Blog Post 1

So, for me, the intertextuality of Murakami isn't particularly novel on the basis that it is a relatively new convention that the complete 'originality' of literature is valued. In many cultures older writings, it was a sign of learnedness and understanding to reference works by literati who have come before. This was largely true up to the rise of the novel and the middle class. Some theories of the novel posit that the value of the novel itself is in its 'originality' and distinctiveness from other stories. On a certain level this may conflict with what we read of Barthes, but, if we understand the fuller argument and background of Barthes as a structuralist, what he likely means is that the specific arrangement of elements of binaries in the structure of the story. This is where Murakami becomes more interesting and intertextuality becomes far more interesting, because Murakami is certainly drawing on other works, but he uses their elements in a new and novel way so that while the structural elements may remain the greater meaning of the work is different.