Part I: EXTRA-DIEGETIC PRESSURE
A story is never written in a vaccuum, it needs to have a context. No matter the genius and the originality of the author, a text is always to some extent a palimpsest of texts written before, in so far as it necessarily interacts with them—whatever the kind of inter-textuality involved, be it tribute or subversion; or both. Likewise, a text may be an independent creation, but it is also a product of its socio-historical context. All this should not and will not be denied. However a story never exists anywhere but in the reader’s mind, therefore the role of inter-textuality and the socio-historical context will only be studied in so far as they relate to the implied reader’s encyclopedia.
a. Of Fairies and Spaceships: Intertextuality
(Not So) Passive Princesses and (Not So) Shining Armour
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...
(Star) Wars and Peace
Of Violence and Non-Violence
Sexual Abstinence