No murder without a clue: An intersemiotic translation of murders in And Then There Were None

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the detective novel titled And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie to find out the implicit or explicit clues in the conflict part of the plot to allow the readers to be able to draw inferences or anticipations on the resolution. Following the identification of the relevant contexts in the source text, the TV mini series adaptation of the novel is also analyzed in comparison to the source contexts to find out the extent of preservation or omission of the meaning in intersemiotic translation. The contexts with implicit or explicit clues are discussed in relation to discursive techniques in a narration, particularly anticipation and amorce techniques. The relevant contexts in the source text are mostly found to be preserved in the target text. However, this preservation does not come directly copying or transferring the content to the target text, rather the dynamics different between a literary text and audiovisual text could impel the intersemiotic translator to employ the compensation technique in the adaptation process. A text of visual and cognitive nature is translated to another semiotic system incorporating the auditory aspect to TV adaptations, resulting in translation decisions different from interlingual translations. As a result of the analysis, it is recommended that compensation technique could allow the target viewers to gather anticipations as regards the resolution as is the case with source readers in intersemiotic translation. Therefore, what counts in novel-to-TV adaptations turns out to be the extent of similarity rather than a quest for sameness.