Taking inspiration from something old for the sake of creating something new does not mean lack of originality; on the contrary, it means giving credit to the original piece and paying tribute to its creator. This is precisely what this article focuses on – enhancing the meanings of a new literary work by taking inspiration from a classic play through intertextuality. Consequently, we are going to look at two texts, i.e. The Collector (1963), a novel by John Fowles at the level of which there are many intertextual elements from Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1610/11), inasmuch as one can only assume the author’s inspiration for his novel and, most importantly, its characters. This is not an interpretation of Fowles’ novel, it rather focuses, firstly, on the importance of intertextuality in general and its relevance to Fowles’ novel, and, secondly, on the relationship between the characters in Shakespeare’s play and the ones in The Collector. Two protagonists in each text, Clegg and Caliban respectively, provide ample opportunity to understand the use value of intertextuality given their striking resemblance and the (nick)name coincidence. Moreover, they also show how the two texts, even if totally different in terms of genre, are linked to each other.

Bogdana Silvia Muntean

Author

Bogdana Silvia Muntean is a Master’s student at Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania. Her research interests include English and American literature and culture, as well as Canadian studies