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IB English A: Literature: Intertextuality: connecting texts
Genre, conventions and comparison across texts. 4 subtopics, 18 key terms.
In this topic: 3.1 · 3.2 · 3.3 · 3.4
3.1Genre, form and conventions
Key terms
- Genre
- A category such as tragedy, Gothic novel, dystopia, Bildungsroman.
- Conventions
- The expected features of a genre.
- Subversion
- Deliberately breaking expectations.
- Bildungsroman
- A coming-of-age novel.
Readers interpret works through genre expectations; writers use or subvert them.
The full notes, worked example and check questions for this subtopic are in the app.
Exam tip: Name the convention first, then show how the work follows or breaks it, and why that matters.
3.2Allusion, archetype and rewriting
Key terms
- Allusion
- A reference to another text, myth, event or person.
- Archetype
- A recurring character type or pattern (the hero, the trickster, the journey).
- Myth
- A traditional story explaining the world, often reused in literature.
- Rewriting
- A work that retells or responds to an earlier work from a new perspective.
Biblical and classical myths are frequent sources of allusion (the Fall, Odysseus, Prometheus).
The full notes, worked example and check questions for this subtopic are in the app.
Exam tip: Explain what the reader needs to know for an allusion to work, then analyse its effect: don't just identify it.
3.3Comparing literary works
Key terms
- Comparison
- Analysing similarities and differences.
- Point of comparison
- A shared focus: theme, technique, context, form.
- Integrated comparison
- Discussing both works in each paragraph.
Compare methods as well as content: how each work presents an idea through its form.
The full notes, worked example, interactive diagram and check questions for this subtopic are in the app.
Exam tip: Comparing form is a powerful way to show insight in Paper 2.
3.4The seven course concepts in literature
Key terms
- Identity
- How literature shapes and expresses who we are.
- Culture
- How works reflect and shape cultural values.
- Creativity
- How writers innovate with language and form.
- Communication
- How works communicate meaning between writer and reader.
- Perspective
- Whose point of view is presented and how.
- Transformation
- How works change and are changed (rewritings, reader responses).
- Representation
- How literature portrays reality and people.
Concepts connect works across the course and help build arguments for the IO, Paper 2 and HL essay.
The full notes, worked example and check questions for this subtopic are in the app.
Exam tip: Pair one concept with one technique in your thesis to keep it focused.
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