Spatio-temporal metaphors in Dino Buzzati’s prose

Abstract

The article examines the role of spatio-temporal metaphors in Italian literary texts. The purpose is to demonstrate the text-forming potential of the metaphor, in which temporal concepts are verbalized in the text through vocabulary with spatial semantics. The theoretical framework draws on the tenets of the conceptual metaphor theory and modern text theory. The material is Dino Buzzati’s stories. The continuous sampling method, the method of frame and metaphorical mapping, the component and contextual analysis were employed during the research. The invariants of spatio-temporal metaphors in the short stories are considered as manifestations of the authors’ individual understanding of the world. The obtained results demonstrate that the temporal concept of “life” is verbalized in the short stories through the conceptual domain of “movement in space” in the sagittal and vertical planes. The type of mapping (sagittal or vertical) influences the specifics of the frames. The frame structure of the metaphor shapes the semantic space of the text and determines its stylistic characteristics, while ensuring coherence and cohesion. The explication of the textual space-motion metaphor occurs through the detailing of the cognitive structure “source-path-goal”, while the author’s individuality is manifested in the contamination of temporal and spatial domains, disrupting the stereotypical nature of the events described.