INTERTEXTUALITY AND THE COLLECTIVE FORMATION OF WORLD LITERATURE

Literature should be understood not as the exclusive creation of any single nation, but as a collective outcome of shared human experience across cultures and historical periods. Literary traditions develop through continuity and exchange, forming a network of relationships in which texts inherit, reshape, and respond to one another. In an age marked by globalization and rapid technological advancement, interactions among nations have become increasingly visible, making literary interconnectedness not only apparent but unavoidable. This dynamic process of textual interaction is commonly described as intertextuality. Intertextuality operates within literary works through multiple forms of social and cultural contact. Forces such as religion, trade, warfare, migration, economic change, and, more recently, digital media and communication technologies play decisive roles in enabling the circulation of ideas, narratives, and forms. Since literature reflects the societies from which it emerges, these interactions inevitably surface within literary texts. As a result, literary scholarship often focuses on identifying similarities and transformations across cultures, examining how shared experiences are expressed through recurring themes, formal structures, and stylistic choices.