An example of subtle intertextuality : echoes of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary in Anne Cleeves’ telling tales

Marinčič, Katarina (author)

The topic of this article is intertextuality in the novel Telling Tales by the British writer Anne Cleeves. Cleeves is one of the most successful contemporary authors of crime novels. She owes part of her fame to high-profile television adaptations of the Shetland and Vera series. However, her novels are not only cleverly crafted stories to suit a wide audience; they also cater for more sophisticated readers. In this article, we aim to show the multilayered nature of her writing by using the example of Telling Tales, a novel that is interwoven with thematic and even formal allusions to Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, although a reader who is not susceptible to intertextuality can enjoy the plot and denouement of a crime story even without it. Similarly, intertextual clues are easily missed in the television adaptation of the novel. But for the reader who catches the intertextual clues, they are certainly an enrichment. Anne Cleeves uses them as a means of psychological characterization, but they also serve as a starting point for reflection on reading. The author, who believes in the importance and even the therapeutic value of reading, allows for the possibility of a “bad”, harmful reading and reflects on it through the story of a side character whose attitude to books and life is reminiscent of Flaubert’s heroine.

• Language: English
• Keywords: intertextuality, reading
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 26.12.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 7-18
• Numbering: Letn. 17, št. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-179054
• UDC: 821.111.09-312.4Cleeves A.:821.133.1Flaubert G.
• ISSN on article: 2350-4269
• DOI: 10.4312/vestnik.17.7-18
• COBISS.SI-ID: 263971843
• Publication date in RUL: 04.02.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Vestnik za tuje jezike = Journal for foreign languages
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2350-4269
• COBISS.SI-ID: 269600256

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Primer prefinjene medbesedilnosti : odmevi Flaubertove Gospe Bovary v romanu pripovedovanje zgodb Anne Cleeves

Abstract

Tema pričujočega članka je medbesedilnost v romanu Telling Tales (Pripovedovanjezgodb) britanske pisateljice Anne Cleeves. Anne Cleeves je ena najuspešnejših sodobnih avtoric kriminalnih romanov. Del svoje slave dolguje odmevnim televizijskim priredbam (seriji Shetland in Vera). Vendar pa njeni romani niso le spretno izpisane zgodbe po okusu širokega občinstva, temveč zadovoljijo tudi zahtevnejše bralce. V članku želimo na primeru romana Telling Tales, ki ga avtorica preplete z vsebinskimi in celo formalnimi aluzijami na Flaubertov roman Gospa Bovary, prikazati večplastnost njenega pisanja. Bralec, ki za medbesedilnost ni dovzeten, lahko tudi brez nje uživa v zapletu in razpletu kriminalne zgodbe. Prav tako medbesedilne namige zlahka pogrešimo v te-levizijski priredbi romana. Za bralca, ki medbesedilne namige prestreže, pa ti zagotovo pomenijo obogatitev. Anne Cleeves jih uporabi kot sredstvo psihološke karakterizacije, služijo pa ji tudi kot izhodišče za refleksijo o branju. Avtorica, ki verjame v pomen in celo terapevtsko vrednost branja, skozi zgodbo stranske junakinje, ki po svojem odnosu do knjig in življenja močno spominja na Flaubertovo junakinjo, v zgodbo pripusti tudi razmislek o “slabem branju”.

• Keywords: francoska književnost, angleška književnost, medbesedilnost, branje