On Intertextuality In Atwood's The Blind Assassin

Margaret Atwood(1939-)is renowned for her prolificacy and experimental writing techniques.The Blind Assassin(2000)is an intricately designed literary puzzle in which Atwood skillfully employs intertextual strategy,creating a fantastic fictional world,meanwhile demonstrating some major themes as sacrifice,betrayal, etc.The thesis attempts to manifest multi-referential relations between The Blind Assassin and some pre-texts in light of intertextuality,an important textual strategy in postmodern context.Intertextuality is usually expressed through different techniques. In this thesis,the author analyzes the intertextual relations between The Blind Assassin and some pre-texts mainly through four techniques of intertextuality:citation and allusion(the relation of co-presence),pastiche and parody(the relation of derivation),revealing the characteristics of the novel as a postmodern text.The intertextual reading of The Blind Assassin aims at revealing its high artistry and in-depth meaning,thus providing a fresh appreciation of the novel.Complicated and intriguing as it is,The Blind Assassin is a fantastic novel thickly encased in a considerable number of referential relations.Through intertextuality, Atwood inherits and subverts the literary past,revealing the postmodern paradox:the co-presence of complicity and critique.