Adaptations of Prosper Mérimée’s “The Bear” in Different Media and Genres: Correction and Recontextualization

Abstract

Summary Adaptation research demonstrates that the narrative of a particular work may be transferred to different media and/or contexts. In the analysis of such adaptations, it is possible to observe that in the context of both cinema and theatre, the often debated discourses around the connection between literature and and its adaptations in another media, are dialogical and conflicting. Although these discussions still dominate many texts, a considerable number of researchers agree that there are significant connections between adaptations of the same work and the original narrative. For example, Regina Schober describes adaptations as the process of emerging relationships.1 Such a definition refers both to the relationship between the literary source and its adaptation to another medium, and the relationships between other adaptations created in the same or different media. The definition also encompasses the possibilities of narrative transformation in different cultural contexts. Prosper Mérimée’s work – the short story “The Bear”, in which 19th century Lithuania is reflected by combining fiction and reality – was selected for detailed investigation. The selected adaptations include, on the Lithuanian theatre stage, the opera “The Bear” (2000) created by composer Bronius Kutavičiuss and director Jonas Jurašas, and Łukasz Twarkowski’s “Lokis” (2017), staged at the drama theatre. The opera includes important additions to the short story. The adaptation by Lukasz Twarkowski and playwright Anka Herbut of the stage performance presents the idea of Mérimée’s work in today’s context, combining it with real stories of artists of our time. Two of the listed adaptations of “The Bear”, representing different genres – opera and contemporary drama theatre, as well as the relationship with the original text – became the objects of further research analysis. These case studies explore the use of media tools in the interpretation of the textual narrative, assess each adaptation within the overall field of previously produced adaptations, and seek to decipher the intertexts, and to notice the connections (as well as the differences).