Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Definition of intratextuality from a reliable source?

If anyone comes across this post and knows the answer to this question, could someone enlighten me. I am searching for a definition of "intratextuality" (as opposed to "intertextuality," which I have a pretty good grasp of, at least in terms of having read some good explanations of it in various places.). I believe it means something like the various internal contexts within a single given text and the relationships between them; however, none of my reference books at home mention "intratextuality" as such. And what I'm finding on the internet is listed in the context of various articles or email listserves. I need a slightly more "official" source.

I feel a bit silly posting this. But, oh well.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

helloo, i am also looking for an official definition of the word, so far i have: it is the reference to something within a text, in the same sense that interterxuality is a reference to something outside of the text, this is in very simplistic terms but i hope it helps in some way.

Anonymous said...

helloo, i am also looking for an official definition of the word, so far i have: it is the reference to something within a text, in the same sense that interterxuality is a reference to something outside of the text, this is in very simplistic terms but i hope it helps in some way.

Talatu-Carmen said...

thanks. This is what I ended up coming up with in my terms project.

26. INTRATEXTUALITY:
Other definition: From a review of the collection of essays, Intratextuality: Greek and Roman Textual Relations, Ellen Oliensis describes the definition of intratextuality given by the editors: “This is a definition grounded in form, ‘intratextuality’ as a practice of textual segmentation and recombination: "part-ing," as Sharrock puts it (11); ‘a property of texts where the internal design, structure, and partition of the text are particularly paraded,’ in Morales' words (326). One paradigmatic strategy of intratextual reading is to consider the contribution of seemingly wayward parts (digressions, purple patches, etc.) to the "wholes" from which they diverge; one key issue, especially for Sharrock, is the possibility of resisting this movement toward totalization, of granting the parts some measure of autonomy.”
Ellen Oliensis. Review. Alison Sharrock (ed.), Helen Morales, Intratextuality: Greek and Roman Textual Relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Pp. xii, 363. Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2002.06.21 Downloaded 22 October 2006. < http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2002/2002-06-21.html>

My definition: While intertextuality defines the relationship between different texts, intratextuality defines the relationship between the parts of one specific text—-that is the internal tensions and linkages between components of a whole. An example might be the relationship between the songs and letters inserted into Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino’s novels and the overall first or third person narrative voice.

Unknown said...

try daniel chandler's work on semiotics. i have just come across a definition of intratextuality attributed to him.

Ruby said...

It's where a text references itself. Quite simply, really.