Colum McCann's intertexts : 'books talk to one another' /
Cardin, Bertrand,author.
The intertext is the effective presence of a text in another one. This relation of co-presence between texts is the subject of the present essay. Colum McCann's work is studied here as a mosaic of references to and quotations from other texts. In its dialogue with other texts, it absorbs and transforms them, and lets itself transformed by them. The multiple and complex relations that exist between them are approached in both synchronic and diachronic terms. Various modes of intertextuality -- influence, intentionality, authority -- are analyzed here and applied to McCann's complete work. His novels and short stories denote a transposition of texts taken from the Bible or Irish mythology, but also Anglo-Saxon novels, plays or poems. Through McCann's work, the present study highlights the articulation and interdependence of literary texts.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction -- 1. Parodic transgression in the first short stories -- 2. A Version of an Irish myth : 'Cathal's Lake' -- 3. The intertext or the reflection of dislocated Ireland : Fishing the Sloe-black River and Everything in this country must -- 4. The influences of fathers in Songdogs -- 5. Prophets of Israel in Manhattan Tunnels : a biblically informed reading of This side of brightness -- 6. Dancer and readers : framed and framing books -- 7. Zoli : a mimetic and dialogic novel in memory of the oppressed -- 8. The recreation of voices in Let the great world spin -- the paratext : authorities in crisis -- 9. The recreation of voices in Let the great world spin -- the text : 'as if anticipating the fall' -- 10. Intertextuality and Intentionality in TransAtlantic -- 11. Mirrors and collages in Thirteen ways of looking -- Conclusion -- Appendix : the fate of the Children of Lir.
The intertext is the effective presence of a text in another one. This relation of co-presence between texts is the subject of the present essay. Colum McCann's work is studied here as a mosaic of references to and quotations from other texts. In its dialogue with other texts, it absorbs and transforms them, and lets itself transformed by them. The multiple and complex relations that exist between them are approached in both synchronic and diachronic terms. Various modes of intertextuality -- influence, intentionality, authority -- are analyzed here and applied to McCann's complete work. His novels and short stories denote a transposition of texts taken from the Bible or Irish mythology, but also Anglo-Saxon novels, plays or poems. Through McCann's work, the present study highlights the articulation and interdependence of literary texts.
McCann, Colum, 1965-