ABSTRACT
The study of meaning at the lexical level is achieved through examining processes of categorization, conceptual metaphor structuring, and framing. One of the most successful, as well as problematic, aspects of cognitive linguistic research is the premise of embodiment. This chapter deals with some of the shortcomings of the structuralist approaches to textual meaning, particularly in the guise of classical narratology. The chapter looks to connect textual interpretation in various schools of literary analysis to specific semantic theories, as proposed initially by Geeraerts, with the ultimate aim of showing continuities between past and current models of word and text interpretation. The two specific case studies, Henry James's ambiguous tales, The Figure in the Carpet and The Beast in the Jungle, in the chapter examine the role of metaphor, both novel and conventional, in the narratives under discussion and provide a reassessment of some of the author previous work on the structuring functions of conceptual metaphor in narratives.
