Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Fish in dark water: Intertextuality and interpretation in the work of Diana Wynne Jones

Gascoyne, Deborah 2019. Fish in dark water: Intertextuality and interpretation in the work of Diana Wynne Jones. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
Item availability restricted.

[thumbnail of Fish in Dark Water - 18 Oct 2019.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version
Download (1MB) | Preview
[thumbnail of Cardiff University Electronic Publication Form] PDF (Cardiff University Electronic Publication Form) - Supplemental Material
Restricted to Repository staff only

Download (1MB)

Abstract

Children’s fantasy author, Diana Wynne Jones, is known for the complex use of intertextuality in her work. This thesis investigates the question of what intertextuality does in her work as a whole. It demonstrates that Jones uses intertextual references figuratively throughout her work to open windows of interpretation for an alert reader that may enhance and illuminate her themes. Intertextuality can take many forms, and Jones employs everything from direct allusion through parody and dialogism and Barthes’ ‘circular memory of reading’. Jones’s allusions are, first of all, subversive, and almost always not simply retellings but demonstrations that traditional story and genre do not necessarily legislate the outcome. Secondly, the cognitive space in which intertextual meaning may be found echoes a Romantic double vision in which both the real and the fantastic may overlap, and which emphasizes the importance of the creative imagination. Intertextual references can be both an analogue for the use of the imagination and a way to develop individual imaginative power through the reading experience. The interpretive world that is opened with the recognition of an intertextual key creates an experience for readers that can be aligned with enchantment and the sublime. Negotiating Jones’s enchanted world gives power to readers.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Date Type: Completion
Status: Unpublished
Schools: English, Communication and Philosophy
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 23 October 2019
Last Modified: 29 Mar 2021 12:46
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/126255

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics