This paper will investigate how narrative can produce knowledge when studied from the point of view of the relations between different media. More exactly, I will apply theories of intermediality and iconicity to a close reading of two narratives: the first part of the novel Three Strong Women from 2009 by the French author Marie Ndiaye and El café, a short story from 1963 by the Mexican author Juan García Ponce. I will analyze the way in which these narratives can be said to imitate paintings. This kind of imitation, baptized as “intermedial imitation” by German theorist Werner Wolf, takes place when “the signifiers of the work and/or its structure are affected by the non-dominant medium, since they appear to imitate its quality or structure” (Wolf, 2002:25). According to semiotician Winfried Nöth, such relations could be classified as a typical case of iconicity, in which the form of one medium imitates the form of another medium, or “form miming form” (Nöth, 2001:18). Swedish intermediality theorist Lars Elleström is of the opinion that iconicity should even include all cases of meaning or form miming meaning and form, something which is debated in iconicity studies. However, Elleström’s hypothesis seems valid in both narratives I will study.

It must be mentioned that the intermedial imitations in my examples concern stories miming painting in general. This could be studied as a case of model ekphrasis, according to Tamar Yacobi’s classification. A closer look at García Ponce’s short story shows that it might imitate a specific painting, as in the case of Yacobis one-to-one ekphrases: more exactly Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks. I will argue that even if Hopper’s painting isn’t mentioned explicitly, an acceptance of its palimpsestic presence contributes to a more interesting reading thanks to the meaning it adds to the story.