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with epic overtones, such as  , or an epic word placed in an unexpected context ( ). In the case of the comparison with the falling star, the key words  are sufficient to call up the image of an Homeric comparison, but with a totally different content. The lion comparison bears the stamp of Homer. There are no literal quotations of any length, and this was obviously intentional. V. 58 offers clear enough proof of this. Theocritus not only replaced  by  , but also varied the second half of the verse, so that the reference, while unmistakable, also bears the stamp of originality. |
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The role of intertextuality in the 13th Idyll has to some extent become clear in the course of the present discussion. The references almost invariably serve to emphasize the clash between the two worlds of the poem.  is in ironic contrast to  , while  casts an ironic shadow over the hero. When Hylas falls into the water we are reminded of the death of Sarpedon or Cycnus. When Heracles calls out for his beloved, we are reminded of Odysseus' cries on the battlefield, and when he hears Hylas' voice, the comparison with the lion again calls to mind the Homeric battlefield. The contrast between the original and the new context accentuates the contrast between the heroic world and the world into which Hylas disappears. |
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Intertextuality, it has been said, is capable of being both affirmative and innovative: "it appears as a historical crypt, that is, as formation of cultural ideology; and it shows up as a tactical device for critical deconstruction. In the first role, it seems a prison; in the second, an escape key".24 And Pfister comments on these words: "It is true that these opposite functions, founded on the opposite relation of repetition and difference, always manifest themselves simultaneously, but the domination of the one or the other function is determinative for the intertextuality of a particular period. In classicism, for example, the conservative function, which confirms the established codes and systems, is dominant, while in modernism, equally full of intertextuality, the opposite function of destabilization and innovation has the upper hand" (1985: 22).25 How does Theocritus fit into this dichotomy? |
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Theocritus does not take a stand against Homer and other predecessors, but he does realise that it is impossible to continue in the same way. He refers to their work without rejecting it, but he does point up the distance |
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24 V.B. Leich Deconstructive Criticism: An Advanced Introduction (London 1983) 110; quoted by Pfister (1985) 22. |
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25 "Diese beiden gegenläufigen Funktionen, die auf den gegenläufigen Relationen von Repetition und Differenz beruhen, sind zwar wohl immer gleichzeitig gegeben, die Dominanz der einen oder der anderen Funktion macht jedoch die historische Spezifik der Intertextualität in einer bestimmten Epoche aus. Im Klassizismus z.B. dominiert die konservative, die vorgegebene Codes und Systeme affirmierende Funktion, im ebenfalls hochintertextuellen Modernismus dagegen die entgegengesetzte Funktion der Destabilisierung und der Innovation." |
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