French Literature Reviews - 2026

É. Bordas, Les Chemins de la métaphore.
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics

Bibliographic reference: É. Bordas, Les Chemins de la métaphore, 2018.

Éric Bordas, Les Chemins de la métaphore, PUF, coll. "Études littéraires/Recto-verso", 2003. 128 p. 10 Euros.

"You're getting on my nerves," "the teaching staff is on strike," "she has a harsh voice": our daily life is saturated with metaphors, which are often no longer even perceived as tropes, whereas all literature, both poetry and fiction, feeds on this imaginative capacity of human language to figure problems of representation.

This book first offers a synthesis of current knowledge in linguistics and rhetoric, enabling the analysis of metaphorical utterances from a stylistic perspective.

Review published in Acta Fabula (Autumn 2003, vol. 4, no. 2): Marc Escola, "The perilous paths of metaphor"

Metaphor remains a foundational element of both everyday speech and literary creation, serving as a primary mechanism for human conceptualization and expression. Within the tradition of rhetoric and linguistics, the study of tropes focuses on how figurative language shapes our understanding of reality and representation. By distinguishing between metaphors embedded in common parlance and the imaginative capacity of poetic or fictional texts, scholars seek to clarify the mechanics of semantic shift. Les Chemins de la métaphore by Éric Bordas (2003) provides a synthesis of current knowledge in linguistics and rhetoric to facilitate the stylistic examination of metaphorical utterances.

The analysis of metaphorical utterances involves the intersection of syntax, semantics, and rhetorical function. By examining how language figures problems of representation, the study considers the transition from functional, often unconscious usage to the deliberate artistry found in literature. The text utilizes a structured linguistic framework to decode these figures, whether they appear in casual conversation or narrative prose. Readers interested in the history of rhetorical studies and the stylistic analysis of tropes may find this synthesis of knowledge relevant to their own research into the nature of figurative discourse.