VOL. 3 | ISSUE II | JULY – DEC | 2019 ISSN (E): 2663-1512, ISSN (P): 2617-3611
71
A Postmodernist Intertextual Reading of Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air
Dr. Ayesha Ashraf
Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, University
of Jhang
awan.ayesha@Rocketmail.com
Prof. Dr. Munawar Iqbal Ahmad
Chair English Department, Air University, Islamabad
Dr. Saba Zaidi
Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, SBK
Women’s university Quetta
Abstract
The present research paper attempts an intertextual reading of When Breath
becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, an Indian-American neurosurgeon and a writer.
The term intertextuality was originally coined by Julia Kristeva and it refers to the
presence of one or more text/s within a text. It rejects the idea of the closure of
meaning and it demonstrates the dialogic state of a text. The current research
study is significant as it aims to provide a better understanding of the
interdisciplinary connection of fiction with that of any non-fiction text. It further
highlights that the use of allusions, reminiscences, aphorisms, and quotations, and
aphorisms in the novels that call for many interpretations. The current study has
applies the theoretical perspective of postmodern historiographic metafiction
proposed by Linda Hutcheon in her book Poetic’s of Postmodernism: History,
Theory, Fiction (2003). This research uses intertextuality as a tool to analyze the