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Intermediality
The term 'intermediality' was coined in 1983 by the German scholar Aage A. Hansen-Löve in analogy with *'intertextuality' in order to capture relations between literature and the visual arts (and to some extent also *music) in Russian symbolism. The notion first spread in research published in German but has by now become internationally recognised, although it is still sometimes confused with 'intertextuality', especially if 'text' is used as an umbrella term covering all semiotic systems (see SEMIOTICS). If, however, 'text' is used more narrowly, referring to verbal texts only, the distinction between intertextuality and intermediality is straightforward. Thus understood, intertextuality is a variant of 'intramediality' and refers exclusively to 'homomedial' relations between verbal texts or text systems. Intermediality, in contrast, applies in its broadest sense to any transgression of boundaries between *media and thus is concerned with 'heteromedial' relations between different semiotic complexes or between different parts of a semiotic complex. 'Interart relations' is also a formerly much used synonym of 'intermediality'. However, this collocation is often felt to be problematic since its connotation of 'high art' might lead to the exclusion of artefacts, *performances, and new media whose status as art is doubtful.
The emerging preference for 'intermediality' over rival terms such as 'interart relations' and 'intertextuality' indicates the increasingly *interdisciplinary profile of the research being conducted in this domain. Although the term 'intermediality' originated in a literature-centred milieu and is still used mostly in relation to literature, it has far transcended the boundaries of the literary field. This is also why, strictly speaking, the objects that are linked or characterised by intermediality should be called 'semiotic complexes or entities', a designation that includes not only various *genres and groups of texts but also artefacts, performances, installations, and so on. Yet for brevity's sake imprecise terms such as 'work' or 'composition' continue to be employed and will be used in this entry.
Problems of definition and typology
Curiously, problems of definition and typology have not hindered intermediality research. The most obvious among these is the problem of defining the term 'medium' itself. A plethora of meanings has been connected with this notion, ranging from a very narrow conception as a technical channel for...