Intertextuality Is The Library Of The Mind

       Flowers in the Bon Bon Garden, Lawrence, Kansas

By Michael Hooper

Good prose is colorful, alive and meaningful. The use of intertextuality provides layers of meaning and connections in literature and art.

I've been reading two wonderful books about Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, two writers who used intertextuality in their works. The author of these two books is Robert D. Richardson Jr.

Intertextuality is the relationship between texts, especially literary ones. It can be said that every text is a product of intertextuality. An example of intertextuality is when a writer takes an old storyline like Homer's Odyssey and creates a new story with references and metaphors to the old story. 

It takes a tremendous memory and a good reader to recall on the fly useful references, allusions, symbols and lyrics from other authors and poets. I like to think of intertextuality as the Library of the Mind. It is all of these works that I've read over the years buried in my memory and subconscious. Arlen Lazaroff spoke in lyrics with other poets and artists. In the same thought he might quote Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by the Beatles and White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane. Then Arlen would create new poems on the fly, using the texts of these hypnotic psychedelic songs. 

Intertextuality is hyper-consciousness, it's the state of being connected to multiple texts at the same time. It's rummaging through the library of your mind rather than going to Google to come up with answers and responses. Intertextuality lives. Tap this resource and you will see increased use of the right word.

So you master this artful literary technique but what do you use it for? To educate, to persuade, to be bombastic, to be evil, dictatorial? Or do you try to be an entertainer? The comedian. I think laughter is probably the most convenient way to persuade people because it's easy for the masses to digest. 

Donald Trump knows that fact. He recently called the Federal Reserve members crazy for raising interest rates. He was upset that the stock market fell 5%. Yet members of the Federal Reserve are not really crazy. He's just trying to get them to reverse course and stop raising interest rates. Raising interest rates gives value to the dollar and incentivizes people to save. But rising rates can drag down the stock market. And Donald Trump does not want to see the stock market decline during his term, nor the wealthy poorer at the end of his term.

Donald Trump knows how to capture an audience. Using hyperbole to make a point is necessary in a society with a short attention span. Too many people want to be fed information rather than research it out for themselves. I'm reminded of the song by George Harrison, Think for Yourself. I know some young people who grew up in the digital age and never learned how to read a physical map, they depend on GPS to get them where they want to go. That's fine until your phone dies.

The dead brain without Google will wander aimlessly, and be easily persuaded. The brain with a library of texts, guides and proverbs will digest, analyze and judge a matter with wisdom.

I think this word intertextuality can also be applied to other things in our lives and I'm thinking about artwork. Art without a story is meaningless. Blankness, emptiness and nihilism are conditions of a mind controlled by clickbait on the Internet.

Art with a story line is powerful. Think of The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch. I saw this painting in Madrid. it has countless story lines going through it. The three-segment painting begins with the birth of life in the first segment; the middle segment is full of decadence, and the third segment is full of death and dying. There are symbols of biblical narratives. The middle section is full of orgies. I'm in awe of this painting, I stood there for hours looking at all these people.

The best art reminds me of people in their joys, sufferings, cries, triumphs and defeat. With that in mind my wife and I recently went through a huge transformation of artwork in our house. We took down some paintings that have lost their luster and started over with a blank slate and recreated something that has intertextual visual power for us, each piece has layers of meaning to us, many of these pieces are  family members, old portraits, my dad with his dog, my mother as a Young Beauty. My father-in-law at Ponto Lake.  My mother-in-law with her three daughters. My daughter, my son, my beloved.

There's a drawing of John Lennon, who believed we should give peace a chance. And there's the picture of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns, agony in his face, yet looking up hopeful. There's the philosopher by artist Mary Huntoon, he looks sensitive and sad.

It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by a sad countenance the heart is made better. So says the author of Ecclesiastics. 

I have a lot of art by artists I know personally, there's layers of meaning in their art, I was a part of their lives, we had some great conversations, wonderful memories.

We moved three times in three years before we moved to Topeka. When we found our house here, I said I'm staying here till I die, I'm not moving again. The airport's only an hour away, if I want to escape this place. But I found that living is like a tree. The deeper our roots the broader our span. I dug deep where I am and searched out thinking people, lovely people, a vast array of colors, from people all over the world living here in my very neighborhood.

Where once there was a law to prevent black people from living here on my street (before the Civil Rights movement), there is now multiple black people and Native Americans, Gay and Jewish and Puerto Rican all living on my street. What an honor and a privilege to be around such an Eclectic group. They add layers of intertextuality to my life, by sharing and listening to them, I am connecting with them, I am richer for it. Their stories enlarge my universe. 

I recently saw my neighbors to the north of me at a local coffee shop. They shared their story of a recent journey through Minnesota, Wyoming, Montana and Yellowstone. I told them about a trip to California. Emerson went on a trip to California by train near the end of his life, upon seeing it, he said, a young person would never leave. Which gets me back to my point. This labyrinth of beautiful people in my neighborhood inspire me.

There is a majestic nature here. Amplified by my participation in two book clubs, my blog, and the newspaper The Oakland Express, Blackbird Coffee Shop, The Dutch Goose, The Bourgeois Pig. We have our own literary salon, with these hyper conscious people. We have rational discourse of equal, similar and opposite ideas. There is the NOTO Arts District in Topeka and the Cider Gallery in Lawrence. There are multiple studios and working artists sharing a common thing, a passion for creativity.  

The secret to useful intertextualization is to read deeply and connect the knowledge to your real life, in your literature, your communications, your speeches, your artworks, your poetry.

Use metaphors, myths and stories to amplify your message.

Intertextuality takes work. But I think it's rewarding. Connecting to multiple layers of literature is one reason Emerson's work is so timeless. It is the literature of achievement and activism. It is transformative. Transcendental.

We can be timeless, too. We can create art works that will be hung on museums 100 years from now. We can write works that will be read 100 years from now. Hopefully these works reflect something better than our folly. I hope that some day our literature and art reflect our ability to create intelligent operating systems, that improve all peoples, the Earth and the universe. Perhaps some day these intelligent operating systems will connect with life on other planets in the universe. Perhaps we already are connecting with alien life now but don't even know it.

Poet November Evelyn Wilde contributed ideas for this essay.