Balzac et la loi du plus fort: l'adaptation, l'éco-traductologie, et La Peau de chagrin

This article focuses on two adaptations of Balzac’s La Peau de chagrin: The Magic Skin (1915, dir. Ridgely), a silent film produced in the United States, and La Peau de chagrin (2010, dir. Berliner), a television film co-produced in France and Belgium. It uses eco-translatology – a concept inspired by the Darwinian theory of natural selection and first elaborated by Hu Gengshen – to explore how artistic adaptation can be viewed as a process of evolutionary change. The first part of this discussion reflects on why specific texts are selected for adaptation, and what factors determine their ‘fitness’ for reinvention. Analysis of The Magic Skin shows that silent filmmakers were drawn to Balzac’s novel most obviously because it was a well-known story that was likely to attract spectators, but also because its fantastical realism encouraged the kind of special effects beloved of early cinema. This argument is developed further by exploring selection as a guiding principle of the adaptive process. Decisions are made at both macro- and micro-levels over what gets adapted and why. These decisions involve, for example, whether to adapt specific points of language and register, and whether to shift the thematic emphasis of the source narrative (as in the case of Berliner’s television film, which draws on the techniques and conventions of horror cinema). This article argues ultimately that adaptors must make creative decisions in order to maximise their chances of artistic and commercial success, and that eco-translatology can materially enhance our understanding of these processes.