The relationship between texts and how they reference, echo, or respond to other texts. It suggests that no text exists in isolation but is shaped by and shapes other works through quotation, allusion, parody, or influence.
Coined by French critic Julia Kristeva in the 1960s from Latin 'inter' (between) and 'textus' (woven). Kristeva built on Mikhail Bakhtin's ideas about dialogism to describe how all texts are mosaics of quotations and transformations of other texts.
Every Disney movie is a masterclass in intertextuality - 'The Lion King' echoes 'Hamlet,' while 'Shrek' playfully subverts fairy tale conventions! Hip-hop culture elevated intertextuality to high art through sampling, where new meanings emerge from the creative recontextualization of existing musical texts.
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