3 cheers for intertextuality

   I was so intrigued by Formisano's article. I love the idea of thinking about late antique literature as "mannerist." The parallel to the world of art history is so appropriate; mannerist art used, for the most part, used standard technique, but started changing the forms and meanings of that technique in very weird ways. Similarly, late antique literature is still using Latin poetry and all its recognizable tropes, but often turning the meaning of those tropes upside down.

   I was a little puzzled, however, by the sense of pushback against intertextual endeavors in late antique literature. Formisano's definition of intertextuality seemed narrow to me. I realize he is working with "intertextuality" as defined by Bakhtin and Kristeva, and the use of intertextuality in traditional scholarship. Perhaps because of my work on the Tesserae project -- where we are constantly asking ourselves "what IS intertextuality?" -- I tend to favor a much broader definition of intertextuality. (Chris Forstall's forthcoming book has much light to shed on the matter.) Wouldn't we agree that some instances of intertextuality involve citing an author or a passage in order to refute it? For example, author A writes about philosophizing cows. Author B writes about philosophizing cows too, a strong enough picture to recall author A, but author B's cows present a different take on natural philosophy. Author B's language recalls author A, but makes no connection of allegiance, assimilation, or inheritance. It is, rather, a challenge. Can we still call this intertextuality?

Of course, this issue makes me think of the inverted topos of the iron and golden ages around lines 350-370. Here we have a classic inversion of the normal gold > iron, but the effect is carried out by the use of similar language patterns, vocabulary, synatx, etc. With such an intertextual connection, RN can cite AND challenge traditional notions. So let's continue to study intertextuality in late antique literature! Let's simply not become trapped in the particular sort of intertextuality that we so often see in the "golden" age.