Andersen’s Intertextuality in Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle

Abstrakt

This paper examines the intertextual presence of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales in Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle, using the typology of intertextual relations developed by Polish literary critic Ryszard Nycz. Nycz (2000) distinguishes three categories of intertextuality – presuppositions, attributions, and anomalies – which provide a framework for tracing thematic and structural parallels between Andersen’s The Red Shoes, The Little Mermaid, and The Ugly Duckling, and their counterparts in Atwood’s novel. By mapping these connections, the study reveals how Andersen’s narratives are transformed within a postmodern context, and how Lady Oracle acquires additional layers of meaning when read through the lens of Andersen’s works.