Heterolingualism in the Novel: Soinujolearen semea and its Adaptations for Theater and Cinema

Abstract

Focusing on contemporary Iberia, this chapter examines the shifts that occur between a literary work and its film and stage versions in order to delve into the presence of heterolingualism in adapted artistic products. The case study for this investigation is the 2003 Basque novel Soinujolearen semea [The Accordionist’s Son] by Bernardo Atxaga and its Spanish collaborative (self-)translation, its Basque and Spanish adaptations for stage, and the feature film in Basque. The chapter analyzes the way in which multilingualism has been reflected both in the Spanish translation and in the dramatized reinterpretations of the story, as it needs to be adjusted to the language(s) of each medium. The aim is therefore twofold: on the one hand, to investigate the extent to which adaptations between modalities shift the way language is used to narrate a story; and on the other, to study the Basque author’s role when intervening in intersemiotic processes.