FROM INTERSEMIOTIC TO INTERTEXTUAL – A HISTORICAL SERENDIPITY

The term intersemiotic lies at the core of contemporary approaches to semantics, literature, translation and anthropology. At first glance, its connection with text is only intermittent. There is however a blurred area of overlapping in which texts, histories, media and works of art come together to form a dynamic palimpsest of meanings. This paper aims to examine several cases in which momentous works of the past have managed to cross the boundaries of history, nations, languages and media. Their perception and influence have not always been the same, but their common denominator is the power and faculty to exert influence beyond their time and outside their domain. From Shakespeare to Kurosawa and from Cicero to Jerome, forms of art have metamorphosed to accommodate the prevailing beliefs of different eras, condemned in some and glorified in others. Centuries have gone by, but some bygones refuse to be bygones, making one wonder what their secret ingredient is, and to what they owe their everlasting perseverance.