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However, the above example, classic though it may be, is most extreme and therefore not particularly illuminating. If the praetext is in a foreign language, authors will often translate their quotations or use an existing translation. Moreover, in most cases we are not concerned with verbal quotations of any length. The author may vary the praetext, add to it or summarize it, or merely allude to it by means of some significant words. And more often than not these quotations or allusions are not clearly marked off but rather woven into the pattern of their new context. In Idyll 2, 106110, Theocritus is unmistakably referring to Sappho's fr. 31, but the reader who is not familiar with this poem will not be aware of this and will not have the feeling that something has escaped him. |
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In discussing the relationship between the Aeneid and the Homeric poems, Lyne shows how Vergil 'helps' his readers. He notes for example "the striking verbal similarity of Aeneas' opening situation to Odysseus' in Od. 5: it signals the presence of Odysseus behind the figure of Aeneas inviting us to compare and contrast, and to ask questions" (1987: 103104). But of course, this striking verbal similarity is only of help to the reader who has a thorough knowledge of the Odyssey: "The reader is supposed to know the source material and the significance it had in its own setting, and bring that knowledge to bear when he reads the new construction". (102) Nevertheless, if one were to read Vergil without knowing Homer, the Aeneid would not be incomprehensible. But it would certainly not be understood completely; one has to know the praetext "soll das Sinnpotential des Textes ausgeschöpft werden" (Pfister 1985: 23). |
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Now Vergil could be sure of his readers, for they undoubtedly knew their Homer. But a modern author cannot always be that sure. His reading public is much more scattered and may be spread over several continents. Literary education is far less uniform than it was in antiquity and a reader cannot possibly carry with him the cultural baggage of every single author. He may very well enjoy a novel or a poem without recognising the importance of its intertextuality, and in such a case the communication between author and reader is only partially successful. Critical scholarship may be of help here, but no small demands are made on the reader: the more he has read, the more he will understand. |
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Ancient Greek Intertextuality. The Hylas Story |
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Joseph Schöpp (1985: 333) posits that intertextuality is preferably demonstrated on the basis of postmodern texts: "In texts like these authors are quoting intensively and compulsively, such as is customary especially in the last stage of a culture; a stage in which creativity manifests itself first of all |
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