ABSTRACT
In Palimpsestes, Genette outlines a series of ‘transpositions thématiques’ [thematic transpositions] which are of two basic forms: ‘la transposition diégétique’ [diegetic transposition] concerning setting and character and ‘la transposition pragmatique’ [pragmatic transposition] involving actions or events. 1 The more common of the two forms, and that with which we are principally concerned in this study, are ‘transpositions diégétiques’ in which one encounters ‘la même action (ou presque) dans un autre univers’ [the same (or almost the same) action in another world]. 2 A given action ‘peut être transposée d’une diégèse à une autre, par exemple d’une époque à une autre, ou d’un lieu à un autre, ou les deux à la fois’ [can be transposed from one period to another, or from one location to another, or both] as well as from one ‘milieu social’ [social setting] to another. 3 As a result of changes to the setting in which an event takes place, the character who acts can also undergo alterations in terms of their age, sex and nationality. 4 All such changes, Genette argues, tend to bring character and setting closer to the targeted readership: ‘le mouvement habituel de la transposition diégétique est un movement de translation (temporelle, géographique, sociale) proximisante: l’hypertexte transpose la diégèse de son hypotexte pour la rapprocher et l’actualiser aux yeux de son propre public’ [the habitual movement of diegetic transposition is a movement of proximization: the hypertext transposes the diegesis of its hypotext to bring it up to date and closer to its own audience (in temporal, geographic, or social terms)]. 5
