Publicação
From Space to Mental Space: A Cognitive Perspective into Narrative and the Architecture of the Human Mind
| Resumo: | Spatial metaphors are pervasive across models and theories about the structure and the meaning- making processes of the human mind: metaphorical and metonymic mappings (Lakoff and Johnson 1980, Barcelona 2012), mental spaces (Fauconnier 1994, 1997) or semantic domains (Fauconnier and Sweetser 1996, Brandt 2004) are examples of this spatial ubiquity in cognitive science. In narratology, categories of location and place are often correlated with narrative spaces as expression of a dynamics of unfolding of events, from initial situation to catastrophe to its consequence and result (Brandt 2009). Narrative as such is viewed as a compelling way of worldmaking (Nünning 2010, Goodman 1975), inviting further metaphors in the description of the reading experience, such as ‘being transported’ by means of ‘mentally performing’ narrated actions and experiences (Gerrig 2003). This paper follows a cognitive approach to literary texts (Zunshine 2015, Baumbach et. al. 2017) as a framework for the analysis of space, viewed as a central element in narrative and as conceptual unit for sense-making. The experience of progressing through narrative is understood as the navigation through space, and complementarily the experience of space, perceived or imagined, can unfold in a mental topography of representation. The description of this exchange is complemented by the analysis of a short literary narrative. |
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| Autores principais: | Abrantes, Ana Margarida |
| Assunto: | Narrative Space Mental space Indexicality Worldmaking Cognitive literary studies Julio Cortázar |
| Ano: | 2021 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | artigo |
| Tipo de acesso: | unknown |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade Católica Portuguesa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Diffractions |
| Resumo: | Spatial metaphors are pervasive across models and theories about the structure and the meaning- making processes of the human mind: metaphorical and metonymic mappings (Lakoff and Johnson 1980, Barcelona 2012), mental spaces (Fauconnier 1994, 1997) or semantic domains (Fauconnier and Sweetser 1996, Brandt 2004) are examples of this spatial ubiquity in cognitive science. In narratology, categories of location and place are often correlated with narrative spaces as expression of a dynamics of unfolding of events, from initial situation to catastrophe to its consequence and result (Brandt 2009). Narrative as such is viewed as a compelling way of worldmaking (Nünning 2010, Goodman 1975), inviting further metaphors in the description of the reading experience, such as ‘being transported’ by means of ‘mentally performing’ narrated actions and experiences (Gerrig 2003). This paper follows a cognitive approach to literary texts (Zunshine 2015, Baumbach et. al. 2017) as a framework for the analysis of space, viewed as a central element in narrative and as conceptual unit for sense-making. The experience of progressing through narrative is understood as the navigation through space, and complementarily the experience of space, perceived or imagined, can unfold in a mental topography of representation. The description of this exchange is complemented by the analysis of a short literary narrative. |
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