Intertextuality: connecting texts flashcards

Topic 3: Intertextuality: connecting texts

What does Intertextuality: connecting texts focus on?

A text's meaning depends partly on other texts: the ones it borrows from, the conventions of its type or form, and the texts you place it beside.

Allusion versus quotation

Allusion: a brief, indirect reference the reader should recognise; the source is hinted at, not named or quoted. Quotation: the source's exact words, usually marked.

Parody, pastiche and satire: what is the difference?

Parody imitates a particular style or form and exaggerates it to mock it. Pastiche imitates a style without mockery, as tribute or play. Satire uses humour, irony or exaggeration to criticise a target, and may or may not imitate anything.

How do you analyse an intertextual reference?

Name the source (or the kind of source); say what is kept unchanged; say what is changed (context, speaker, a reversed detail); explain what the gap between the two does for meaning and for the reader.

What does Paper 2 involve in Language and Literature?

A comparative essay on two studied literary works, answering one of four questions, written from memory in 1 hour 45 minutes. 35% at SL, 25% at HL. Non-literary texts are not used.

Point-by-point versus block structure in a comparative essay

Point-by-point: every body paragraph discusses both works on one point, so comparison runs throughout. Block: half the essay on each work, with comparison left to the end, which risks two separate mini-essays.

What should a Paper 2 comparative thesis contain?

One arguable claim answering the question for both works and naming how they differ: both present the key term as X, but Writer A uses one method to one effect, whereas Writer B uses another, because of form or context.

What is the individual oral?

A prepared oral response on how one literary work and one non-literary body of work, both studied in class, approach a common global issue, supported by an extract from each. 30% at SL, 20% at HL.

How do you narrow a global issue for the oral?

Move from topic to issue to angle: a topic ("technology") is too wide; the angle is the specific claim you trace through both texts. Test it by finding at least three specific choices in each extract that bear on it.

What do the individual oral criteria cover?

Knowledge and understanding of both texts and their context; analysis of how the global issue is presented in each; focus and organisation of the response; and language (register, clarity, terminology).

What is the learner portfolio?

Your own collection of notes, reflections and responses built during the course. It is a good source of global issues and text pairings for the individual oral.