EXPLORING MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS AND CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN ENGLISH LITERARY TEXTS: A COGNITIVE STYLISTIC APPROACH
Keywords:
Cognitive stylistics, mental representations, conceptual metaphors, cognitive poetics, literary analysis, meaning-making, narrative comprehension, literary interpretation, cognitive models, metaphor theoryAbstract
Cognitive stylistics, a subfield of cognitive poetics, examines the intersection of cognitive science and literary analysis, exploring how mental processes shape our understanding of literature. This paper focuses on two key cognitive structures: mental representations and conceptual metaphors. Mental representations are internal cognitive models that help readers make sense of narrative worlds, characters, and events. Conceptual metaphors, on the other hand, map abstract concepts to more tangible experiences, facilitating the comprehension of complex ideas. By analyzing how these cognitive processes function within literary texts, the paper demonstrates how they contribute to meaning-making in literature. Through this framework, cognitive stylistics offers a deeper understanding of how readers engage with and interpret literary works, emphasizing the active role of the mind in shaping literary experience.
