Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21066/carcl.libri.2016-05(02).0002
The Journey Metaphor in Tales of Long Ago
Katarina Ivon
orcid.org/0000-0002-5696-7056
; Sveučilište u Zadru, Odjel za izobrazbu učitelja i odgojitelja, Zadar, Hrvatska
Sanja Vrcić-Mataija
; Sveučilište u Zadru, Odjel za nastavničke studije u Gospiću, Hrvatska
Abstract
As a thematic and compositional framework in Tales of Long Ago by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, the journey can be read and interpreted through the metaphoric prism of changes/new realisations which the characters are destined to have. Starting from the basic structure of a fairy tale, which begins with a departure, the journey branches out to a kind of travel, stations, a return or stay. The journey disrupts the balance, it changes the location; it implies abandoning the familiar and going into the unknown, which often means uncertainty, selfdenial, sacrifice and temptation. The characters decide to travel motivated by curiosity, their own convictions or extreme necessity. Therefore, this paper follows the changes in the spatial framework that affect the (in)stability of the characters and establish a typology of passenger/journey considering the purpose of the journey, place and the stations on the journey, as well as the end result. In this way, the actual journey takes on a metaphorical function of a spiritual/inner journey. Travelling from light to darkness, from life to death, from fiction to reality, from ignorance to knowledge – and vice versa – the characters go through a physical and a spiritual inner journey, metaphorically understood as a journey toward maturity, knowledge, returning home, growing up – a search for their own identities. An analysis of the metaphor’s primary functions through the revelation of specific data is placed in the context of abstract experience on the basis of which the conceptual metaphor – a journey is knowledge/maturity – can be interpreted.
Keywords
Tales of Long Ago; journey; metaphor; traveller; typology
Hrčak ID:
178727
URI
Publication date:
26.3.2017.
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