Reviewing the receptive aspect of palimpsest (a case study of T. Pratchett’s works)

Abstract

The model of literary palimpsest originally put forward by G. Genette is of essential value now, giving an insight into the mechanism of realizing transtextual meanings. Figurative use of the notion of “palimpsest” as a hierarchy of texts shining through each other, be it different versions of the same text or texts intersecting in the common narrative space, presents a new perspective on the modern literary process, when under the influence of mass culture a literary text may consist of not only other literary texts but also those of the cinema or even music. Although the conception of palimpsest has been further developed and refined by different scholars, some of its aspects, e.g. the receptive one, have not yet been studied in detail. Indeed, the receptive aspect of palimpsest is worthy of special attention as the literary process now is inseparable from the recognition of the communicative nature of art, therefore without a reader the literary work’s meaning cannot be actualized. Making a case study of the comic fantasy series by the modern English writer Terry Pratchett, the article considers the way palimpsest functions from the receptive point of view and sums up the effects it achieves.