Abstract

The article explores the phenomenon of theatricality as the interface of theatre and literature from the standpoint of intermediality theory. Based on the typology of intermedial forms in art and fiction, the manifestation of theatricality in postmodernist prose is viewed as an example of “covert” intra-compositional intermediality or, in other words, intermedial reference. From this perspective, textual manifestations of theatricality are deduced within two modes—thematization (explicit mentions or discussion of theatre, including theatrical meta-references) and verbal imitation of theatrical effects at the narrative and compositional levels. Literary postmodernism provides manifold examples of such intermediality—from theatre-based lexis and imagery to complex narrative and compositional techniques in M. Atwood’s “Hag-Seed,” J. Fowles’s “The Magus,” and L. Groff’s “Fates and Furies”. On a wider scale, an inquiry into the phenomenon of theatricality from the standpoint of literary linguistics and intermediality elucidates perspectives of exploring the mechanisms of inter-art relations in postmodernist fiction.