The female literary quest: The intertextual community of women writers in Maryse Conde's 'La Migration des coeurs' and Marguerite Duras's 'Emily L.'

Comparative in nature, this dissertation examines recent approaches to intertextuality in two novels, Emily L. (1987) by Marguerite Duras, and La Migration des coeurs (1995) by Maryse Conde As widely read and influential novelists of the latter half of the 20th century, both writers have lived in more than one culture, making for a complex identity---an identity in which their literary imaginary is both international and intertextual in scope.; For both authors, the use of intertextuality rests upon the incorporation of parody and/or irony, all of which have recently been expanded, clarified, and reinterpreted in ways that display more openly their direct connections to one another. The literary analysis thus begins with an examination of each writer's specific use of intertextuality. Next, I study how they critique and draw from the works of certain women writers---their literary forerunners---and, finally, how the strategic use of parody and irony guide our readings of the novels under consideration.; Each author uses intertextuality in her own way. With regard to some commonly shared aspects, Duras's use of intertextuality is similar to that of Conde's in the sense that homage is paid to a woman writer and her work. Moreover, both authors refer to or make use of an international corpus of texts and languages in their novels, such that intertextuality becomes a means of promoting cultural encounters between readers and texts. One important difference is that the Emily Bronte connection in La Migration is more or less stated in an open, whereas the ties to Emily Dickinson and Virginia Woolf are never mentioned in Emily L. With Conde, there exists a conscious, overt decision to establish a dialogue with literary predecessors and their works, but Duras builds her novel instead around an implicit, embedded model of women writers.; In considering the entire pragmatic context of intertextual references, I addressed what types of intertexts came into play, what messages were conveyed, for whom they were intended, and how they were or might be received. These questions are pertinent when studying the complex nature of intertextuality in contemporary fiction.