Coordination - Subordination - Correlation: Intermediality as category & model

Abstract

The concept of intermediality has fragmented in several directions in recent decades. As a field of investigation, it has transcended what were considered its own limits – already diffuse in the 1980s – which were usually focused on Comparative Literature and Comparative Arts, and it now occurs in a variety of disciplines. However, the diverse meanings of the term suggest great imprecision in its use. My purpose here is to conduct a detailed historical review of this theoretical term, with special attention to the authors Claus Clüver, Irina Rajewsky, and Simon Morley. Based on the categories of these researchers – who describe relations of dependency between different media – I propose an analytical model of interaction between media, based on the idea of coordination - subordination - correlation as an interpretative action. My idea is that it is possible to keep several stages of an explanation, or analysis, "under control" so that the categories and subcategories provide a theoretical and conceptual framework, functioning as a model and critical categories of distinction, establishing a stable pattern for approaching intermedial phenomena. As examples, I present Os Sertões (1902), by Euclides da Cunha, A Pintura em Pânico (1943), by Jorge de Lima, Sertões: Luz & Trevas (1982), by Maureen Bisilliat, and Quarenta clics em Curitiba (1976), by Paulo Leminski and Jack Pires.