The Process of Adapting a Literary Work: A Multifaceted Methodological Approach

By MSC Armand BORA

Abstract
This paper aims to investigate the role of diverse methodological approaches in the adaptation of a literary text to other genres and artistic media. It focuses on analyzing the structural changes that the elements of the text’s structure undergo, as well as identifying some of the most significant factors influencing these changes. This study employs a qualitative research methodology focused on the metaanalysis of adaptation studies and theories, theories of text perception and reading, all framed within structuralist and post-structuralist perspectives. The method of direct observation was also utilized in the adaptation process of Ismail Kadare’s novel, “Who Brought Doruntina?” (Kush e solli Doruntinën). The findings of this work confirm that the structural changes in a text are dictated by structuralist and deconstructionist paradigms, the approach to, and the perception of, the text during the adaptation process. A diachronic approach and the perception of the text through an open reading steer the adaptation process toward an ad hoc structure. In conclusion, we posit that the more open and diachronic the reading and perception of the text, the more substantial the structural changes become during the adaptation process. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the changes a work of art undergoes, serving not only to enrich and complete the theoretical framework but also to inform practical activity in the process of adapting literary works for stage, screen, or other genres and media.

Keywords: structuralism, post-structuralism, adaptation, intertextuality,semiotics, dialogism