught and what is not.
Ina Brendel-Kepser examines fan fiction as a cultural practice. Here, intertextuality manifests in the connections between an original text and the diverse texts produced by fans in response. The author discusses intertextuality as a concept in literary studies and fan fiction as a form of participatory culture, outlining the pedagogical potential of the link between the two for teaching writing.
Antje Kolde und Catherine Fidanza introduce us to the teaching of literature in the classical languages. The authors analyse student texts on both the micro- and macro-structural levels to determine their intertextual references.
Cherryl Odiet takes us into the media library, sharing a project for a ‘story carpet’. She discusses her chosen collaborative approaches, offering teachers possible ways to integrate intertextuality into their work.
In the final article in this collection, Enya Theresa Csernyin and Verena Ronge report on their empirical study of read-aloud conversations at primary level. They identify various indications of imagination building in the reception of a fairy tale picture book, including aspects of literary education such as experiencing difference, filling in gaps, and interpretation. The authors advocate the use of ambiguous and multilayered picture books to foster imagination building.
Carole-Anne Deschoux, Claudia Hefti and Anne Monnier
