An Intertextual Reading Of Small World

David Lodge, a pre-eminent novelist and literary critic, enjoys high prestige in the world of contemporary British literature. His masterpiece Small World deals with the lives of modern scholars, and it is regarded as one of the finest books about academia since Kingsley Amis' Lucky Jim. Small World shows a large potential in constructing various referential relations. This thesis attempts to make a comprehensive study of its referential relations from the perspective of intertextuality to survey the constructive functions served by some pretexts as well as the significance of the intertextual reading.The thesis consists of four chapters. Introduction includes a brief introduction to David Lodge, his literary achievements, Small World and its literary review. In addition, the purpose and significance of the thesis is put forward.Chapter â…  outlines the intertextuality in Small World. Besides a brief introduction to intertextuality theory, the four intertextual devices and three features of the referential relations in Small World are discussed.Chapter â…¡ demonstrates the referential relations between Small World and its two pretexts, Le Morte D'Arthur and Lucky Jim. First, the referential relation between Small World and Le Morte D'Arthur is constructed from the textual structure, features of romance, Grail Quest and adventure of Percival, followed by an analysis of this pretext's constructive function from the perspective of Barthes' bliss text. Second, the referential relation between Small World and Lucky Jim is constructed from the multi-genre feature, crowning and de-crowning, and Knight Percival, followed by an analysis of this pretext's constructive function by referring to the situation of the higher education reflected in the two texts.Chapter â…¢ deals with the constructive functions performed on Small World by the quotations and allusions to post-structuralism. The quotations in Small World are divided into two categories, those outside the text proper and those inside the text proper. The intertextual reading of the external quotations offers readers crucial contextual information, while the intertextual reading of the internal quotations and allusions helps readers to realize the appealstructures in Small World.Chapter â…£ explores the significance of the intertextual reading through the case study ofSmall World. First, it discusses the significance of the intertextual reading based on some writer-designed referential relations. Second, the significance is demonstrated based on some non-writer-designed referential relations.Finally, the thesis concludes that, Small World is a text with the great potential of constructing rich referential relations and its high artistry and in-depth meaning can be unveiled through the intertextual reading. Moreover, the intertextual reading will contribute to literary study.