Ford’s Mister Bosphorus and the Muses is an extremely interesting text to analyse from a cognitive perspective. In particular, Conceptual Integration Theory seems to offer the best theoretical tools to account for its linguistic and narratological complexity: the hallucinatory techniques, dream-like transformations and metanarrative devices produce a mind-oriented text, and Blending can be fruitfully used to appreciate how voices, perspectives, characters, genres and meanings contribute to the production of impossible storytelling scenarios. The analysis of mental spaces also sheds light on the many implications triggered by the emergent structure of the blends and on the way they repeatedly differ the idea of ‘understanding’ the text in order to create new mental representations. Such a study also throws new light on Ford’s poetic production, since it demonstrates that in fact Mister Bosphorus is not only an idiosyncratic work of art, but a sort of theoretical statement under the guise of poetic experimentation, which confirms Ford’s paramount role as a major prose theorist but also as an accomplished modernist poet.

"Revelling in Dissolving Views": Conceptual Integration and Blending in Ford's 'Mister Bosphorus and the Muses'

BORGOGNI, Daniele
2017-01-01

Abstract

Ford’s Mister Bosphorus and the Muses is an extremely interesting text to analyse from a cognitive perspective. In particular, Conceptual Integration Theory seems to offer the best theoretical tools to account for its linguistic and narratological complexity: the hallucinatory techniques, dream-like transformations and metanarrative devices produce a mind-oriented text, and Blending can be fruitfully used to appreciate how voices, perspectives, characters, genres and meanings contribute to the production of impossible storytelling scenarios. The analysis of mental spaces also sheds light on the many implications triggered by the emergent structure of the blends and on the way they repeatedly differ the idea of ‘understanding’ the text in order to create new mental representations. Such a study also throws new light on Ford’s poetic production, since it demonstrates that in fact Mister Bosphorus is not only an idiosyncratic work of art, but a sort of theoretical statement under the guise of poetic experimentation, which confirms Ford’s paramount role as a major prose theorist but also as an accomplished modernist poet.
2017
XVI (2017)
49
59
Cognitive Stylistics, Conceptual Integration Theory, Blending, Narrative Viewpoint, Polysemy, Modernism
Borgogni, Daniele
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Revelling in dissolving views Post Print.pdf

Accesso aperto

Descrizione: Articolo principale
Tipo di file: POSTPRINT (VERSIONE FINALE DELL’AUTORE)
Dimensione 185.34 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
185.34 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri
Revelling in dissolving views.pdf

Accesso riservato

Tipo di file: PDF EDITORIALE
Dimensione 190.9 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
190.9 kB Adobe PDF   Visualizza/Apri   Richiedi una copia

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1641516
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact