Although the most important international cinematic works emerged from the wombs of literary works, opinions on this subject are many and conflicting, especially between Arab and foreign publishers, in agreement on whether the novel is the success of the cinematic film or vice versa, but they agreed that the relationship between cinema and literature is one It is very old and can not be ignored, and for the majority of Arab publishers, cinema films are a mainstay for the spread of the book and the increase in its sales.

Because “we live in an Arab society that does not read until it searches for satisfaction of its curiosity, which the film may incite, so it searches for the novel from which the film was taken.” The western side in this equation is completely different, because according to the publishers, Western societies, whether European or Asian, are reading societies. The film comes at a later stage after the success of the novel and not the other way around. 

Several opinions were monitored by «Emirates Today» in the corridors of the Abu Dhabi Book Fair to indirectly shed light on the different interests of the Arab public from the West, in the field of cinema and literature.

Amal Arabi

, director of the Canaan Studies and Publishing House, Saeed Al-Barghouti, said, “The visual language is completely different from the language of writing.

He affirmed that there is a "consensus" on this issue, both among novelists and filmmakers;

Writer Hengway, for example, did not watch many films that were borrowed from his novels, he was very indignant and thought that he would see in the film what he had written on paper with his craftsmanship, but the film creator comes to see things differently, due to the difference in the two languages, literary and visual ».

 Al-Barghouti pointed out, “We cannot say that the novel has triumphed over the cinematic, or vice versa. Rather, there are different approaches between this and that, although the spirit is often the same. Sometimes the filmmaker comes to take what is commensurate with the spirit of the age, leaning on the spirit of the novel, as happened with the Iranian director Qassem. About the one who directed Ghassan Kanafani’s novel “Returning to Haifa,” he did not transmit the image as it was, and he produced it in its spirit and not in its letter.

In turn, Gibran Abu Joudeh from Dar Al-Saqi said, “In general, the visual scenes attract people more, and make them live more fun than the time they spend reading, especially in our Arab societies.” The book remains the original.

He stressed that "the film often promotes the book, especially if the viewer is not convinced of the events of the film and is looking for more details that they will naturally find in the novel."

Ismail Ghazali from the "Nineveh" House for Studies and Publishing, confirmed that "the novel has its own privacy and spirit that distinguishes it, and the film comes to try to present the image closest to the novel, but it cannot reach an ideal result, especially since the literary work is characterized by special sensitivities that are difficult to capture."

In the movie “The English Patient,” the book was a document issued by the British Geographical Society, while the movie came in a romantic and emotional way, and did not mention wars except metaphorically.”

And whether the film increases book sales, Ghazali said, “The Arab world in general, its measure for selling books is not the book itself, but what was written about the book and the media and fame presented to it,” noting that “this measure is a social measure, not an intellectual one.”

For his part, Makashvi Ibrahim of "Al-Nahar" publishing house said, "Book and cinema complement each other.

We are in an Arab society with little reading, and films have their audience, so the relationship is complementary, when the film succeeds, the sales of original books increase.” 

As for Ali Bahsoun from Al-Farabi Publishing House, he pointed out that "despite modern means, the Internet, and movies, it was not able to take the role of the written novel or the book in general." 

He added, "The book still maintains its shape and its chances are 80%, and I personally say that whoever does not read the book will not go to the cinema to watch it."

Western rapprochement

Shahla Lahiji of the Iranian publishing house "Publication House" said, "The relationship between cinema and the novel is a strong one, especially in Iran and Europe in general."

She pointed out that "the film did not defeat the novel, because people by nature love details, and the film summarizes many of the events of the novel or the book in general, and sheds more light on the elements of its success that lie in the influences it uses."

And from the British "Learning Media", Diane Conway said, "It is the book that supports the film, not the other way around." 

"The book is much better than the movie in terms of details, and the feeling that it conveys to the reader is better," she added.

She pointed out that "the films that derive from novels have achieved their success only in the element of visual dazzle, which may be somewhat similar to the imagination of the spectator who read the novel and lived its characters and events."

On the impact of films on book sales, Conway said, "The opposite is what happens in Europe in general. A smart director looks for best-selling books or for stories that influenced people and newspapers wrote about them." 

On the other hand, Mary Chan of the Chinese publishing house MCCM said, "In China, literary works are more important than cinematic works. The Chinese, especially those who live in non-industrial areas, are interested in reading a lot, and then decide to go to the cinema to see and compare what they read."

 Baus Bao of the Dutch "Embass of the King Dome of the Nether Lands" house said, "Many films that are shown in all cinemas in the world are based on books and novels that are of course popular with success." She was progressively able to contribute to conveying the feeling that the viewer feels and his approach to his own feeling while reading.

 He pointed out that "in the Netherlands and Europe in general, the community in them is a reader, you find him on the train carrying a book and on his break from work as well, not to mention allocating time for him at home to read as well, so the book is the treasure of the film director through which he will succeed and not the other way around."

Cinema and literature

The writer Ernst Lund Green says, “The cinematographer cannot rely on description as he does the storyteller, but he must present a creative presentation of events that actually happen. The novel is a (linguistic) sequence that includes a story, while the film is a “sham” sequence that includes a story as well.

While the novel bears description, but rather that it is its most important component, the film does not do this, because the rhetorical medium in the novel is the words, while the medium is confined to the film with the image and its appendices.

The shock of the image (in the film) is different from the shock of the language (in the novel), and therefore the conditions of reception differ between them, and each of them requires different cognitive and imaginative processes.