What is the term for referencing literature within literature?

Heather B: What is the term for referencing literature within literature?
I took a class a few years ago, and the prof mentioned this term. Basically, the idea is when we are creating new literature, the literature already in existence influences that writing, regardless if we (the author) intended it to or not. What is this called?
Allusion is the general term for literature being, well, alluded to, but I specifically am looking for the term referring to the psychological / anthropological study regarding the influence all literature has on all new literature.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Kelley
Allusion.

Junot Diaz in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao alludes heavily to characters and circumstances created by J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen King.

Answer by Bob Sacamano
I don’t know the term, but what you’re describing sounds a lot like something T.S. Eliot discusses in the first section of his essay, ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’ (1919).

https://www.bartleby.com/200/sw4.html