Chapter 5: Now, Where Have I Seen Her Before?

Intertextuality is the relationship between texts, primarily literary ones.  Poems grow out of poems, books grow out of books.  Authors are inspired by other authors.  There tends to be quite a bit of philosophy references within literature.  An example would be the reference to Zeno's paradox in The Fault in Our Stars.  The reader would have had to read over the philosophical reference numerous times to fully grasp it's meaning, while having studied it before, the reference was within reach rather than a mess of words.  Now, let's open the field to an entirely different yet basic concept.  The concept of magic.  As a child, there is never a moment in which a clear definition is given.  It is just common knowledge that the fairy godmother has magic and it is not to be questioned or speculated.  There are numerous books that touch on the idea of magic, though it has never been given a clear cut defintion.  In the Harry Potter series, magic drips off the pages.  Broomsticks that fly are the norm rather than unreachable.  It is taught at a young age that magic is endless rather than impossible, henceforth making it easier to read literary works that contain magic, because the idea has already been ironed into our brains.  Another example is the fact that most stories are written based off of history.  Some books are written about war and are still called fiction although they seem anything but.  Through knowing about the effects of PTSD, one can carefully watch the character progression and analyze for themselves if it is indeed fact or fiction.