A Comparative Study of the Adventures of Mermaid by Liz Kessler and the Return of Hordad by Fariba Kalhor Based on Intertextuality Approach

The present research aims to carry out a comparative study of the adventures of Mermaid by Liz Kessler and the return of Hordad by Fariba Kalhor based on an intertextuality approach. Accordingly, we directed a comparative study of the two works after introducing the intertextuality approach and different levels of explicit and clandestine intertextuality. The method of the present research is descriptive-analytical regarding library study. In the comparative analysis, the collection of mermaid adventures has been elucidated according to the characteristics of obvious inter-textual and hidden intertextuality and the effectiveness of the new work, The novel Return of Hordad, from the preface. At the level of explicit intertextuality, the elements of subject, theme, characterization, and setting in both works are very similar and in line to each other in parallel, and at the level of hidden intertextuality, the two characters of the story are implicitly similar. In the setting, the time constraints of the heroes in battle with the devil are correspondingly hidden. There is also a similarity between the plots of the two works. The findings of this research indicate that Fariba Kalhor directly influences Liz Kessler’s series of mermaid adventures and it is compatible with the novel of Hordad’s Return, at the level of overt intertextuality . Nonetheless, this effect is minor and indirect at the level of hidden intertextuality.