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The Possibility of Trans-Medium and Trans-Boundary: Remapping Intertextuality Across Modernist Visual Arts and Anglophone Fiction
Abstract
For a long time, the relationship between literature and visual arts, which respectively use textual and visual symbols as their mediums, has been a subject of academic attention and reflection. The Western modernist period witnessed an exceptionally close interaction between language and image. Represented by Anglophone modernist fiction, both literature and visual art in the early 20th century exhibited an inward turn, with their transformations in form and concept revealing a high degree of intertextuality and mutual reflectivity. The dramatic changes of modernity prompted both to reflect on the concept of aesthetic autonomy, while the shift in the perception of space and time led to breakthroughs in their respective media. The flourishing of urban cultural exchanges and the advancement of modern transportation provided the material conditions for their cross-boundary interactions. The close intertextual engagement of the two wove a new chapter of aesthetic modernity. Their attempts to cross media and boundaries revealed new possibilities for cross-artistic connections in the new era. The innovative explorations in their connections collectively reflected the multiple facets of “modernity”, reflecting aesthetic modernity's dynamic contradiction to instrumental rationality and its adherence to aesthetic autonomy.
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