Semiotics and Intertextuality
What has led to the prominence of authorship? Is it societal? Is it inevitable? What is next?
Are all literary works rewritten? Is it impossible to write an original piece? Is ‘originality’ a goal that authors should strive for?
In 1968, Barthes announced 'the death of the author' and 'the birth of the reader', declaring that 'a text's unity lies not in its origin but in its destination' How does this frame the act of reading? Does this give the reader a responsibility?
What role does parody play in educating the reader on the conventions of a literary genre?
When discussing the horizontal and vertical axes, connecting the reader to the author and the text to other texts, what role do “frames”/containers/genres play in those connections? How does the fluidity of genre impact those connections? (e.g. 'advertorials', 'infomercials', 'edutainment', 'docudrama’)
Is ‘transtextuality’ (+ hypertextuality) comprehensive? Is it satisfactory? Can it be?
Semiotic Techniques/Intertextuality in Action
Are The Long Goodbye and A Wild Sheep Chase connected along the vertical axis? How and why?
How does the treatment of the two investigations and hardboiled detective themes differ in these works? What does that mean for the reader? For the works?
The treatment of names/signs in these two books is very different. In The Long Goodbye, hardboiled slang is used in place of universally understood signs. Why? What effect does this create in the text? What experience does this give the reader? In A Wild Sheep Chase, many things, notably people, are not given traditional signs, forcing the reader to refer to them as “Boku” or “I” How does this treatment of signs impact your reading of the work and consideration of those characters?
What anchoring features in these two works? What constraints do they enforce?
How do non-textual elements change the experience of reading/rewriting these works? (Reading as a class)
How conscious is the use of intertextuality in these two works? (How reflexive is it?)
How critical is recognition of intertextuality to comprehending these texts?
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