Abstract

Tad Williams – Otherland and the intertextual relevance of literature. The main point of this paper is focussed on the intertextual work of Tad Williams 3rd volume of the Otherland books. I try to trace the play between the original Homer texts of the Iliad and Odyssee and the applications in Mountain of black Glas. My method is focussed on a literary comparison between those texts and tries to show the ‘Spurenparadigma’ of the authors work. Otherland is an network of simulations, wich are so close to reality that it is impossible to tell the difference. Most of these simulations are based on literature, in this point the comparsion between original and simulation is double crossed, because the simulation acts like a simulcra of the literatur. To quote Jean Baudrillard: “The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth--it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.” So there is no point to tell a difference and it may only be possible to show the intertextual play between texts to enrich the readers knowledge. It is also necessary to rethink the intertextual theory in the context of simulations, because the icon, wich referes to the original is still code and only our perception interprets this as an icon. Since Otherland itself is a text it is possible to applicate its thinking about simulations and still analyze the textual and literal structure. I also tried to show the basic motivation of the plot as fairy tale in the crossreferences to the different simulations and the motivation of movement for special characters in Otherland.

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