Metareferences and Intertextuality.

[Boromir88]

I think we can all agree upon one thing...if you read something you really like it sort of sticks to you forever.

Exactly ninlaith, and that is the point behind metareferences and intertextuality. That anything (now adays) that is written in books, or made into movies, has been done before. So no piece of literature or film is entirely original, or entirely "new." It has ties back to previous works. I think you hit the nail on the head, when we read something we really like, it sticks with us.

I wonder if I should clear this up, or not, since you all seem to be getting the point, and posting some really nice stuff , but this was something I forgot to mention in my first post. The intentions of metareferences and intertextuality isn't to say "Ahhh, Tolkien took ideas, copied ideas from Beowulf, mythologies, religions...etc." It's ment to find out who influenced Tolkien (or other authors) to come up with their stories, and then to figure out for what purpose they were doing it for. No one has done that here, it's just something I forgot to mention. I've really enjoyed reading all the posts so far .