Intertextuality and Hypertextuality in Anita Desai's Novels

IQR Journal of Literature and Linguistics

Volume 1, Issue 1, Sept 2025

Intertextuality and Hypertextuality in Anita Desai's Novels

P. Srinivas 

Abstract 

Anita Desai's novels are a perfect mix of hypertextual and intertextual dimensions. Her novels are situated at the intersection of cultural identity, cultural inheritance, and literary traditions. This paper explores her narratives with more focus on the multilayered textual fabric that embodies cultural and temporal boundaries. It seeks to identify, and analyze echoes of history, mythology, allusions under the lens of intertextuality. resonance. Hypertextuality is more evident in Desai's experimentations, fragment structures with open-ended plots. The study seeks to understand how intertextuality and hypertextuality intermix and transcends the boundaries of literary conventions, and linear narratives.  The paper ultimately argues that intertextuality and hypertextuality not only enrich Desai’s fictional universe but also situate her within a broader global postmodern discourse of literary interconnectedness.

Keywords

Intertextuality, Hypertextuality, Narrative Strategies, Literary Tools

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References

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