From painting to novel: Claude Simon’s Triptych

ABSTRACT The concept of transposition from one artistic medium to another is situated at the intersection of several different disciplines such as adaptation studies, translation studies, intermedia studies, and comparative literature. An example of a less common transposition, painting-to-novel intermedia translation, is examined in Claude Simon’s novel Triptych. The role of intermedia translation in this Nouveau Roman novel is described through the hermeneutical and dialogical lenses, two approaches already fruitfully applied in translation studies. This article argues that, first, the transfer of painting to novel in Triptych is an example of intermedia translation and that it may be studied by using translation studies approaches; second, that only by recognizing the use of intermedia translation in Simon’s work one is able to fully understand his artistic practice; and third, that, in turn, translation studies can benefit from expanding its traditional scope by taking into account non-interlingual transfers such as intermedia translation.