Intertextuality and The Submerged Portrayal of Goodwill in Nigerian Political Discourse (Published)
Political discourse can be understood as the language and communication strategies used by politicians, political parties, government, and media to articulate their perspectives, promote their interests and shape public opinion. In achieving these, political actors leverage the foregrounded knowledge of their audience by alluding to various existing texts and themes that frame their speeches in a way that presents them in a good light to their audience. This concept, known as intertextuality, arms the textual and thematic repertoire of various political actors and provides the basis for an ideological connection between politicians and the masses. This study employs Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics to scrutinize the intertextual dimensions in Peter Obi’s political discourse, focusing on linguistic choices at the levels of metafunction (ideational, interpersonal and textual), lexicogrammar, register genre, and context of the situation. Gathering data from online newspaper publications, Facebook and Twitter posts, as well as campaign and conference speeches, the research reveals how Obi strategically deploys intertextual references to convey goodwill and position himself as a transformative figure—a “Messiah” addressing Nigeria’s multifaceted challenges. The analysis underscores Obi’s adeptness in tailoring linguistic choices to specific contexts and audiences, portraying him as intimately connected to the concerns of the masses. Significantly contributing to a sparse literature on the intertextual analysis of Obi’s speeches, this research sheds light on the intricate dynamics of Nigerian political discourse, offering valuable insights into the strategic use of language in shaping political identity and fostering connections with the public.
Keywords: Discourse, Intertextuality, Political, goodwill, submerged
Intertextuality between T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” And Mahmoud Darwish’s “The Land’s Poem” (Published)
This paper aims at investigating the intertextuality between T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” and Mahmoud Darwish’s “The Land’s Poem”. The previous literature in the field yields a lack of employing the focal term in this article, intertextuality, in comparing the impact of Eliot on Darwish. Moreover, the earlier attempts have focused on other poems by the two writers. Besides, this article is limited to the employment of allusion as a type of intertextuality. It is found out that Darwish has been successful in employing intertextual allusions from Eliot’s Land into his Land retaining his own theme and style in his prosperous poem. The most highlighted intertextual allusions in Eliot’s impact on Darwish are the cultural, religious, and the literary, and all observe the contextual differences.
Citation: Tafla Omar Al-sowail, Wiam Obaid Ghasan, and Rasha Saeed Badurais (2022) Intertextuality between T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” And Mahmoud Darwish’s “The Land’s Poem”, European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies, Vol.10, No.1, pp.31-41
Keywords: Darwish, Eliot, Intertextuality, “The Land's Poem”, “The Waste Land”
Intertextuality As A Vital Aspect Of Literary Creativity: A Study of Chimamanda’s Purple Hibiscus (Published)
Some critical theories have evolved over the years following Plato’s inauguration of enquiries into the nature and value of literature. Some of them are mimesis, pragmatism, autobiography, and so on. Each theory covers a certain province in the universe of literary creativity and criticism. Mimetic theory for instance is concerned with literature as imitation; and pragmatic theory seeks to ascertain the effect of literature on individuals and society. Autobiographical theory dwells on the creative writer and their inspiration; and Reader Response theory describes the position of the reader in the creative process; while formalism designates and treats the text as an autonomous entity. One aspect of literary creativity and criticism, intertextuality, has however not been given so much attention despite its enormous presence in the arena of modern literary practicum. Foregrounded by German Julia Kristeva as a vital aspect of literary creativity, intertextuality designates a literary text as a field for the display of influences by some other texts written before it. This study undertakes a critical validation of Kristeva’s postulation with an intertextual survey of the world of Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus. It was discovered that Purple Hibiscus shows evidences of her having read innumerable literary texts prior to her writing it, so that the novel demonstrates identifiable inter-textual relationship with a lot of other literary works written before it.
Keywords: Chimamanda Adichie, Chinua Achebe, Intertextuality, Julia Kristeva, Purple Hibiscus
INTERTEXTUALITY- FOREIGN INFLUENCE ON THE ARABIC POETIC DRAMA (Published)
This study seeks to examine the relationship between Aḥmad Shawqī’s The Death of Cleopatra (Shawqī 1929), one of the early Arabic poetic plays, and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra (1607). The study provides a rationale as to the reasons behind assuming an existence of influences over Shawqī as he set out to write this play, proving all along Shawqī’s incontrovertible prior knowledge of Shakespeare’s Tragedies, particularly Antony and Cleopatra. The study ventures beyond the mere scrutiny of a literary work- together with the nonliterary details derived from history, for example- to an evaluation of Shawqī’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. The study reveals that Shawqī was unquestionably reproducing Antony and Cleopatra when he wrote his play. This reproduction figures in many forms: borrowing, paraphrasing, stilisierung simulation, etc. Apart from these strategies of imitation, the study, however, sheds light on the poetic elements where Shawqī showcases his originality as a playwright who reframes what he adapts from Shakespeare and Plutarch (See Plutarch 1950, pp. 441-488) to be in line with his own literary thought and ideological philosophies.
Keywords: Cleopatra, Intertextuality, Literary Influence, Shakespeare, Shawqī