Text and palimpsest : hypertextuality in the later novels of Juan Marse

Abstract

Juan Marse is generally acknowledged to be one of Spain's leading writers, his work having achieved both critical acclaim and popular success. Despite this author's extensive use of references and allusion to, and quotations from, others' texts, previous research on Marse's novels has largely ignored the important role played by intertextuality in his work. This thesis explores Marse's use of others' texts in five of his later novels, viz. Ultimas tardes con Teresa (1965), La oscura historia de in prima Montse (1970), Si to diesen que cai (1973), La muchacha de las bragas de oro (1978) and Un dia volvere (1982). A general overview of theories of intertextuality is followed by a detailed discussion of Gerard Genette's theory of hypertextuality, as discussed in his work Palimpsestes: La litterature au second degre (1982). It is his theoretical model and terminology, together with insights from Linda Hutcheon's book, A Theory of Parody: The Teachings of Twentieth-Century Art Forms (1985), which inform the detailed analysis of Marse's novels which makes up the greater part of this thesis. This analysis focusses on Marse's extensive hypertextual use not only of literary texts but also of films, pictures, comic books and song lyrics. It also examines the ways in which Marse signals the presence of these borrowed texts to his readers and considers the connections in his work between metafiction and hypertextuality. It is argued in conclusion that hypertextual analysis of Marsd's later novels reveals hidden dimensions in the author's work not previously commented on in other critical studies of Marse's fiction.