As a relatively new term in literary theory, intertextuality is not very present in secondary school practice. In work with texts it appears indirectly through the naming of specific kinds of texts (e.g. parody, travesty) or figures (e.g. quotation) and in identifying examples of these in collections of literary texts or extracts in readers. However, we can introduce the theoretical foundations of intertextuality into such work without weighting it down with new terminology and thus help pupils achieve a new view of literary texts and their contexts. To read literary works in the light of links or relations with other texts seems to be a logical and effective way of understanding literature as a story and of tackling the negative attitude - too widely spread among the young - towards this social subsystem.
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