{"id":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","oai_identifier":"oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/43696"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/toronto-retro/oai:utoronto.scholaris.ca:1807/43696","repository":{"repo_id":"toronto-retro","name":"University of Toronto","base_url":"https://utoronto.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Concept of Self-reflexive Intertextuality in the Works of Umberto Eco","abstract":"Umberto Eco’s novels are complex texts that work, that can be read and thus interpreted on several levels, including but not limited to the literary, semiotic, linguistic, philosophic, and historical. Notwithstanding the postmodern ideology of the irrelevance of the author (in terms of identity and intentionality) to a text’s interpretation, Eco’s novels offer another level of reading and interpreting that includes the author’s own personal reading experiences. In this way, the author arguably becomes an integral part of the text and is directly involved in the interpretive process. This dissertation is a reconsideration of the figure of the postmodern author whose authority in a text’s interpretation has been challenged by theories of structuralism, post-structuralism, and intertextuality. It undertakes this rethinking by considering the role of the author as reader--and thus as writer in the process of rereading and rewriting. This study also investigates the postmodern theory of intertextuality (i.e., the notion that all texts are [re]iterations of other texts) from the point of view of the author’s own reading experiences (since inevitably, consciously or unconsciously, what the author reads becomes an intertext). Thus, through a combination of the author’s own reading and writing experiences, presented and perceived intertextually and intratextually throughout the text itself, and a series of fictionalized versions of personal experiences, not only is the reader able to gain insight into the author’s motives, intentions and personality, but the author is also able to retain or regain some of the authority over the text he or she creates.","abstract_html":"Umberto Eco’s novels are complex texts that work, that can be read and thus interpreted on several levels, including but not limited to the literary, semiotic, linguistic, philosophic, and historical. Notwithstanding the postmodern ideology of the irrelevance of the author (in terms of identity and intentionality) to a text’s interpretation, Eco’s novels offer another level of reading and interpreting that includes the author’s own personal reading experiences. In this way, the author arguably becomes an integral part of the text and is directly involved in the interpretive process. This dissertation is a reconsideration of the figure of the postmodern author whose authority in a text’s interpretation has been challenged by theories of structuralism, post-structuralism, and intertextuality. It undertakes this rethinking by considering the role of the author as reader--and thus as writer in the process of rereading and rewriting. This study also investigates the postmodern theory of intertextuality (i.e., the notion that all texts are [re]iterations of other texts) from the point of view of the author’s own reading experiences (since inevitably, consciously or unconsciously, what the author reads becomes an intertext). Thus, through a combination of the author’s own reading and writing experiences, presented and perceived intertextually and intratextually throughout the text itself, and a series of fictionalized versions of personal experiences, not only is the reader able to gain insight into the author’s motives, intentions and personality, but the author is also able to retain or regain some of the authority over the text he or she creates.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Primier, Annarita"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Comparative Literature","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Hutcheon, Linda"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-01-14","date_published":"2014-01-14","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:28:07Z","subjects":["Comparative Literature"],"languages":["en_ca"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1807/43696","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Hutcheon, Linda"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Comparative Literature"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Primier, Annarita"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2013-11"]},{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-01-14T15:06:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["NO_RESTRICTION","2014-01-14T15:06:48Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2014-01-14"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Comparative Literature"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_ca"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/43696"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Umberto Eco’s novels are complex texts that work, that can be read and thus interpreted on several levels, including but not limited to the literary, semiotic, linguistic, philosophic, and historical. Notwithstanding the postmodern ideology of the irrelevance of the author (in terms of identity and intentionality) to a text’s interpretation, Eco’s novels offer another level of reading and interpreting that includes the author’s own personal reading experiences. In this way, the author arguably becomes an integral part of the text and is directly involved in the interpretive process. This dissertation is a reconsideration of the figure of the postmodern author whose authority in a text’s interpretation has been challenged by theories of structuralism, post-structuralism, and intertextuality. It undertakes this rethinking by considering the role of the author as reader--and thus as writer in the process of rereading and rewriting. This study also investigates the postmodern theory of intertextuality (i.e., the notion that all texts are [re]iterations of other texts) from the point of view of the author’s own reading experiences (since inevitably, consciously or unconsciously, what the author reads becomes an intertext). Thus, through a combination of the author’s own reading and writing experiences, presented and perceived intertextually and intratextually throughout the text itself, and a series of fictionalized versions of personal experiences, not only is the reader able to gain insight into the author’s motives, intentions and personality, but the author is also able to retain or regain some of the authority over the text he or she creates."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["PhD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Concept of Self-reflexive Intertextuality in the Works of Umberto Eco"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Hutcheon, Linda"],"dc:contributor.department":["Comparative Literature"],"dc:creator":["Primier, Annarita"],"dc:date":["2013-11"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-01-14T15:06:48Z"],"dc:date.available":["NO_RESTRICTION","2014-01-14T15:06:48Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2014-01-14"],"dc:description.abstract":["Umberto Eco’s novels are complex texts that work, that can be read and thus interpreted on several levels, including but not limited to the literary, semiotic, linguistic, philosophic, and historical. Notwithstanding the postmodern ideology of the irrelevance of the author (in terms of identity and intentionality) to a text’s interpretation, Eco’s novels offer another level of reading and interpreting that includes the author’s own personal reading experiences. In this way, the author arguably becomes an integral part of the text and is directly involved in the interpretive process. This dissertation is a reconsideration of the figure of the postmodern author whose authority in a text’s interpretation has been challenged by theories of structuralism, post-structuralism, and intertextuality. It undertakes this rethinking by considering the role of the author as reader--and thus as writer in the process of rereading and rewriting. This study also investigates the postmodern theory of intertextuality (i.e., the notion that all texts are [re]iterations of other texts) from the point of view of the author’s own reading experiences (since inevitably, consciously or unconsciously, what the author reads becomes an intertext). Thus, through a combination of the author’s own reading and writing experiences, presented and perceived intertextually and intratextually throughout the text itself, and a series of fictionalized versions of personal experiences, not only is the reader able to gain insight into the author’s motives, intentions and personality, but the author is also able to retain or regain some of the authority over the text he or she creates."],"dc:description.degree":["PhD"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1807/43696"],"dc:language.iso":["en_ca"],"dc:subject":["Comparative Literature"],"dc:title":["The Concept of Self-reflexive Intertextuality in the Works of Umberto Eco"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:28:07Z"}