Copyright by Laura Mareike Sager 2006 - The University of Texas at ...

In this chapter, I analyze the different types of ekphrasis in the novel and
the film and how they are connected to different functions and resultant
interpretations of Goya’s aquatint. In comparing the point of view and the
montage of these different types of ekphrases in the two media, I will examine
whether the changes of the film adaptation are related to medium-specific needs
and conventions or whether they are rooted in the desire to make a different
statement about Goya’s Sueño de la razón. Does Goya’s aquatint fulfill different
functions in the novel and the film or does its role remain the same in spite of
different interpretations of it? And how does this difference relate to the overall
changes the film makes to the novel and what does it say about the different
ideological positions of the writer and the filmmaker? 155
Written in the form of both a historical novel and a Bildungsroman,
Feuchtwanger’s Goya was conceived as a popular novel that would appeal to the
general public as well as convey a political message. 156 While the historical novel
was very popular, it was also a useful tool for presenting social criticism in a
veiled, distanced form. Thus, as a few scholars have indicated, the novel reveals
parallels between Goya’s supervision by the inquisition and Feuchtwanger’s own
155 To my knowledge, no study so far has specifically compared the novel and the film adaptation
and very few critics have looked at Wolf’s film at all. Part of the reason may be that it is very
difficult to access, and only available in DEFA studios. With regard to the novel, it is surprising
that no critic has specifically examined the use of ekphrasis in this novel. Most studies focus on
Goya’s development and on the artist’s biography, and only mention his art works in passing as
they relate to that biography and development.
156 Cf. Jost Hermand, “The Case of the Well-Crafted Novel: Lion Feuchtwanger's 'Goya',” High
and Low Cultures: German Attempts at Mediation, eds. R. Grimm, and J. Hermand (Madison: U
of Wisconsin P, 1994) 76.
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