Adaptation and grotesque in O crime do padre amaro: Eça de Queirós and Paula Rêgo

Abstract

This article compares the configurations and reconfigurations of the grotesque in the work O crime do Padre Amaro, by Eça de Queirós, and in the adaptation the plastic artist Paula Rêgo makes in a homonymous series of sixteen paintings. Based on Linda Hutcheon and Robert Stam’s reflections on A Theory of Adaptation, we compare the works of Eça de Queirós and Paula Rêgo. In the book, the comparison is established based on the descriptions of some characters in grotesque perspective, while on the screens the interpretation takes place based on an expansion of some grotesque themes developed by the author, in addition to an adaptation to the context of production of these works in contemporary times. The comparative perspective is that of the grotesque, whether through the interpretation of colors, the corporeality of the characters and even the background of the canvases. The work is based on the grotesque theories developed by M. Bakhtin and W. Kayser, without disregarding Linda Hutcheon’s reflections on parody. Reading from the theory of adaptation and the grotesque in the works enables an enrichment of both works, whether in their specific, synchronic sociocultural contexts, or in a broader, diachronic cultural panorama.