On the Explicit Intertextuality of the Discussion of Nobility

Abstract：Intertextuality is a term often used in critical studies. Since Julia Kristeva first coined the term in the 1960s，intertextuality has been a dominant idea within literary and cultural studies，practically taken up by every theoretical movement.Intertextuality usually refers to a relationship of co-presence between two texts or among several texts，that is the presence of one text in another.

The theme of The Discussion of Nobility is about the nobility for man. In this essay，the practice of intertextuality is everywhere to be seen.

For example，its citation of the saying for the contemporary scholar Zhou Guoping.

“人的高貴在于他有灵魂生活。作为肉身的人，并无高低贵贱之分。惟有作为灵魂的人，由于内心世界的巨大差异，才分出了高贵和平庸，乃至高贵和卑鄙。”

and its citation from Li Sao，Historical Records，Dream of Red Mansions and the borrowing from the poem of Su Shi.

This thesis will analyze the employment of intertextuality in The Discussion of Nobility through the device of citation，and the irreplaceable importance of this abundant employment of intertextuality in The Discussion of Nobility to the construction of the essay.The function of intertextual reading of this essay will also be closely studied，which include enabling the reader to get the deep meaning of the text hidden in its relation to other texts and to have different interpretations of the text based on their different understandings of other texts.

Key words： Intertextuality；Explicit Intertexuality；Citation

1 Introduction

This thesis is composed of five chapters besides the introduction and conclusion.

Introduction presents the background of the study，the aim of study and organization of the thesis.

Chapter two is literature review.The origin and development of intertextuality and the influence of intertextuality on literary criticism will be reviewed.

Chapter three is methodology.By a combination of Tiphaine Samoyault theory and Genettes definition，a new framework for the analysis of practice of intertextual is built，i.e.citation，one of devices in explicit intertextuality.The thesis will mainly study 6 pieces of the essay that refer to explicit citation in terms of explicit signs，such as quotation marks.

Chapter four is Results and Discussion.Following the quantitative analysis，a qualitative study will analyze in detail the function of intertextual creating of The Discussion of Nobility and the function of intertextual reading of the essay.

Chapter five is conclusion.It summarizes the major findings and implications of this study.This thesis analyzed the practice of intertextuality in The Discussion of Nobility through the devices of citation and explored not only the function of intertextual creating of The Discussion of Nobility，but also the function of intertextual reading of the essay.

2 Literature Review

2.1 The Definition of Intertextuality

In 2001，the father of modern linguistics—Saussure regards that language is a system in which every element first together，and in which the value of any one element relies on the simultaneous coexistence of all the others.After that Julia Kristeva at first introduced the term “intertextuality”in her book.According to her theories，every text，far from being self-contained，far from being fixed，incorporates within itself an intersection，a dialogue，a network among writers and readers.Since the French critic Julia Kristeva first coined the term in the 1960s，intertextuality has been a dominant idea within literary and cultural studies，taken up by practically every theoretical movement.While it is sometimes used to mean“literary allusions”or“literary influences，”the concept is actually both more complex and more ambiguous than what such a definition suggests.Graham Allen explains in his study Intertextuality that，as the original meanings of“text，according to Roland Barthes，is“a tissue，a woven fabric，thus“the idea of text，and thus of intertextuality，depends，as Barthes argues，on the figure of the web，the weave，the garment（text）woven from the threads of the‘already written and the‘already read”.Michael Riffaterre defines intertextuality as“the web of functions that constitutes and regulates the relationship between text and intertext”.In his comprehensive study Lintertextualité，Tiphaine Samoyault puts forward several ways of realizing this relationality in literary creation.They are citation，allusion，pastiche，parody，reference and plagiarism.In his The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms，Chris Baldick explains that intertextuality is“a term coined by Julia Kristeva to designate the various relationships that a given text may have with other texts”.And he goes on to explain that these intertextual relationships“include anagram，allusion，adaptation，translation，parody，pastiche，imitation，and other kinds of transformation”However it is used，the term intertextuality promotes“a new vision of meaning，and thus of authorship and reading：a vision resistant to ingrained notions of originality，uniqueness，singularity and autonomy”.

2.2 The Influence of Intertextuality on Literary Criticism

As different trends of literary criticism have different theories and ways of interpreting works，the same work may have as many interpretations as the number of the trends of literary criticism.

According to the theories of intertextuality，every text has its meaning in relation to other texts.All utterances are dialogic，their meaning and logic depending upon what has previously been said and on how they will be received by others.No utterance itself is singular.All utterances are shot through with other competing and conflicting voices.Firstly，theorists of intertextuality insist that the meaning of a text is undecided.A text cannot bear its meaning all by itself，as every text has its meaning in relation to other texts.A text is not a line of words releasing a single“theological”meaning，but a multidimensional space in which a variety of writings blend and clash.Here the work of literary criticism explore texts possible meanings and form a network of meanings that complement each other.Second，it provides liberation for readers.The literary meaning of a text can never be fully stabilized.Third，the practice of intertextuality gives the readers a sense of pleasure while reading，different from other literary criticism.This paper will take Genettes definition of intertextuality.That is intertextuality is“the actual presence of one text within another”，“a relationship of copresence between two texts or among several texts”. In this thesis the practice of intertexuality in The Discussion of Nobility will be discussed through the use of citation.

3 Methodology

There is no literary works that have absolutely no relationships with any other text，so every literary text is influenced by other texts，whether literary or non-literary.Thus the creation of The Discussion of Nobility is also influenced by other writers and literary works.By a combination of Tiphaine Samoyaulttheory and Genettes definition，a new framework for the analysis of practice of intertextual is built，i.e.citation，one of devices in explicit intertextuality.The thesis mainly adopts the qualitative method to investigate the essay.

It will be chosen 6 pieces that are directly used to another text or parts of another text with explicit signs such as quotation marks in The Discussion of Nobility to discuss the practice of intertextuality.Here are some classification of intertextuality，among which are implicit intertextuality and explicit intertextuality.Citation is one of device of explicit intertextuality.It means the direct use of a text or a part of a text in another text with explicit signs such as quotation marks to showit.In other words，this thesis not only analyzed the practice of intertextuality in The Discussion of Nobility through the devices of citation，explored the function of intertextual creating of The Discussion of Nobility，but also the function of intertextual reading of the essay.Following are six pieces of the essay that are used to citation.

当代学者周国平认为，“人的高贵在于他有灵魂生活。作为肉身的人，并无高低贵贱之分。惟有作为灵魂的人，由于内心世界的巨大差异，才分出了高贵和平庸，乃至高贵和卑鄙。”

“路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索”的屈原。

“举世皆浊我独清，众人皆醉我独醒”“国无人莫我知兮”。

“人固有一死，或重于泰山，或轻于鸿毛”的司马迁。

“但愿人长久，千里共婵娟”的苏轼。

“满纸荒唐言，一把辛酸泪”的曹雪芹。

3.1 Results&Discussion;

The thesis will mainly study 6 pieces of the essay that refer to explicit citation in terms of explicit signs，such as quotation marks.The theme of The Discussion of Nobility is about nobility of human.What kinds of men do possess the nobility？Could we say the poor is noble？If we want to be a noble man，what should we do？The essay could be made some respond for some thinking，combined the experience of the author.The author regards that the man who has good virtue，pure heart and justice are noble.Furthermore，the standard of being a noble man does not matter to the social status，possession and good looking for people.Of course that the poor man can be said that he possesses the nobility，whats more，not only people in high social class are noble.The author takes two examples in the essay，“the most beautiful mom Wu Juping”and the publishment for Wu Yingyuan.Through the examples the conclusion is that a common person can be a noble man such as Wu Juping who is a common staff in Ali Baba，while a rich man is not sure a noble man such as Wu Yingyuan who is ranked 68th in Hurun Report.Especially the author views that the nobility for man who suffered more and still hold their respectable mental.In addition，the author uses the device of citation，that is，the essay is assembled from bits and pieces of already existent work or works.According to the existed material，it is known that there are some functions of citation for the analysis of discource，for instance，description function，evaluation function.Meanwhile，different functions of citation will be applied in different kinds of discources，such as demonstration function applied in the legal document.Now we will study the function of citation applied in the essay The Discussion of Nobility.

3.2 The Function of Intertextuality creation of The Discussion of Nobility

It could be seen that the use of intertextuality is everywhere to see.The author does not just borrow from those precious literary texts，but also reinterprets and transforms them to serve for his new text.The first piece of using citation in the essay is from the saying for the contemporary scholar Zhou Guoping，

“人的高貴在于他有灵魂生活。作为肉身的人，并无高低贵贱之分。惟有作为灵魂的人，由于内心世界的巨大差异，才分出了高贵和平庸，乃至高贵和卑鄙。”

The sentence refers to the understanding of the nobility for man.Zhou Guoping has the same view as the author has.He also sees being a noble man should have his noble and pure thinking.And difference of soul for people contributes to whether they are noble or not.And this great use of intertextuality in The Discussion of Nobility is of irreplaceable importance to the construction of the essay.It not only helps the author state and solid his viewpoint，but also helps to deepen the themes the author explores in the essay.And it could be seen that from the following passages of the essay.After that the author takes two comparative examples for verifying his viewpoint that is the same as the saying of Zhou Guoping.

3.3 The Function of Intertextual Reading

Intertextual reading refers to the practice of interpretation of a literary work by consciously relating it with other texts，whether literary or non-literary.The borrowing of other texts does not only meaning to restate what has been stated，but also to present its influence on the new texts for readers.Thus，in both cases the active participation of the reader is needed.Intertextuality theories hold that intertextuality is an intrinsic feature of any literary text，thus the intertextual reading of a text is of irreplaceable importance in interpreting a literary work.The above refers to the nobility of suffering.In order to explain this kind of nobility，the author still uses the device of citation.Following are the pieces of the use of citation in the essay.

“路漫漫其修遠兮，吾将上下而求索”，“举世皆浊我独清，众人皆醉我独醒”，“国无人莫我知兮”“人固有一死，或重于泰山，或轻于鸿毛”，“但愿人长久，千里共婵娟”，“满纸荒唐言，一把辛酸泪”.

“路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索”is said by Qu Yuan.The meaning is that even though it took some time and worked out some effort，and even it is very dangerous for people，they still try their best to meet the challenge and overcome difficulties and then make it.Qu Yuan is a noble man who possesses the virtue and justice.He loved his nation but he suffered exclusion and banishment.Even if he suffered more，he still insisted that he held the love for his nation and finished his work Li Sao that is expressed his respectable mental，“举世皆浊我独清，众人皆醉我独醒”，“国无人莫我知兮”are also said by Qu Yuan in his work Li Sao.The author further focuses on expounding of the nobility of suffering through the citation.And the author proposes that people should respect Qu Yuan who possesses his good virtue and justice.Through the use of citation，the author raises his unique thoughts and anews his understanding for something about Qu Yuan and the nobility for man.It could be regarded as the recreation of understanding based on the existed works.Whats more，intertextuality reading helps readers to further understand the existed works and acquire their unique interpretation.

“人固有一死，或重于泰山，或轻于鸿毛”，“但愿人长久，千里共婵娟”，“满纸荒唐言，一把辛酸泪。”

Three sentences are also verified the authors viewpoint that the nobility of suffering makes us touch and brings us some inner resource.They are said by Si Maqian，Su Shi and Cao Xueqin.Si Maqian，Su Shi and Cao Xueqin also came across difficulties and appeared misfortune in their life.Even though they failed，went through hardship and even had a threat to life，they also adhered to their moral principles and kept their high quality.Thus their accomplishment is worthy of cherishing and respecting，such as Dream of Red Mansions written by Cao Xueqin.It is a classic novel in China.It brings us literary wealth to research and explore.Even some people regard Cao Xueqin is equal to Shakespeare on literature.They both possess great and noble mental.Intertextuality reading helps readers to realize the nobility of suffering that should be respected and learnt，suffering more and still noble.Furthermore，intertextuality seems a knot combining between the author and readers.

4 Conclusion

The theme of The Discussion of Nobility is about the nobility for man.In this essay，the practice of intertextuality is everywhere to be seen.For example，its citation of the saying for the contemporary scholar Zhou Guoping.

“人的高貴在于他有灵魂生活。作为肉身的人，并无高低贵贱之分。惟有作为灵魂的人，由于内心世界的巨大差异，才分出了高贵和平庸，乃至高卑鄙”。

and its reference to Li Sao，Historical Records，Dream of Red Mansions and the borrowing of the poem of Su Shi.

This thesis not only analyzed the practice of intertextuality in The Outsiders through the devices of citation，explored the function of intertextual creating of The Discussion of Nobility，but also the function of intertextual reading of the essay.The author does not just borrow from those precious literary texts，but also reinterprets and transforms them to serve for his new text.And this great use of intertextuality in The Discussion of Nobility is of irreplaceable importance to the construction of the essay.It helps the author not only to state and solid his viewpoint，but also to deepen the themes the author explores in the essay.In addition，intertextual reading enables the readers to get the deep meaning of the text hidden in its relation to other texts.Second，intertextual reading enables the readers to have different interpretations of the text based on their different understandings of other texts.

The authors use of intertextuality not only shows his philosophy of life，but also demonstrates her tremendous respect for his audience as thoughtful，intelligent readers.His conscious employment of intertextuality to invoke multiple layers of meaning beyond what any single work could convey encourages his readers not only to read and know，but also to explore the literary wealth and to improve themselves and make their effort to be noble men.

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作者简介

师铭泽（1988—），女，汉，吉林，研究生，吉林大学，外国语言学及应用语言学。