The misrule of metaphor

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dc.contributor.advisorMcCallum, Pamela M.
dc.contributor.authorPinchin, Catherine Bryn
dc.date.accessioned2005-07-29T21:17:12Z
dc.date.available2005-07-29T21:17:12Z
dc.date.issued1996
dc.descriptionBibliography: p. 254-264en
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation examines the undercurrent of dissonance the utopian pole of metaphor offers in narrative fiction. It argues that, if the tensional interaction within metaphorical assertions of equivalence is read as a dynamic of power, then the configuration of the trope offers possibilities of contestation which have yet to be considered. Although Ricoeur's studies of metaphor theorize semantic deviation in terms of the imagination grounded in a conceptual framework encompassing ideology and utopia as complementary poles of a spectrum of social action, they fail to grasp the issue of power. By exploring patterns of contestation in metaphoric assertions of equivalence around such issues as gender, class and transgression in selected Canadian narratives, in conjunction with contemporary literary theorists, I develop strategies of reading the utopian perspective. Chapter One examines Thomas' metaphor of a lynching in terms of the context of power in which it appeared and which it destabilized. Chapter Two reformulates Ricoeur's conjunction of metaphor and ideology so as to locate the contestatory utopian capacity which, I maintain, is available within metaphor. In Chapter Three, a Jamesonian analysis of narrative locates the utopian horizon of Thomas' Graven Images. I parallel its contestation of the dominant ideological paradigm with a reversal in the metaphorical intertext. In Chapter Four, the utopian opens a strategy of reading the form of the metaphoric text. Moving from a response to Stanton's challenge to Irigaray's metaphoricity, I examine the metaphorical implications of form in Swan's The Biggest Modem Woman Of The World. In Chapter Five, by means of a de Manian rhetorical analysis of In The Skin Of A Lion, I illustrate the strains at the centre of metaphor between ideological and utopian instincts and explore the consequences of such tensions for critical reading. In Chapter Six, using Findley's Not Wanted On The Voyage, I argue that Ricoeur's reading of utopia is similar to Bakhtin's reading of the dynamic of carnival, and postulate that, although carnivalesque inversion is analogous to the process by means of which metaphor interrupts the ideological figuration of belief, the 'is not' persists in the dialogic nature of its intetvention.en
dc.format.extentviii, 264 leaves ; 30 cm.en
dc.identifier.citationPinchin, C. B. (1996). The misrule of metaphor (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/12627en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/12627
dc.identifier.isbn0612186385en
dc.identifier.lccPN 228 M4 P56 1996en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/29061
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject.lccPN 228 M4 P56 1996en
dc.subject.lcshMetaphor in literature
dc.titleThe misrule of metaphor
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplineEnglish
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
ucalgary.thesis.accessionTheses Collection 58.002:Box 1054 520538460
ucalgary.thesis.notesUARCen
ucalgary.thesis.uarcreleaseyen
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