Parnassus in Exile: Film Adaptations of Uruguayan Literature during the Silent Era

Abstract

In the silent cinema period, the adaptation of literary works was one of the ways the new medium found to legitimize itself and, of course, to supply plots for productions, that were consumed very quickly in the countries where the industry flourished. Latin America also participates in these inter-media passages, although in most cases it does it in a precarious way. This article addresses three film adaptations of Uruguayan literary texts made abroad: Tabaré, by Juan Zorrilla de San Martín (Lezama y Canals de Homs, Mexico, 1917), Los muertos, by Florencio Sánchez (Defilippis Novoa, Argentina, 1919) and Brenda, by Eduardo Acevedo Díaz (Martínez y Gunche, Argentina, 1921). From a transnational perspective, it explores the areas of tension, alliances and resistance that these crossings between cinema and literature created in Uruguay. In all cases, the reception implied an appropriation of these foreign works as national or regional, a fact that leads to a redefinition of the foreign, generally associated with the U.S. industry.

Keywords: intermediality, literary adaptations, silent cinema, Latin America, Uruguay