ABSTRACT
Intertextuality has its origins both in the structuralism of Saussure and the dialogic approach of Bakhtin. Nevertheless, the dialectical struggle between language as a universal form, and one that exists as a specific set of utterances, preoccupied artists long before Saussure's division of the two in his Course in General Linguistics. Robert Worby once described Michael Nyman's music as a 'classic example of intertextuality, of meaning being generated through an interconnecting weave rather than a straight linear thread'. Defining intertextuality as 'a model for analysing compositions as relational events rather than as closed and static entities', Korsyn sets out to apply Harold Bloom's 'anxiety of influence' to musical works. Tangos feature in various contexts, but Nyman's extensive use of the waltz is one notable example of generic intertextuality, as seen in its inclusion as the ninth element in his nine-fold inventory.
