A adaptação de obras literárias como um projeto cultural, político e econômico no Brasil e seu papel no surgimento da literatura para neoleitores

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to examine the role that the interlingual and intralingual adaptation of literary works has played in Brazil, relating it to issues pertaining to other areas of influence that make up culture: the economic, the political and the ideological ones. First, we will define the process of adaptation of literary works. In order to do so we will investigate the similarities and differences between this process and two other rewriting processes: translation and appropriation, based on the thoughts of Georges L. Bastin (1998), Georges L. Bastin & Hugo Vandal-Sirois (2012), Antoine Berman ([1985] 2007), André Lefevere (1992) and Julie Sanders (2006). Then, we will tackle the beginnings of the tradition of adaptation of literary works, which happened in England in the early stages of the 19th century, and we will also deal with the Brazilian context. We will address the interlingual adaptation of literary works for children and teenagers, which was the first one to emerge in Brazil. This sort of adaptation will be pointed out as the precursor of children’s literature as a genre in the country. We will emphasize the roles of Monteiro Lobato, who worked as adaptor during the Brazilian civil dictatorship, and of the adaptors who worked during the military dictatorship – the case of the adaptor Paulo Mendes Campos will be used to enlighten this context. In this moment, we will rely, mostly, on the assumptions of Mário Feijó Borges Monteiro (2002, 2006). Finally, we will bring into discussion the intralingual adaptations of literary works to the “new readers” (our translation for “neoleitores”). We will address the specificities of these readers, and the collections of literary works available to this target audience. Furthermore, we will evaluate the adaptation of O Cortiço, from the É Só o Começo collection, which has been published by L&PM publishing house and distributed to Brazilian schools as part of a government project supported by institutions such as UNESCO and SESI (Brazilian Social Services for Industry). This thesis will make evident the fact that the production of adaptations such as the one mentioned have determined the emergence of a literary genre specially designed to this target audience in Brazil. In other words, it will stress the importance of this type of rewriting for the education process of readers and for the creation of a new readership.