# Latent Structures of Intertextuality in French Fiction

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.17759 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.17759/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 34 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 23 Oct 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [Distributed Representations of Sentences and Documents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1405.4053/) (2014)
- [MTEB: Massive Text Embedding Benchmark](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.07316/) (2022)
- [CamemBERT: a Tasty French Language Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.03894/) (2019)
- [All-but-the-Top: Simple and Effective Postprocessing for Word Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.01417/) (2017)
- [All Bark and No Bite: Rogue Dimensions in Transformer Language Models Obscure Representational Quality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.04404/) (2021)
- [Evaluating Word Embedding Models: Methods and Experimental Results](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.09785/) (2019)
- [Computational thematics: Comparing algorithms for clustering the genres of literary fiction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.11251/) (2023)
- [Automatic Detection of Reuses and Citations in Literary Texts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1404.2997/) (2014)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Loci Similes: A Benchmark for Extracting Intertextualities in Latin Literature](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.07533/) (2026)
- [Modeling the Construction of a Literary Archetype: The Case of the Detective Figure in French Literature](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.00627/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Intertextuality is a key concept in literary theory that challenges traditional notions of text, signification or authorship. It views texts as part of a vast intertextual network that is constantly evolving and being reconfigured. This paper argues that the field of computational literary studies is the ideal place to conduct a study of intertextuality since we have now the ability to systematically compare texts with each others. Specifically, we present a work on a corpus of more than 12.000 French fictions from the 18th, 19th and early 20th century. We focus on evaluating the underlying roles of two literary notions, sub-genres and the literary canon in the framing of textuality. The article attempts to operationalize intertextuality using state-of-the-art contextual language models to encode novels and capture features that go beyond simple lexical or thematic approaches. Previous research (Hughes, 2012) supports the existence of a literary "style of a time", and our findings further reinforce this concept. Our findings also suggest that both subgenres and canonicity play a significant role in shaping textual similarities within French fiction. These discoveries point to the importance of considering genre and canon as dynamic forces that influence the evolution and intertextual connections of literary works within specific historical contexts.