Dance, Music and YouTube: Intermediality in I’m Trying to Reach You

Document Type : Research Papers/Extracts from dissertations

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MA candidate, Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, Helwan University

Abstract

The novel as a text-based form is negotiated through the works of art that create a cross-bordered space between different media of representation. The present paper discusses the representation of intermediality in Barbara Browning’s novel I’m Trying to Reach You (2012). It argues that, the contemporary novels that present hybrid texts and blur the visual and audible media problematize the novel as a visually mediated printed text. The represented medialities under scrutiny are dance, music, and YouTube videos. The paper discusses each medium and its influence on the narrative in light of Werner Wolf’s typologies of intermediality, with specific reliance on the two variants of intermediality: Intermedial Reference and Plurimediality. Intermediality is apparent in the novel through the reference to both dance and music. While Plurimediality is present through embedding YouTube videos inside the narrative. The paper reveals how the use of these three medialities does affect the theme and structure of the novel and its impact on the perception of the novel as a literary work of art. The study intends to participate in the field of intermedial studies in literature by discussing the influence of intermediality and breaking borders between different media on the presentation, appreciation, and apprehension of the novel.

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