INTERTEXTUALITY AND CREATIVITY: A.S. BYATT’S POSTMODERN STORIES
INTERTEXTUALITY AND CREATIVITY: A.S. BYATT’S POSTMODERN STORIES

Summary/Abstract: Intertextuality, a term coined by Julia Kristeva, came into existence the moment literary critics and theorists realized that things, in general, and language and imagination, in particular, are never created ab nihilo. With postmodern writers, intertextuality has become a particularly useful instrument by means of which many goals could be achieved: writers would take old stories, dust them off, rewrite them, and reinterpret them at the same time, putting their own stamp on the respective texts while giving them a new lease on life. British contemporary author A.S. Byatt, who was fond of inquisitive and imaginative readers, went one step further: she would create texts that stimulate readers by mocking and challenging them. Byattian narratives rely heavily on intertextuality, heteroglossia and metanarratives – that is why deserving readers are always rewarded for their perseverance by the discovery of layers upon layers of texts and meanings, waiting patiently to be decoded. In view of all that, my paper aims to analyse some of the Byattian texts in which fictional characters get a makeover. By following the fantastic thread of the narratives, I will focus on the features and techniques that A.S. Byatt uses in in her endeavour to transform popular stories into postmodern metatexts and write herself in these postmodern tales.

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