Lesson

Hypertext and Intertext

4
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
 Distinguish hypertext from intertext/intertextuality through concrete
examples; and
 Improve one’s reading experience through navigation of information in a
non- linear manner and interaction with text’s allusion and other meanings.
1. Hypertext

 Typically, a text is written in a linear fashion. This linear progression only

enables the reader to read the material the way the author designed it from the
beginning to end. HYPERTEXTUALITY allows readers to study a text in a
different manner.
 In a hypertext, pieces of information are connected semantically. There is an
undefined beginning, middle and end.
 Hypertext creates a network of materials linked because of various connections
they share. This encourages and, at times, requires readers to go through the
material at their pace.
Hypertext, first coined by Ted Nelson, refers to a non- sequential or non-linear
text that gives you, the reader, the flexibility to choose the information that interests you
the most. Information is linked which may be in a form of text, graphic symbols, figures,
tables, video clips and sounds maximizing the reader’s experience.

This is accomplished by creating “links” between information. These links are

provided so that the readers may “jump” to further information about a specific topic
being discussed (which may have more links, leading each reader off into a different
direction).
Take a look at this example:
2. Intertext/Intertextuality

 When reading, the readers try to make meaning of the material that they are
absorbing through many different processes. Unintentionally, sometimes,
the patterns in the materials read are apparent in another text. Theorists
term this as intertextuality.
 Intertextuality, is also the modelling of a text’s meaning by another text.
 It is the interconnectedness of the texts which is applicable to novels,
newspaper articles, films, songs, paintings, works, philosophy and etc.

Intertext is first coined by Julia Kristeva in 1996, intertextuality means ‘the

reference to or application of a literary, media, or social “text” within another literary,
media, or social “text” (Lemaster, 2012).

In the course of reading and writing, readers and writers are always influenced by
previous knowledge found in other texts which allow them to enrich their understanding,
influence their analysis of the passages/texts or other medium and encourage them to
identify the relationships and common themes and topics.

In literature, intertextuality is when a book refers to second book by title scene,

character, or storyline or when a book refers to a social “text” such as a media, social,
or cultural story.

Example of intertextuality in Movies:

 Snow White and the Huntsman (2012) is one of the adaptation of
Disney’s Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

Example of intertextuality in Songs/Music Video:

 Taylor’s Swift’s Love Story and William Shakespeare’s Rome and
Juliet.