The Screenwriter as Translator: Venuti’s (In)visibility in the Field of Screenwriting

In light of the kinship between Translation Studies and Adaptation Studies, this chapter applies Venuti’s ideas regarding the translator’s (in)visibility to the field of screenwriting and, more specifically, to screenwriters who adapt previous texts for the screen. Screenwriters, like translators, traditionally lived in the shadows of others, usually the director, and particularly under the reign of “auteur theory”, but in recent decades attempts are being made to strengthen their position. In this chapter, we explore the growing acknowledgement of screenwriters as translators in the adaptation process, which we trace in three areas. The first is academic discourse, with special attention to books such as Boozer’s Authorship in Adaptation, published in 2008. The second is the granting of awards to adapted screenplays and their creators. The third is the cinema itself and specifically the film Adaptation, which revolves around Charlie Kaufman, its screenwriter in reality. Beyond tracing the growing visibility of the screenwriter-adapter in these three areas, our contribution tightens the links between Translation Studies and Adaptation Studies through the notion of (in)visibility. The growing visibility in both fields testifies to a significant epistemological shift in the conception of translators and translation, as well as of screenwriters and screenwriting.