Hermeneutic Triangles: Intermediality and Ethnopoetics in La Academia de las Musas by José Luis Guerín
Abstract
José Luis Guerín’s The Academy of the Muses is a celebration of language and its seductive power. The film is structured around hermeneutic triangles, in which two interlocutors engage in dialogue while a third, often absent, becomes the focal point of their exchange. Desire unfolds through language, which becomes a space of projection and interpretation. The intermedial dimension is central; literary texts are read, discussed, and transposed into the film, gaining new life and aesthetic resonance. Guerín does more than merely quote the texts; he stages them, turning literature into an active narrative agent. The journey to Sardinia introduces an ethnopoetic element, reconnecting language with its oral and ritual origins. Thus, the film reflects on the transformative power of language and its ability to traverse and connect different media.
Submitted: May 14, 2025 | Accepted: Feb. 9, 2026 | Published June 15, 2026 | Language: it
Keywords Literature • Intermediality • José Luis Guerin • Muses • Cinema
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Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Ri/2037-6588/2026/26/004