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Nº. 2025 | 1

Intertextuality, intermediality and literacy

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

The association Leseforum Schweiz would like to thank the Federal Office of Culture FOC for its support.

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