Metaphor and Conflict /Métaphore et conflit ed. by Paola Paissa et al.

Abstract

Reviewed by: Metaphor and Conflict /Métaphore et conflit ed. by Paola Paissa et al. A. Kate Miller Paissa, Paola, Michelangelo Conoscenti, Ruggero Druette, and Martin Solly, eds. Metaphor and Conflict /Métaphore et conflit. Peter Lang, 2021. ISBN 978-3-0343-4068-7. Pp. 386. The contributions to this edited volume, penned by scholars from universities in France, Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, are written in English and French, reflecting their origins in a bilingual 2018 workshop of the same name held in Turin as part of a larger Italian Progetti di ricerca di interesse nazionale [research project of national interest] on metaphors. The introduction to the volume (which is the only chapter that appears in both English and French versions) presents the notion underlying the contributions and reflected in the title: The use of metaphor creates a "conflict" in that the literal interpretation of the words used are at odds with real-world facts and knowledge (for example, as two separate chapters note, in Emily Brontë's verse "And winter pours its grief in snow," grief is not a substance that can be poured and winter is not an entity that can carry out the act of pouring). The introduction and the first few theoretically framed chapters (discussing syntax and textual coherence, metaphor and metalanguage, and the argumentative functions and vulnerabilities of metaphors) may present difficulties for nonspecialists. However, subsequent chapters are more accessible, presenting a series of interesting case studies on the use of metaphor in political and media discourse (section 2), and in pedagogical materials and translated literature (section 3). The six chapters that comprise section 2 focus on the discourse surrounding significant recent political events such as Brexit and its aftermath, the 2017 U.S. presidential inauguration, and the Gilets jaunes protests in France. These chapters examine the use of verbal, visual, and multimodal metaphor through various corpora that include social media posts, political speeches, press articles, or editorial cartoons. These case studies offer fascinating analyses with broad appeal to anyone interested in language, politics, social media interaction, current events, satire, and beyond. It should be noted, however, that a widespread interest captured by analyses related to current events will almost certainly be tempered by the passage of time as such events are relegated to the annals of history. Section 3 includes only two chapters, which examine the use of metaphor in, respectively, a video series illustrating basic economic principles (Dr. CAC, which aired on France 5 from 2005-2011) and an Italian translation of Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Again, these case studies present analyses that would be of interest to a wider range of readers beyond just those working in linguistics. Thus, overall, contributions to these latter sections could easily be read as stand-alone articles; the purported underlying theoretical framework of metaphor and conflict seems somewhat opaque and not essential to benefitting from the analyses presented in many of the volume's contributions. [End Page 249] A. Kate Miller Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis Copyright © 2023 American Association of Teachers of French