Maksymchuk Olha

The Theory of Intertextuality and the Study of Ukrainian Early Printed Books

Abstract: The aim of this article is to demonstrate the relevance of intertextuality theory in contemporary book studies. The article outlines the concepts of intertextuality, metatext, and paratext and introduces their application within book studies, using the example of Ukrainian early printed books from the 17th century, which constitutes the scientific novelty of the research. Accordingly, the methodological framework of the study is based on the use of intertextual analysis of works by Ukrainian authors of the early modern period. The findings demonstrate that the artistic structure of Ukrainian books from this period–particularly in terms of the interrelation between their text, design, and publishing apparatus—can be characterized through the concept of paratext. The notion of paratextual relationships underscores the importance of graphic imagery asa non-verbal element of the book as a cultural artifact. Meanwhile, authors’ returns to their own works, for instance, for preparation them for printing or re-edition, can be appropriately interpreted using the concept of metatext. It is within the framework of the concept of the metatext that one can also trace editorial changes distinguishing the draft or manuscript version of a text fromits published form. Using the works by Antonii Radyvylovskyi, Ioanykii Galiatovskyi, and Lazar Baranovych as examples, the article demonstrates the productivity of the theory of intertextuality in Ukrainian book studies, particularly the system of concepts proposed by Gérard Genette. Intertextuality allows usto perceive book monuments within the paradigm of the literary and spiritual tradition in which they were created, and to which Ukrainian authors looked for inspiration. Widespread in literary and linguistic publications, the theory of intertextuality should be more prominently represented in works on the history of the book, especially Ukrainian early printed books.

Keywords: intertextuality, metatext, paratext, early printed books, editions, book studies.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/np.74.033     Citation

• Maksymchuk Olha (V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Ukraine, Kyiv, [email protected]) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6932-6434

Cite:
Maksymchuk Olha (2025). The Theory of Intertextuality and the Study of Ukrainian Early Printed Books. Academic Papers of V. I. Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine, (74) 33-50. (In Ukrainan). doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/np.74.033

References:

1. Berbenets, L. (2018). Deiaki aspekty tlumachennia terminiv i poniat u mezhakh intermedialnykh studii [Some aspects of interpreting terms and concepts within intermedia studies]. Literatura na polimedii – Literature on the media field, 3, 66-88. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
2. Berdnyk, O. S. (2001). “Istoriia Rusiv” yak metatekst [The History of Ruthenians as a metatext]. Candidate’s thesis. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
3. Havryliuk, N. (2018). Videopoeziia yak intermedialnist: teoriia i praktyka [Video poetry as intermediality: theory and practice]. Literatura na poli medii – Literature on the media field, 3, 89-113. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
4. Hlovinskyi, M. (2008). Intertekstualnist [Intertextuality]. In B. Bakula (Comp.). Literary theory in Poland. Anthology of Texts. Second half of the 20th- early 21st century (pp. 284-309). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
5. Vinkvist, Ch. E., Teilor, V. E. (Eds.) (2003). Encyclopedia of Postmodernism. Trans. from English by V. Shovkun. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
6. Zapasko, Ya. P. (1971). Mystetstvo knyhy na Ukraini v XVI-XVIII st. [Book art in Ukraine in the 16th-18th centuries]. Lviv [in Ukrainian].
7. Kovalchuk, H. I. (2009). Rozvytok teorii knyhoznavstva na suchasnomu etapi [Development of the bibliographical theory at the currentstage]. Bibliotechnyi visnyk – Library Journal, 5, 44-53 [in Ukrainian].
8. Kurhanova, O. Yu. (2023). Vid obrazu do khudozhnoi struktury: styl baroko v ukrainskii bohosluzhbovii knyzi XVII-XVIII st. [From image to artistic structure: Baroque style in Ukrainian church book from the 17th-18th centuries]. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
9. Kurhanova, O. Yu. (2020). Vizualizatsiia metafory “bohosluzhbovoho roku” v khudozhnomu oformlenni vydannia “Vinets Khrystov” Antoniia Radyvylovskoho [Visualization of the metaphor of Church Year in art decoration of Venets Khrystov by Antoniy Radyvylovskyi]. Rukopysna ta knyzhkova spadshchyna Ukrainy – Manuscript and Book Heritage of Ukraine, 25, 69-81 [in Ukrainian]. doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/rksu.25.069
10. Lohvyn, H. N. (1990). Z hlybyn. Hraviury ukrainskykh starodrukiv XVI-XVIII stolit [From the depth: Engravings of the early printed Ukrainian books of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries]. Kyiv: Dnipro [in Ukrainian].
11. Maksymchuk, O. V. (2023). Kyivskyi dukhovnyi kontekst u zbirtsi propovidei “Ohorodok Marii Bohorodytsi” Antoniia Radyvylovskoho [The Kyiv context in the collection of sermons Ohorodok Marii Bohorodytsi by Antonii Radivylovskyi]. Library. Science. Communication. Currentissues of preservation and innovative development of scientific libraries. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference, 3-5 October 2023 (pp. 948-952). Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
12. Maksymchuk, O. V. (2024). Na poli Marsovomu: kazannia “chasu voinы” Antoniia Radyvylovskoho i tradytsiia zhanru voiennoi pobudky [On the Mars field: Antonii Radyvylovskyi’s wartime sermons and genre tradition of battle exhortation]. Rukopysna ta knyzhkova spadshchyna Ukrainy – Manuscript and Book Heritage of Ukraine, 1, 5-26 [in Ukrainian]. doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/rksu.32.005
13. Markovskij, M. (1895). Antonij Radivilovskij, juzhnorusskij propovednik XVII v. [Antonii Radyvylovskyi as a South-Russian preacher of the 17th century]. Universitetskie Izvestija – University bulletin, 11, 1-36 [in Russian].
14. Matushek, O. Yu. (2012). Avtokomunikatsiia u tvorchosti Lazaria Baranovycha [Autocommunication in the works by Lazar Baranovych]. Visnyk Kharkivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni V.N. Karazina – The Journal of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, 994: Series: Philology (64), 212-218 [in Ukrainian].
15. Matushek, O. Yu. (1999). Symvolika Bohorodytsi u metateksti barokovoi literatury [Symbolism of the Mother of God in the metatext of the Baroque literature]. Candidate’s thesis. Kharkiv [in Ukrainian].
16. Nalyvaiko, D. (2006). Teoriia literatury y komparatyvistyka [Literary theory and comparative literature]. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
17. Popovich, A. (1980). Problemy hudozhestvennogo perevoda [Problems of literary translation]. Moscow [in Russian].
18. Syzonenko, N. (2017). Tsykl “Pid vichnym nebom” V. Shevchuka yak metatekst [The cycle Under the eternal sky by V. Shevchuk as a metatext]. Literaturnyi protses: metodolohiia, imena, tendentsii – Literary process: methodology, names, tendencies, 9, 152-157 [in Ukrainian].
19. Sokol, M. O. (2011). Poniattia paratekstu ta paratekstualnosti v systemi suchasnoho literaturoznavstva [The notions of paratext and paratextuality in the system of the modern literary studies]. Visnyk Zhytomyrskoho derzhavnoho universytetu imeni Ivana Franka – Journal of Ivan Franko Zhytomyr State University, 60, 218-221 [in Ukrainian].
20. Shamrai, M. (2005). Marhinalii v starodrukakh kyrylychnoho shryftu 15-17 st. z fondu Natsionalnoi biblioteky Ukrainy im. V. I.Vernadskoho [Marginal notes in the Cyrillic early printed books of the 15th-17th centuries from the collection of V. I. Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine]. Kyiv [in Ukrainian].
21. Barthes, R. (1998). Od dzieła do tekstu. In Teksty Drugie: teoria literatury, krytyka, interpretacja, 6, 187-195 [in Polish].
22. Bartolini, M. G. (2017). “Judging a book by its cover”: meditation, memory and invention in seventeenth-century Ukrainian title pages. Canadian Slavonic Papers, 59(1-2), 21-55. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00 085006.2017.1302644
23. Genette, G. (1997). Palimpsests: literature in the second degree. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
24. Kristeva, J. (1980). Desire in language: a semiotic approach to literature and art. Oxford: Blackwell.
25. Nika, O. (2019). Textual substitutions in A. Radyvylovskyi’s collection of sermons of the end of 17th century. Linhvistychni doslidzhennia – Linguistic Studies, 51, 106-115. doi: https://doi.org/10.34142/23127546.2019.51.11
26. Nika, O. (2020). The language and cultural contacts in the 17th century and the sermon discourse of Antonii Radyvylovskyi. In Integration of traditional and innovative scientific researches: global trends and regional aspect (pp. 286-305). Riga. doi: https://doi.org/10.30525/978-9934-26-001-8-1-13