Publications
Publication details [#1554]
Santarpia, Alfonso. 2010. Metaphorical conceptualizations of the body in psychopatology and poetry. Delta 26 : 435–451. 17 pp. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Abstract
This paper analyses how the body is conceptualized in a corpus of Italian texts drawn from psychiatric manuals, psychoanalysis manuals and poetry. By drawing on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff and Johnson 1980; 1999) and Context-Limited Simulation Theory (Ritchie 2003; 200; 2008) the authors propose a categorization of the metaphors identified in their data. The analysis suggests that in the psychiatric manuals the body is represented in terms of the body-container category. In psychoanalysis manuals the body is portrayed by "sexual-sensual sentences" or by abstract "notions". Finally, in the Italian poetry the focus lies on the organs and specific body parts.