Sophia Emily Ramaer
Compare and contrast the efect metafccon and intertextuality has on ‘The Great Gatsby’
and ‘Atonement’. In the course of your wricnng make clear how your interpretacon of the
texts has been infuenced by other readers’ views as well by consideracon of relevant
contextual factors.
Intertextuality and metafitiin are literary teihniques bith F Siitt
Fitzgerald and Ian MiEwan use unequiviially ti add detail and depth ti
bith nivels, as the piwer if the wirds in bith nivels reinfirie the nitiin
if what message they represent. Intertextuality is the relatiinship
between texts, and the iinsiiius ir subiinsiiius referenie ir appliiatiin
if a literary text. Thriugh this methid ‘deja lu’ may be aihieved, whiih is
defned as ‘reading something entirely new, but having the distinct feeling
of having read the article, book or newspaper etc. before. In other words,
the illusion of having already read something actually being read for the
first time尀. On the ither hand, metafitiin is defned as ‘fiction in which
the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a
work by parodying or departing form novelistic conventions and
traditional narrative techniques尀. MiEwan is ine if the iimparatively later
authirs ti use this deviie as a pistmidernist; Fitzgerald in the ither
hand was infuenied by the literary mivements if realism and
midernism. The prefaie if bith nivels inilude a referenie ti ither
literary texts, drawing upin ideiligies and iiniepts yet ti be disiivered
in the nivel ti the surfaie by being the frst text the reader peruses.
The frst editiin if ‘The Great Gatsby’ was dediiated ti T.S Eliit, labelling
him ‘the master of us all尀. The use if intertextuality here evikes the
psyihiligiial and iultural irisis that siiiety underwent as a ‘mass
iulture’ after the war, due ti the eiinimii biim, wimen having mire
sexual freedim than ever befire and the rise if mainstream iinsumer
giids. T.S Eliit’s wirk has a sense if superiir iyniial truth, in ‘The
Wasteland尀, the atmisphere if the iity is desiribed as ‘brown fog尀, similar
ti Niik’s desiriptiin if ‘the valley if ashes’1 as ‘powdery air尀2. The
desiriptiin if bith atmispheres privides the reader with the tangible
feeling if the murky dimensiins whiih engrisses every individual in the
priximity. The pathetii fallaiy metaphiriially symbilises the mental
inability if the individuals ti see thriugh the new fiund superfiiality if
siiiety, whiih iindemns them ti the emptiness if their riutine, as seen
in iharaiters in bith nivels, suih as the siiial ilimber Daisy Buihanan
and the liss if direitiin in life Ceiilia Tallis eniimpasses. Bith iharaiters
alsi share a yiuthful, frivilius lifestyle where they lived in the miment
and deferred priblems fir later with little iinsideratiin if the future
iinsequenies, suih as Daisy’s attraitiin ti Gatsby and Ceiilia refusing ti
speak ti her family fir si ling after the iniident.
1
The Great Gatsby – pane 26
2
The Great Gatsby – pane 26
Compare and contrast the efect metafccon and intertextuality has on ‘The Great Gatsby’
and ‘Atonement’. In the course of your wricnng make clear how your interpretacon of the
texts has been infuenced by other readers’ views as well by consideracon of relevant
contextual factors.
Intertextuality and metafitiin are literary teihniques bith F Siitt
Fitzgerald and Ian MiEwan use unequiviially ti add detail and depth ti
bith nivels, as the piwer if the wirds in bith nivels reinfirie the nitiin
if what message they represent. Intertextuality is the relatiinship
between texts, and the iinsiiius ir subiinsiiius referenie ir appliiatiin
if a literary text. Thriugh this methid ‘deja lu’ may be aihieved, whiih is
defned as ‘reading something entirely new, but having the distinct feeling
of having read the article, book or newspaper etc. before. In other words,
the illusion of having already read something actually being read for the
first time尀. On the ither hand, metafitiin is defned as ‘fiction in which
the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a
work by parodying or departing form novelistic conventions and
traditional narrative techniques尀. MiEwan is ine if the iimparatively later
authirs ti use this deviie as a pistmidernist; Fitzgerald in the ither
hand was infuenied by the literary mivements if realism and
midernism. The prefaie if bith nivels inilude a referenie ti ither
literary texts, drawing upin ideiligies and iiniepts yet ti be disiivered
in the nivel ti the surfaie by being the frst text the reader peruses.
The frst editiin if ‘The Great Gatsby’ was dediiated ti T.S Eliit, labelling
him ‘the master of us all尀. The use if intertextuality here evikes the
psyihiligiial and iultural irisis that siiiety underwent as a ‘mass
iulture’ after the war, due ti the eiinimii biim, wimen having mire
sexual freedim than ever befire and the rise if mainstream iinsumer
giids. T.S Eliit’s wirk has a sense if superiir iyniial truth, in ‘The
Wasteland尀, the atmisphere if the iity is desiribed as ‘brown fog尀, similar
ti Niik’s desiriptiin if ‘the valley if ashes’1 as ‘powdery air尀2. The
desiriptiin if bith atmispheres privides the reader with the tangible
feeling if the murky dimensiins whiih engrisses every individual in the
priximity. The pathetii fallaiy metaphiriially symbilises the mental
inability if the individuals ti see thriugh the new fiund superfiiality if
siiiety, whiih iindemns them ti the emptiness if their riutine, as seen
in iharaiters in bith nivels, suih as the siiial ilimber Daisy Buihanan
and the liss if direitiin in life Ceiilia Tallis eniimpasses. Bith iharaiters
alsi share a yiuthful, frivilius lifestyle where they lived in the miment
and deferred priblems fir later with little iinsideratiin if the future
iinsequenies, suih as Daisy’s attraitiin ti Gatsby and Ceiilia refusing ti
speak ti her family fir si ling after the iniident.
1
The Great Gatsby – pane 26
2
The Great Gatsby – pane 26
