The aim of the dissertation is to test the theory of cognitive linguistics against the challenging ground of literary text. I focus on the work of one writer, Terry Pratchett, because in his novels I have found enough material on which to demonstrate the workings of the mechanisms investigated in all the major areas of cognitive research. In the introductory chapter (Chapter One), I present the writer and his works, as well as the main assumptions of the working theory of cognitive linguistics. The next four chapters focus on the main areas of cognitive research. In Chapter Two I consider the dimensions of imagery as worked out by Langacker, and provide examples of both the canonical and the non-conventional ways of scene construal in Pratchett's works. Chapter Three deals with Pratchett's play on metaphor, which involves an impressive variety of linguistic and conceptual forms of metaphorical mappings. Chapter Four focuses on the conceptual integration (blending), which is traceable in syntax, the processes that occur at word and sentence level, and at the higher level of reasoning and "figurative" language. Chapter Five analyzes the use of iconicity by the writer, and the conclusions sum up the results of the cognitive-linguistic analysis of Terry Pratchett's prose. (Sylwia Dzeren-Glowacka, from the Introduction)