POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS

AN ANALYSIS OF THE INTERSEMIOTIC TRANSLATION FROM NOVEL TO FILM

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the intersemiotic translation produced by the film Memórias póstumas (2001), directed by André Klotzel, of the novel Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas (2015 [1881]), by Machado de Assis, in order to verify through this analysis, the interpretation that the film elaborates and sustains about the novel. In order to achieve this goal, this work is based on Omar Calabrese's (apud Farias; Oliveira, 2014) elaborations about the intersemiotic translation, which take as a principle the notion that it is a process of building an equivalence – albeit imperfect – between two systems of signs, and Roland Barthes' (2005) semiological considerations on the process of signification in cinema. While Calabrese (apud Farias; Oliveira, 2014) supports the principles of this work of comparison between semioses, Barthes (2005) provides some categories of procedural value that make this work possible. Based on the analysis carried out using this reference, it was found that the film, in translating Machado de Assis' work into its own signs, emulates the writer's elliptical and oblique style in this new language. It was also observed that this same film, despite emulating the style, produces a unique interpretation of the narrative.