On the role of context in text analysis

This article discusses the role of context in the interpretation of literary texts. Today, German academic literature speaks of intratextual context, intertextual context and extratextual context. By resorting to different contexts, we pursue at least two different methodological functions. First, they serve to understand and explain the text, helping to clarify the content, justifying the peculiarities of the use of language and images, and secondly, they serve to place the text in broader biographical, historical or literary contexts. Such contextual analyses often reveal an interest in knowledge that goes beyond the interpretation of the individual literary work.