How does the author use allusion in the novel, Tyll?

Tyll, appropriate given its central character, is a playful narrative, its language flexible, deft, antic, at once rich with allusions (often to German folklore figures and to period literature, most notably Shakespeare), wicked insults (for instance those directed at the balladeer Gottfried or later at the flabby pretentiousness of Von Wolkenstein), and subtle punning and word play. Despite recounting some distinctly unfunny realities, the novel bristles, crackles with engaging language play. The narrative is rendered in language, that is word choice and sentence structure, that defies expectations, that keeps shifting, refusing to define itself. Language juxtaposes and even fuses styles.