The Figure In The Carpet Metaphor

Complete summary of henry james the figure in the carpet.

The figure in the carpet metaphor.

As karsten harries has. In a way i understand the joke s on me the reader. The narrator a writer prides himself on his astute review of hugh vereker s latest novel. Enotes plot summaries cover all the significant action of the figure in the carpet.

And yet the story in which the idiom was born henry james s 1896 tale the figure in the carpet refuses to open itself up to easy interpretations or analysis. Vereker dismisses his efforts explaining that all critics have missed my little point the particular thing i ve written my books most for the thing for the critic to find my secret like a complex figure in a persian carpet. At first sight the story s title seems to have nothing in common with its plot since it deals with a critic s desperate. The figure in the carpet has become a short hand or idiom for the key to understanding a writer s work.

I should have known better. I enjoyed the ride and naïvely enough waited for a satisfying unveiling of the mysterious figure in the carpet. The occurring metaphors in both stories make a contribution to the reader s need of detecting the stories meanings. Metaphor aristotle tells us is the application of an alien name by transference poetics 99.

After reading the figure in the carpet i was left shrugging. Metaphor the authors explain is. The problem of metaphor is inscribed in the oldest critical text of the western literary tradition. Pdf on jan 1 2002 yanna popova published the figure in the carpet find read and cite all the research you need on researchgate.