conceptual metaphor & literature - eastern … metaphor & literature senior seminar ~ spring...

Conceptual Metaphor & Literature SeniorSeminar~Spring2012~English461Instructor:Dr.ElenaTapia,Ph.D.Linguistics,IndianaUniversityClassmeets:Mondays4:00‐6:45p.m."Onemustlearnwheremetaphorisusefultothought,whereitiscrucialtothought,andwhereitismisleading.Conceptualmetaphorcanbeallthese."

Lakoff&Johnson,PhilosophyintheFlesh(1999)In this senior seminar, participants will examine metaphor from a linguistic and cognitiveperspective. Through basic secondary readings we will study current theories that posit thatmetaphorisnotsimplyfigurative.Rather,metaphorformsmuchofourconceptualapparatus. The study of metaphor as conceptual system is quite interdisciplinary. Therefore, our initialreadingsanddiscussionswill involveapproachestoconceptualmetaphor in linguistics,cognitivescience,psychology,andliterature. Componentsofaconceptualsystemrelatetowhathumanbeingsknowandexperience inbasicphysical and physiological existence and to what they know about their cultures. These basicexperiences, at the level of the body, might involve perception and motor movement. At the

cultural level, basic experiencemightinvolve a culture's understanding ofkinship. We might for example,conceiveofknowledgewithakinshipmetaphor: An idea is born orinherited; or, we might say that weadopted an idea. A conceptualmetaphor has a structure that mayextendthroughoutatext.Theworkofthe seminar will be to discover andinterpret various types of extensivelystructuredmetaphorsintexts.Primary sources: Literary texts ofvariousgenresandofvariousperiodsto be selected by each student andapproved by Dr. Tapia. Thesewill beliteraryworks suitable for analysis atthislevel.

In the second part of this seminar

(Eng462inFall’12),studentswillwritea20‐25pageoriginalanalysisofaliterarywork,employingprimaryandsecondarysources.Fall’12ENG462willalsomeetMondays4‐6:45PM.

CopyrightLeoCullum.Cullum,celebratedcartoonistforTheNewYorker,lived1942­2010.