Culture tranfers in Flix’ Don Quijote. The transposition of a literary classic into a comic book, or how Don Quijote moved to Tobosow

Abstract

In 2012 the comic book artist Flix faces a double challenge with his version of Don Quijote. On the one hand, he proposes a media change from the novel to the comic book, and on the other, he “transfers” the contents of the “Siglo de Oro” to the 21^st century in Germany. In total, we can speak of an “intersemiotic transposition” of Cervantes’s work. Remaining faithful to the literary strategies and the playful character of the original, Flix manages to transpose both the social and literary criticism of the masterpiece, updating it to elaborate a critique of contemporary problems such as the treatment of people with dementia or the rural exodus. He also creates a manifesto for the “ninth art”. The latest twist in these “cultural transfer” processes is the translation of Flix’ Don Quijote into Spanish in 2014, which creates an updated and culturally expanded access to the material for a Spanish-speaking audience familiar with the original work.