OS LUSÍADAS (EN)LIGHT(ENED). A ADAPTAÇÃO COMO ESTRATÉGIA DE MEDIAÇÃO DOS CLÁSSICOS EM CONTEXTO ESCOLAR

Abstract

The vitality and the ability to regenerate themselves that define the classics as an aesthetic category provide the theoretical basis in which it seems correct to consider phenomena of rereading and remediation of such works. The adapted edition aimed at young readers is a particular remediation of the classic. Its occurrence implies both a context for the adaptation and specific rewriting procedures, which inevitably affect discursive form, reading circuit, and institutional placement of the original text. It is also clear that the adaptations of a text recognized as a classic interfere with the process through which that label is attributed and institutionally managed, thus playing a role in reinforcing the aesthetic judgement subsumed under such classification. The analysis of paratexts that accompany and justify adapted editions gives us important insights for understanding products that are meant to offer light and enlightening versions of a classic for the use of young people in an educational context. Taking the example of adapted versions of Os Lusíadas – the indisputable Portuguese classic – published during the 20th century, it is possible to identify the protocol for relating the original to its youth-oriented Ersatzen. Paratexts appear as important signposts of the interdependence between original and adaptation in the canonical game.