Intertextuality In Jeanette Winterson’s Three Novels

Intertextuality, as a modern criticism theory, ever since Julia Kristeva coined it in the1960s, has undergone several periods of development with the help of different scholars.Whatever changes may take place, the core of the term remains constant. Most of thescholars, such as Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes, Gérard Genette and so on, hold that allthe texts belong to a system of signs, which are open rather than closed. Therefore, theinterpretation of a text is no longer limited to one single text and other texts, sources ormaterials can be used as reference. In this way, the authority of the author is challengedand readers are offered more originality to appreciate the text within the network ofintertextuality based on their knowledge background. Research works applying the theoryof intertextulaity are countless. At the same time, many writers choose to put the theoryinto practice to compose their literary works.Jeanette Winterson is renowned for her experimental writing techniques. Shefrequently puts intertextuality into practice in composing her works. This thesis aims atanalyzing Winterson’s use of intertextuality in her three novels Oranges Are Not the OnlyFruit (1985), The PowerBook (2000) and Lighthousekeeping (2004). Throughintertextulaity, on the one hand, Winterson forms and develops her own composition style;more importantly, she appropriates well-established texts for her own use to break thepatriarchal order, to question the concept of a normal sexuality and advocate loving againstthe odds, and to highlight the multiplicity of the world.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One includes a brief introduction toJeanette Winterson and her literary career, literature review of the three texts and anoverview of the evolution of the theory of intertextuality. Chapter Two deals withWinterson’s intertextual use of the Bible,“Beauty and the Beast”,“The Red Riding Hood”and Charlotte Bront’s Jane Eyre in Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. Chapter Threediscusses three major intertexts in The PowerBook, respectively Sir Thomas Malory’s LeMorte d’Arthur, Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Jeanette Winterson’s own Written on theBody. Chapter Four makes analysis of the three major intertexts in Lighthousekeeping,which are Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Robert Louis Stevenson’s TheStrange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. Chapter Five is the Conclusion.