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Part of
The Stylistics of Landscapes, the Landscapes of Stylistics
Edited by John Douthwaite, Daniela Francesca Virdis and Elisabetta Zurru
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 28] 2017
► pp. 21–30

Chapter 2
The role of analogy in Charles Dickens’ Pictures from Italy

Pictures from Italy (1846) is one of Charles Dickens’ lesser known works. There has been very little critical interest in this travelogue, and no linguistic analysis. In this chapter, I focus on the significant role of analogy in this text: broadly covering similes (like, as); quasi-similes (as if) and comparisons; and defined in cognitive terms as overt “mapping” across conceptual domains. I argue for four kinds of analogies at work, each group having different functions, effects and, most importantly, degrees of reader-helpfulness. The overall result is the creation of an Italy that is a rich composition of possible worlds and sub-worlds, corresponding as much to Dickens’ beliefs and fantasies as to actual experience. The analogies are therefore a necessary and important part of the linguistic “texture” of the work overall. They raise interesting possibilities for the further exploration of related travelogues and the discourse of tourism more generally.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The role of analogy
  • 3.Further implications
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 7 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.28.02wal
References (13)
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Panagiotidou, Maria-Eirini
2022. Ekphrasis: Past and Present. In The Poetics of Ekphrasis, ► pp. 15 ff. DOI logo
Lugea, Jane
2018. The year’s work in stylistics 2017. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 27:4 ► pp. 329 ff. DOI logo

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