A New Interpretation Of Intertextuality In Small World

As a prolific novelist and a remarkable literary critic, David Lodge enjoys worldwide renown. Small World, the most famous one of his "campus trilogy", is his masterpiece. The novel takes Persse McGarrigle’s endless pursuit for Angelica as the emblem, vividly depicting the life and academic activities of the modern scholars and exposing the degenerate situation in the academic circle.Various writing techniques are used in Small World, of which intertextuality is the most important one. Considering Small World’s numerous referential relationships with other literary works and the theoretical, social and cultural texts, plus the study on the employments of intertextuality in the novel is far from complete, the thesis attempts to reread this great novel intertextually and explore the functions of these intertexts.The thesis analyzes the novel from two aspects of intertextuality:the broad-sensed and the narrow-sensed intertextuality. The analysis of the former aspect is carried out from the intertextual relationships between Small World and David Lodge’s literary theories, the social problems and the cultural texts. In this part, three of Lodge’s literary theories are explored, two serious social problems are exposed and three cultural phenomena are discussed, which show Lodge’s practice of his own literary theories and his serious concern about the social, cultural situation. And the analysis of the narrow-sensed intertextuality in Small World is finished by explaining the applications of three devices of intertextual writing:parody, quotation and allusion. Parody of names portrays different characters and mockery of different genres increases the fun of reading; quotations from classic works are of great help to understand the novel, and at the same time they enrich the novel; the allusions reveal the hidden intentions of Lodge.Based on the above analysis, the thesis comes to the conclusion that readers who grasp the referential relationships will discover that Small World is not just a comic work that depicts the chaotic life of the modern academics. It also shows serious concerns about the decaying academia, disillusion of true love in the modern world and the hope of salvation, which makes Small World a serious and humanistic literary work in the contemporary society. In a word, the intertextual reading provides multidimensional perspectives for readers to appreciate the novel better.