Fish in dark water : intertextuality and interpretation in the work of Diana Wynne Jones

Children's fantasy author, Diana Wynne Jones, is known for the complex use of intertextuality in her work. This thesis investigates the question of what intertextuality does in her work as a whole. It demonstrates that Jones uses intertextual references figuratively throughout her work to open windows of interpretation for an alert reader that may enhance and illuminate her themes. Intertextuality can take many forms, and Jones employs everything from direct allusion through parody and dialogism and Barthes' 'circular memory of reading'. Jones's allusions are, first of all, subversive, and almost always not simply retellings but demonstrations that traditional story and genre do not necessarily legislate the outcome. Secondly, the cognitive space in which intertextual meaning may be found echoes a Romantic double vision in which both the real and the fantastic may overlap, and which emphasizes the importance of the creative imagination. Intertextual references can be both an analogue for the use of the imagination and a way to develop individual imaginative power through the reading experience. The interpretive world that is opened with the recognition of an intertextual key creates an experience for readers that can be aligned with enchantment and the sublime. Negotiating Jones's enchanted world gives power to readers.