Claiming historical agency : intertextuality as autobiographical rhetorical strategy in Ian Smith's Bitter Harvest: the Great Betrayal and its Dreadful Aftermath

Abstract

<jats:p>This article discusses the rhetorical construction of self-identity in Ian Smith's autobiography. I argue that in communicating self-identity and claiming historical agency, Smith deploys rhetoric born out of intertextuality. Intertextual references construct nation-building rhetoric that positions Smith as an agent of history. The article demonstrates that Smith's invocation of past texts and citations provokes unintended and problematic meanings. While Smith constructs rhetorical discourse, he is in turn also constructed by that discourse as a subject of history.</jats:p>