Don DeLillo’s Adapted Novels: The Treatment of Language, Space, and Time on Screen

Abstract

Don DeLillo is an author who pays special attention to language, time, and space when constructing characters’ identity as well as their milieu. Considering this aspect of his fiction, the present article looks at how cinematic adaptations of his novels translate time, space, and the use of language onto the screen. Two of DeLillo’s novels have been adapted so far: Cosmopolis (DeLillo 2003) by David Cronenberg in a 2012 movie of the same name, and The Body Artist (DeLillo 2001) by Benoît Jacquot under the title À Jamais (2016). In light of the importance that the aforementioned elements play in the author’s works, this article delves into how they are represented in the two adaptations and analyzes the role that they play in the movies compared to the novels.