This paper presents an approach to teaching Kawabata Yasunari's novel Yukiguni (Snow Country), using the concept of intertextuality as a pedagogical tool.
The term 'intertextuality' is relatively new, derived from the writings of Julia Kristeva. However, the concept and practice of intertextuality are of older origin. Particularly in the East Asian literary tradition, intertextual reading has been a traditional practice of the readers and critics. In a sense, using the concept of intertextuality as a pedagogical tool is a fusion of old and new, Eastern and Western.
There are, however, different ideas of what constitutes intertextuality. I use the term 'intertextuality' here as a way of reading a literary text by examining how older texts became incorporated into it, forming a richer, fuller text. Simultaneously, by becoming a part of the new text, these older texts come alive again, when the reader encounters them in the act of reading.
An intertextual reading of Yukiguni reveals meanings that are often buried just beneath the polished surface of the narrative, especially in reading an English translation, which sometimes omits specific references to older 'texts.' Examples of older 'texts' embedded in Yukiguni include Suzuki Bokushi's (1770-1842) Hokuetsu seppu, the Nô play Matsukaze, Bashô's haiku about Amanogawa, and the Tanabata legend. The literary allusions in Yukiguni, broadly regarded as instances of intertextuality, may be aligned in two categories: those concerning travel, and those about weaving. The culminating image of Amanogawa combines these two strands of earlier texts into a grand finale.
Examining a literary text intertextually gives the reader a glimpse of the way the writer constructed his own 'fabric' of the text, carefully using selected existing texts as connecting devices, or 'threads,' that highlight the recurrent themes. Thus, reading Yukiguni intertextually opens up additional dimensions of the work and enriches the reading experience.