From Text to Frame: The Graphic Adaptation of “The Steelyard”, a Modern Classic of Taiwanese Literature

Year 2024, Volume: 10 Issue: 1, 15 - 37, 24.09.2024

Antonio Paoliello-palermo

Abstract

Adaptation studies have often been centered on the transposition of literary works into plays and movies. More specifically, filmic adaptations of novels have been explored extensively, as proven, among other things, by the existence of well-established scholarly journals such as The Journal of Adaptation Studies published by the Association of Adaptation Studies or the long-standing Literature/Film Quarterly. However, comparatively little research has been carried out in the field of graphic adaptations of literary texts. The studies focusing on how works of literature – mostly classics – have “migrated” to the ninth art deal, for the most part, with either Western comics or Japanese manga. By focusing on the graphic adaptation of a Sinophone short story, this contribution aims at filling this research gap. It centers on Ruan Guang-min’s recent manhua version (2023) of 《一桿「秤仔」》 (Tsi̍t kuáinn tshìn-á, “The Steelyard”), a seminal short story by Lōa Hô, hailed the father of modern Taiwanese literature, first published almost a century ago (1926). By presenting the two versions of the story and through a close textual reading of the graphic novel, I seek to understand what has been reworked from text to drawing and if such an adaptation has been successful in making the original work relevant one hundred years after its original release.

Keywords

Graphic adaptation, Taiwanese literature, Ruan Guang-min, Lōa Hô, The Steelyard

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