Adaptation screenplays as performance texts: axiological linguistic acts in a case of Basque writing

Abstract

Rather than being a ‘blueprint’ statement of instruction, and following propositions made by Thomas Leitch, adaptation screenplays are ‘recipes’ that both record a ‘doing’ and serve as a performance space of engagement with production teams. This is explicable in terms of how they propose a new enargeia by way of clear narrative idea that they frame through quasi-recursive recontextualization of both the literary field and the specifics of originary texts and then express via an integrated set of linguistic acts by way of axiological statement of intentionality for a film of a particular sort. The progression of this logic is explained through exploration of a seminal instance of Basque literature-to-film adaptation of Bernard Atxaga’s book Obabakoak, written as a screenplay for the film Obaba by Montxo Armendáriz.