Narration-Parody-Intertextuality: Rewriting the Past in Charles Palliser's The Quincunx

The aim of this paper is to analyse Charles Palliser' s first novel -The Quincunx (1989)- in the light of the central role played by intertextuality in postmodernist literature in general and in contemporary British metafiction, in particular. The Quincunx has all the ingredients of the tradit...

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Main Author: María Jesús Martínez Alfaro
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad de Zaragoza 1997-12-01
Series:Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies
Online Access:https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/11293
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author María Jesús Martínez Alfaro
author_facet María Jesús Martínez Alfaro
author_sort María Jesús Martínez Alfaro
collection DOAJ
description The aim of this paper is to analyse Charles Palliser' s first novel -The Quincunx (1989)- in the light of the central role played by intertextuality in postmodernist literature in general and in contemporary British metafiction, in particular. The Quincunx has all the ingredients of the traditional realist novel. However, despite all the echoes and reverberations from a wide range of nineteenth-century works with which the reader is free to trace relations, The Quincunx does not constitute an innocent imitation but, rather, a parodic rewriting of its Victorian (mainly Dickensian) intertexts. One particular aspect of the novel-the use and patterning of nmrntive voices-has been analysed in detail as a means to illusu·ating the way in which parody can be turned into a wonderful vehicle to express the concerns of the present through the literature of the past.
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series Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies
spelling doaj-art-def8e3e4d1664ef19ed58e7da4772e4f2025-08-20T01:56:56ZengUniversidad de ZaragozaMiscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies1137-63682386-48341997-12-011810.26754/ojs_misc/mj.199711293Narration-Parody-Intertextuality: Rewriting the Past in Charles Palliser's The QuincunxMaría Jesús Martínez Alfaro0Universidad de Zaragoza The aim of this paper is to analyse Charles Palliser' s first novel -The Quincunx (1989)- in the light of the central role played by intertextuality in postmodernist literature in general and in contemporary British metafiction, in particular. The Quincunx has all the ingredients of the traditional realist novel. However, despite all the echoes and reverberations from a wide range of nineteenth-century works with which the reader is free to trace relations, The Quincunx does not constitute an innocent imitation but, rather, a parodic rewriting of its Victorian (mainly Dickensian) intertexts. One particular aspect of the novel-the use and patterning of nmrntive voices-has been analysed in detail as a means to illusu·ating the way in which parody can be turned into a wonderful vehicle to express the concerns of the present through the literature of the past. https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/11293
spellingShingle María Jesús Martínez Alfaro
Narration-Parody-Intertextuality: Rewriting the Past in Charles Palliser's The Quincunx
Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies
title Narration-Parody-Intertextuality: Rewriting the Past in Charles Palliser's The Quincunx
title_full Narration-Parody-Intertextuality: Rewriting the Past in Charles Palliser's The Quincunx
title_fullStr Narration-Parody-Intertextuality: Rewriting the Past in Charles Palliser's The Quincunx
title_full_unstemmed Narration-Parody-Intertextuality: Rewriting the Past in Charles Palliser's The Quincunx
title_short Narration-Parody-Intertextuality: Rewriting the Past in Charles Palliser's The Quincunx
title_sort narration parody intertextuality rewriting the past in charles palliser s the quincunx
url https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/11293
work_keys_str_mv AT mariajesusmartinezalfaro narrationparodyintertextualityrewritingthepastincharlespallisersthequincunx