‘Fainomaic’ Adaptation from the Verbal to the Visual

Abstract

The second part of the book is an extensive taxonomy of the drama of authorship which was introduced in the first half. The taxonomy uses Shakespearean films as a case study. Each part of the taxonomy conducts sustained textual analysis of key scenes from numerous Shakespearean adaptations which demonstrate different elements of adaptation’s anamorphism. This chapter addresses the most ubiquitous of these elements—the adaptation of some verbal dialogue, which foregrounds authorial origins, into visual images, which obfuscate those authorial origins. In order to distinguish this form of adaptation from a different form which is explored in the next chapter, I define the suppression of Shakespeare’s enunciating presence in favour of a seemingly ‘un-authored’ cinematic unfolding as a ‘fainomaic’ adaptation. I derive this from the Ancient Greek verb fainomai, meaning ‘to appear’, since it makes the verbal appear as the visual. The chapter breaks down this form of adaptation into a number of distinct categories.