Loving Stories within Stories

Claire the Librarian by Blackbird Art in AJ Hackworth's Library of the Unwritten.

After an unplanned visit to the Cardiac Care Unit, I'm under strict orders not to stress and/or work, for now.... but of course, I can muse, and an idea that grabbed me is that of intertextuality. I've written about it before, so this is basically a repost. See? I am NOT stressing or working, but I did want to share. After all, it's my day to post at the @supernaturalunderground, you know, where books make the heart beat faster? (Haha!)

But seriously, Intertextuality is when a fictional character becomes engaged in a story within the fictional book. A simple example is Sookie Stackhouse who always picks up a romance novel when she's not deep in a vampire/were/fae drama. Roald Dahl's Matilda reads widely and continuously, as do all the main characters in The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. 

In a more complex example, we meet Claire the Librarian in AJ Hackworth's Hell's Library Series where she becomes more than just a little engaged with some of the unwritten books in her charge. I highly recommend this series!

Roald Dahl's Matilda and her love of literature.

In many cases of intertextuality, the reader is better understood or defined by their books. For example, Tyrion Lannister sets himself apart by being an avid reader in a world of swords and betrayals, dragons and oncoming winter.

“The mind needs books like the sword needs a whetstone.” (Tyrion Lannister) in A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin

And let's not forget Lisa Simpson. She has surprisingly eclectic tastes for a cartoon character. I've seen her reading A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky and the entire Harry Potter Series to name a few.

In this way, a character's literary choices can show us something about who they are, what they love and maybe even what they desire.

Look at the fictional character Catherine Morland in Jane Austen's novel, Northanger Abbey. What does her obsession with Gothic novels, and The Mysteries of Udolpho, a real-world novel by Ann Radcliffe, add to the plot and world-building?

The Mysteries of Udolho by Ann Radcliffe first published in 1794.

One of my favourite speculative fiction novels of all times, Angel of Ruin (also known as Fallen Angel) by Kim Wilkins, tells of a contemporary journalist with not enough luck and a bit too much curiosity. As stories unfold within stories, the origins of one of the most famous poems ever written, John Milton's Paradise Lost, is re-visioned. In this case, the intertextuality becomes so intricate that there is no plot without it.

"Milton's Paradise Lost" by John Milton and illustrated by Gustave Dore Henry Altemus, Philadelphia - ca 1885, first thus edition (first Altemus Dore edition)

From cartoons to literary fiction, intertextuality has a role. Of course, when we read, we don't think of it that way, being too lost in the other worlds. At least, that's the goal.

Do you have a favorite fictional character who reads? A favorite story within a story? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

xxKim

***

Kim Falconer, currently writing as A K Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows out December 2022.

Kim can be found on  AKWilder Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site