COGNITIVE POETICS A pioneering text in its first edition, this revised publication of Cognitive Poetics offers a rigorous and principled approach to literary reading and analysis. The second edition of this seminal text features: • updated theory, frameworks, and examples throughout, including new expla- nations of literary meaning, the power of reading, literary force, and emotion; • extended examples of literary texts from Old English to contemporary liter- ature, covering genres including religious, realist, romantic, science fictional, and surrealist texts, and encompassing poetry, prose, and drama; • new chapters on the mind- modelling of character, the building of text- worlds, the feeling of immersion and ambience, and the resonant power of emotion in literature; • fully updated and accessible accounts of Cognitive Grammar, deictic shifts, prototypicality, conceptual framing, and metaphor in literary reading. Encouraging the reader to adopt a fresh approach to understanding literature and literary analyses, each chapter introduces a different framework within cognitive poetics and relates it to a literary text. Accessibly written and reader- focused, the book invites further explorations either individually or within a classroom setting. This thoroughly revised edition of Cognitive Poetics includes an expanded further reading section and updated explorations and discussion points, making it essential reading for students on literary theory and stylistics courses, as well as a fundamental tool for those studying critical theory, linguistics, and literary studies. Peter Stockwell is Professor of Literary Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, UK. COGNITIVE POETICS An Introduction Second Edition Peter Stockwell Second edition published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2020 Peter Stockwell The right of Peter Stockwell to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Routledge 2002 British Library Cataloguing- in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data Names: Stockwell, Peter, author. Title: Cognitive poetics : a new introduction / Peter Stockwell. Description: Second edition. | London ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019037626 | ISBN 9781138781368 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138781382 (paperback) | ISBN 9780367854546 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Cognitive grammar. | Poetics. Classification: LCC P165 .S74 2020 | DDC 808.1–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037626 ISBN: 978-1-138-78136-8 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-78138-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-85454-6 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear In memory of Eileen and Mervyn Stockwell CONTENTS Acknowledgements ix 1 Introduction: body, mind, and literature 1 2 Prototypicality and contexts 15 3 Figures and ground 32 4 Deixis and projection 49 5 Texture and resonance 70 6 Cognitive Grammar 86 7 Schemas and frames 102 8 Conceptual metaphor 119 9 Blending and compression 138 10 Text- worlds 155 11 Mind- modelling 176 12 Immersion and ambience 194 viii Contents 13 Directions and connections 211 14 Key readings 223 References 225 Index 240 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is a new introduction, but cognitive poetics can no longer be said to be new. When the first edition of this book was being written, around the turn of the mil- lennium, the area was still in the process of being defined, and its edges delineated. That book played its part not only in mapping the landscape but in suggesting how far to the horizons the field could stretch. This new edition appears at a point at which a cognitive poetic turn of mind has already made itself felt across a range of approaches in literary studies, and arts and humanities more generally. Back in the beginning, it was all Peter Verdonk’s idea. Many years ago, at a restaurant in a Hungarian forest, he suggested with his usual quiet, wise smile that I should write a textbook on cognitive approaches to literature. The conception of the book has changed quite a bit since then, and the discipline itself has acquired a name and a firmer set of borders, but the shape of this book and its mere exist- ence owe a great deal to the inspiration and influence he has exerted over all that time. Over the course of three decades, I have had conversations with many brilliant people whose ideas have shaped my thinking, though they are probably not aware of it. I am especially grateful to Michael Burke, Amy Cook, Peter Crisp, Szilvia Csabi, Jonathan Culpeper, Barbara Dancygier, Catherine Emmott, Monika Flud- ernik, Charles Forceville, Donald Freeman, Margaret Freeman, Richard Gerrig, Ray Gibbs, Keith Green, Chris Hart, David Herman, Laura Hidalgo Downing, Patrick Colm Hogan, Lesley Jeffries, Dan McIntyre, Nigel McLoughlin, David Miall, Rocio Montoro, Alan Palmer, Merja Polvinen, Alan Richardson, Brian Richardson, Elena Semino, Mick Short, Paul Simpson, Gerard Steen, Eve Sweet- ser, Michael Toolan, Reuven Tsur, Mark Turner, Willie van Peer, Katie Wales, Martin Wynne, Lisa Zunshine, and Sonia Zyngier; and I would also like to acknow- ledge with fond memory conversations with colleagues who have passed away: Ron Carter, Bill Nash, Mary Ellen Ryder, and Paul Werth. x Acknowledgements Many thanks to Louisa Semlyen for her support and foresight in commissioning the book originally; thanks too to Nadia Seemungal Owen at Routledge for patience and constant reminders to get on with this new edition: the longer it took, the more the field changed, and the longer it took. I am fortunate in the generosity of my colleagues and friends. Through the international Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA), I have benefited from many and late discussions with the best minds and their most precise criticism. The Cognitive Poetics Research Group, loosely arranged between Nottingham and Sheffield, has been an invaluable source of ideas and proof of thinking. Thanks to Alice Bell, Joe Bray, Sam Browse, Richard Finn, Alison Gibbons, Sarah Jackson, Isabelle van der Bom, Sara Whiteley, and of course to Joanna Gavins. The academic community at Nottingham University has been a rich source of ideas and inspiration. The philosophy here of language study in a radical, engaged, and humane context makes it one of the most fruitful and exciting places to work and think. In particular, I have learnt more than they would realise from my col- leagues, from my own doctoral researchers, and the students who took my cogni- tive poetics course, out of which I wrote this book. Thanks to my literary linguistic buddies Jess Norledge and Violeta Sotirova, and to former researchers in cognitive poetics and close colleagues who have gone on to even greater things: Marcello Giovanelli, Christiana Gregoriou, Alice Haines, Craig Hamilton, Chloe Harrison, Kim Kreischer, Ernestine Lahey, Andrea Macrae, Michaela Mahlberg, Jess Mason, Louise Nuttall, Eirini Panagiotidou, David Peplow, Lizzie Stewart-Shaw, and Wenjuan Yuan. Thanks to Marianne Fish for assistance with indexing. Every one of these people have been co-authors, and all books are second-hand books, in this sense. Not all of them agree with my ideas or the way I have shaped the book, of course, but as Don Freeman once said to me, the only real criticism comes from your friends. I have incorporated many changes as a result of this friendly fire, though of course I am responsible for all my schematic readings of their ideas. Finally, I am grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material: the estate of Ted Hughes, and Faber and Faber publishers, for ‘Hill- stone was content’, and Bill Nash for ‘Vakum clenere’ and ‘Milkmen everywhere’. 1 INTRODUCTION Body, mind, and literature Reading literature Cognitive poetics is all about reading literature. That sentence looks simple to the point of seeming trivial. It could even be seen simply as a close repetition, since here cognition is to do with the mental processes involved in reading, and poetics concerns the craft of literature. But in fact such a plain statement is really where we need to start. In order to understand exactly what this book is about, we will first need to be clear about what we mean by ‘reading’ and what we mean by ‘liter- ature’. The answers to these questions will take us to the heart of the most important issues facing us as individual, conscious, emotional, intelligent, critical people, sharing with each other a facility for language and perception. In the course of exploring these ideas, we will not be satisfied with asking important and difficult questions; we will also try to provide either answers or at least directions towards solutions. What happens when you read a literary text? The answer to this depends on why the question is being asked. Physically, you are holding a book or are in front of a screen and your eyes are focusing, moving, flicking back and forth, and you might be smiling, or pressing your lips together, or beginning to cry. Neurologi- cally, you are converting visual stimuli into parsed sentences, neurons are firing, mental work is being activated as different parts of the brain connect up your memories of words and concepts, anticipating and processing the meanings and feelings associated with them.