Intermediality in literature: problems of methodology

This paper investigates intermediality as one of the central categories in contemporary literary theory and poetics. It focuses on the methodological challenges associated with analyzing intermedial interactions within artistic texts, particularly those of a literary nature. The study begins by reviewing a range of conceptual approaches to intermediality and offers an original interpretation of the phenomenon as a dialogic interaction between different media and/or a translation from the language of one medium into another. A key distinction is drawn between intermediality as an aesthetic phenomenon and intermedial analysis as a research method. The article proposes a structured algorithm for intermedial analysis that includes identifying the interacting media, determining the type and level of interaction, describing the nature of intermedial connections, isolating intermedial categories, and assessing their functional and semantic roles within the artistic whole of a literary work. A further objective of the study is to develop a methodology for addressing intermediality within the domain of literature. A distinction is made between synthetic forms of intermediality (such as opera or comics) and intermediality within a predominantly verbal medium. Drawing on typologies proposed by O. Hansen Löve, J. Schröter, I. Rajewsky, S.P. Scher, and W. Wolf, the article constructs an original typology of intermedial interactions specific to literary texts. Ultimately, the article proposes a methodology for intermedial analysis that is tailored to the verbal nature of literature while remaining sensitive to the presence of non verbal media components. Such an approach is seen as essential for understanding the reception of a literary work as an integrated and multilayered aesthetic whole.