Metaphor as a Means of Representing First-Hand Cancer Experience in English Teen Sick-Lit

Alexandra Nagornaya, James Nwankwo
{"title":"Metaphor as a Means of Representing First-Hand Cancer Experience in English Teen Sick-Lit","authors":"Alexandra Nagornaya, James Nwankwo","doi":"10.15688/jvolsu2.2023.4.7","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The present paper is a contribution to the study of cancer metaphors in contemporary English. It focuses on the ways cancer is conceptualized in teen sick-lit, a relatively new genre of children's literature which presents stories of severe illnesses that afflict teenagers, cancer being the most important of them. The analysis is based on four novels that employ the first-person narrative mode. It rests upon the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, utilizing such specific research instruments as the Career of Metaphor Theory (B. Bowdle and D. Gentner) and the concept of metaphorical creativity (Z. Kövecses). The novelty of the research angle is that the paper takes a differentiated approach towards cancer metaphor analysis, first identifying thematic groups relevant to cancer experience and then tracing patterns of metaphor use within each group. The four groups presented in the study are metaphors of cancer itself, cancer patients, diagnostic procedures and treatments, and physical and emotional conditions of patients. It is proved that there are metaphors that demonstrate a strong inclination to reflect only one aspect of cancer experience. Thus, the actively promoted journey metaphor appears suitable only for conceptualizing procedures and treatments, while war metaphor proves versatile. Further on, the paper analyzes instances of the war metaphor use proving that far from being obsolete, it has a considerable conceptual and communicative potential and can be developed further.","PeriodicalId":42545,"journal":{"name":"Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta-Seriya 2-Yazykoznanie","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta-Seriya 2-Yazykoznanie","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2023.4.7","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

The present paper is a contribution to the study of cancer metaphors in contemporary English. It focuses on the ways cancer is conceptualized in teen sick-lit, a relatively new genre of children's literature which presents stories of severe illnesses that afflict teenagers, cancer being the most important of them. The analysis is based on four novels that employ the first-person narrative mode. It rests upon the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, utilizing such specific research instruments as the Career of Metaphor Theory (B. Bowdle and D. Gentner) and the concept of metaphorical creativity (Z. Kövecses). The novelty of the research angle is that the paper takes a differentiated approach towards cancer metaphor analysis, first identifying thematic groups relevant to cancer experience and then tracing patterns of metaphor use within each group. The four groups presented in the study are metaphors of cancer itself, cancer patients, diagnostic procedures and treatments, and physical and emotional conditions of patients. It is proved that there are metaphors that demonstrate a strong inclination to reflect only one aspect of cancer experience. Thus, the actively promoted journey metaphor appears suitable only for conceptualizing procedures and treatments, while war metaphor proves versatile. Further on, the paper analyzes instances of the war metaphor use proving that far from being obsolete, it has a considerable conceptual and communicative potential and can be developed further.
查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
隐喻:英语青少年病文学中癌症亲身经历的再现
本文是对当代英语中癌症隐喻研究的一种贡献。它关注的是癌症在青少年病态文学中的概念。青少年病态文学是一种相对较新的儿童文学类型,它呈现的是折磨青少年的严重疾病的故事,其中最重要的是癌症。本分析以四本采用第一人称叙事模式的小说为基础。它以概念隐喻理论为基础,利用了隐喻理论生涯(B. Bowdle和D. Gentner)和隐喻创造力概念(Z. Kövecses)等具体的研究工具。研究角度的新颖之处在于,本文采用差异化的方法对癌症隐喻进行分析,首先确定与癌症经历相关的主题群体,然后追踪每个群体中隐喻的使用模式。研究中出现的四组是癌症本身、癌症患者、诊断程序和治疗、患者的身体和情绪状况的隐喻。事实证明,有些隐喻强烈倾向于只反映癌症经历的一个方面。因此,积极推广的旅程隐喻似乎只适用于概念化程序和治疗,而战争隐喻被证明是多功能的。本文进一步分析了战争隐喻的使用实例,证明了战争隐喻不仅没有过时,而且具有相当大的概念和交际潜力,可以进一步发展。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
来源期刊
CiteScore
0.20
自引率
50.00%
发文量
87
审稿时长
6 weeks
期刊最新文献
Verbal Collocations with Components “(Nouveau) Coronavirus” and “COVID-19” in French The Metaphor of the State and Ways of Expressing It in Russian Official Speech Style as a Relational Polyvalent Category Objectification Features of Social Exclusion and Social Inclusion Categories in the Russian Language (Exemplified by “Glubinka” and “Glush” Concepts) Methods for Estimating the Language Conflict Potential
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1