Hipertextualidad e imitación: A propósito de los "espíritus de amor" en Garcilaso

The concept of literary «hypertextuality», which was coined by Gerard Genette in Palimpsestes, has characterized an important area of the post-estructuralistic paradigm. On the other hand, the theory of «imitation» represents the basis of the Renaissance poetics. In this article the relations between both concepts are tried to be highlighted. At the same time, their validity for interpreting the classical texts is tested. As an example, the Garcilaso's sonnet VIII has been chosen. Through a brief description of the commentaries about a famous lyrical motive - that of the «espirtus vivos y encendidos»-, the understanding of the sonnet is seen to be enriched not only with the catalogue of its sources and linguistic exchanges but also with the discovery of the metric and generic links between a hypertext and its (possible) hypotexts. After discussing Garcilaso's thematic sources, it is possible for his poem to be located in a tradition which goes back, beyond the Dante's Canzone «Donna ch'avete», to the sicilian sonnets in the thirteenth century. The study of the prepetrarchist sources might help to improve our understanding of the Spanish Renaissance Literature from a transtextual and hermeneutic point of view.