METAPHOR AND FICTION

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to give a brief survey of the intricate relation between metaphorical expressions and fictional discourse, stressing the notion of creativity as a general clue for the further, more detailed analysis of this relation. The fact that metaphors represent one of the main characteristics of poetic language manifests their functional analogy and introduces the problem of metaphor into more general aesthetic debates. The problem of the relation between metaphors and fiction appears on three levels: 1 — the level of meaning, i. e. the question of their reference to reality 2 — the ontological level, i. e. the question of their ontological commitments 3 — the level of truth, i. e. the question of their truth value. Looking briefly at possible theoretical answers related to these three levels, we reject the realist position concerning the notions of reality, existence and truth, and claim (according to the late Wittgenstein) that the limits of what we call »reality«, »existence« and »truth« are limits posed by our conventions. Meaphors and fiction should be treated as creative means of expanding those limits.