ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the existing work on the complex relation that exists between metaphor and narrative in literary fiction. While psychologists have concentrated on the apparent incompatibility between two opposing ways of organizing human experience, evidenced in the categorical (metaphoric) and schematic (narrative) distinction, literary narratives show a remarkable ability for the two organizations to co-exist. The main question guiding the discussion concerns the degree of co-dependence between schematic and categorical organization in literary narratives and the extent to which one can be assumed to be subordinate to the other. The metaphor is novel and difficult to interpret unless it is considered in relation to other metaphors in the text and to aspects of narrative structure. There are two critical implications of 'Conceptual Metaphor Theory' (CMT) for the way people understand metaphor both in and outside of literature.
