conceptual metaphors of emotion and narrative realism in middlemarch and anna karenina kamila ...

327 Pages·2013·3.81 MB·English

CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF EMOTION AND
NARRATIVE REALISM IN
MIDDLEMARCH AND ANNA KARENINA

KAMILA WALKER, B.A. Honours
(Macquarie University)

Macquarie University, Sydney, Department of English
July 2013

This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

CONTENTS

Abstract
Statement of Candidate
Acknowledgements
Notes on Editions and System of References Used
Abbreviations

1 Introduction:
Mapping Perspectives on Emotion in Cross-Lingual Literary Texts 1

2 Realism and Emotion in the Novel
Realism and the Nineteenth-Century Novel 51
A Sketch of the History of the English Novel 69
A Sketch of the History of the Russian Novel 91

3 Emotional Engagement with Literary Fiction:
Conceptual Metaphor 125

4 Shame in the Nineteenth-Century Realist Novel:
Biology, Culture and Metaphor 147

5 Figuring the Two Facets of Pride to Recruit Emotional Engagement 175

6 Anger Metaphors:
The Rhetoric of Self-Restraint 213

7 Conclusion 275

Bibliography 281

ABSTRACT

This thesis analyzes the conventional conceptual metaphors and metonymies of emotions in
George Eliot’s Middlemarch and Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, by relying on synthesized
ideas from Cognitive Linguistics, Literary and Cultural Studies and Psychology, whilst
remaining sensitive to the specific historical-cultural settings in which the novels are
embedded. The task of this interdisciplinary approach is to bring to light the consistency of
English and Russian speakers’ common conceptions of shame, pride and anger, by discussing
the fictional narratives as instantiations of typical modes of comprehending and talking about
emotions.

The metaphorical representations of emotions are argued here to give an account of the
distinct spatial-temporal context in which they arise, but the inescapable, universal embodied
experience causes these representations not to betray any totally unexpected motivational
sources: the unity of metaphors of emotions in Middlemarch and Anna Karenina is essentially
amenable to actual human physiology. Within this orientation, an inquiry into the biological
basis of the figurative language embedded in realist discourse reveals that the novel contributes
more to a broader understanding of the so-called “experiential cognition” across the two
cultures (tacit knowledge of certain physiological patterns and instinctual impulses specific to a
particular emotion) – the larger project of Cognitive Linguistics – than has been previously
acknowledged.

This study makes use of current Conceptual Metaphor Theory as part of a literary
analysis of the two focal novels, to address the questions: ‘In what way do metaphors of
emotions in Middlemarch and Anna Karenina conform to the universality of biological
experience?’ and ‘How is this metaphoric language of the novels indispensable for
communicating a standard for moral conduct in any particular situation?’. It thereby explores
how Eliot’s and Tolstoy’s construction of language is motivated – and constrained – by fairly
calculable physiological reactions, and offers a fresh literary analysis that considers the
generation of metaphors to be an individual act of artistic creation, one nevertheless that is less
distinctly cultural and more definitively biologically-determined.

I certify that this thesis is my own work and it has not been previously submitted, in part
or in whole, for assessment in any formal course of study.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I have various acknowledgements to make. This thesis was completed with the financial aid of
an MQRES scholarship granted to me by Macquarie University in Sydney. I have also had the
good fortune to receive an additional grant from the Department of English used for the most
valuable and exciting week’s field research in Moscow and St Petersburg. I’m grateful to the
Departmental Administrator, Frances Thompson, for kindly helping me with the application
process. It was a privilege and pleasure to work in the supportive environment of the English
Department, which offered continuous guidance and professional advice.

I should like to thank Dr Marika Kalyuga (Department of International Studies,
Macquarie University), my Associate Supervisor, for insightful lectures and conversations
about emotions through the prism of the Russian language. Dr Kalyuga also read a number of
translations and made useful suggestions. Any errors, however, both in translation and
analysis, are my own.

I am particularly indebted to Professor Anna Wierzbicka (Department of Linguistics,
Australian National University) for allowing me, over the course of six months, to join her
excellent seminars on emotions, thereby offering the full benefit of close analyses of the NSM
approach.

Much as I have enjoyed working on the thesis, I have appreciated even more the many
hours of fruitful discussions with my Principal Supervisor, Professor Antonina Harbus
(Department of English, Macquarie University), who first suggested and then scrupulously
monitored the project. Her expert assistance, superlative navigation through disparate
disciplinary fields, generous feedback on my work, editorial contribution, keen interest and
enthusiasm for the thesis, as well as words of encouragement in times of struggle and self-
doubt, are all beyond valuation.

Finally, I owe special thanks to my husband, Lance, for his help with the formatting of
the thesis and also for his patience and constant support throughout my candidature.