From a Literary Work to a Movie and Back. Literary and Literary Studies Contexts for the Art of Screenplay

Abstract

Screenplays are a paradoxical and ambivalent phenomenon. On the one hand, a screenplay is a literary genre and its development attests to the process of its emancipation from the power of fi lm and fi lm theory. On the other hand, however, the screenplay read as the text „is becoming a movie” already during the act of reading. The screenplay – as a quasi-literary phenomenon – can be a useful and inspiring tool in fi lm interpretation, as it opens up a variety of methodological possibilities.