A escrita erótica na tela: a tradução de Elena, de Anaïs Nin, na adaptação fílmica de Delta of Venus

Abstract

Anaïs Nin, who was born in France but brought up in the United States, is considered a pioneer for having written erotica from a female point of view. Nin is known for describing sexual relations making use of metaphors. In one of her diaries, she said that she tried to use a feminine writing style as a way to gain space in a world that was always reigned by men. This research has as a goal to analyze in what ways her most well-known work, the book of short stories Delta of Venus, published in 1977, an year after her death, was portrayed on the screen, because her book was adapted for the TV in 1995, by Zalman King, director/producer/screenwriter of many erotic films and, as such, know as the king of soft-core porn. Once the main theme of her work is sex, the research here presented is grounded on Krzywinska (2006) that writes about the way the cinema approaches the theme and Williams (2004) and Alexandrian (1991) that comment on porn studies and the erotic literature history. Cattrysse (1992), who follows the Polysystem Theory by Even-Zohar (1990) and has started the systematization of film adaptation, will be used to substantiate the chapter that concerns the adaptation. As well as Hutcheon (2012) and Cartmell (2012). The purpose of this research is, first of all, to observe if King was able to keep Nin’s one of a kind text alive on the screen and which techniques he used in order to do so. The historical context to which the movie belongs to does not make it possible for the literary quality of Nin’s text to shine through, as well as the strong themes she writes about. However, by analyzing some chosen scenes from the movie, it is possible to perceive some characteristics of Nin’s writing in the adaptation.