pataphor

While concretised metaphors may be written into the strange fiction of novae, errata and chimerae, and this sort of fantastication therefore quite familiar, the pataphor is noticeably distinct in the fact that it concretises the metaphor, in this example, as it occurs, violating convention in the most fundamental way, rendering the whole narrative as unpredictable and metamorphic as a dream.

Archive 2008-08-01 Hal Duncan 2008

While concretised metaphors may be written into the strange fiction of novae, errata and chimerae, and this sort of fantastication therefore quite familiar, the pataphor is noticeably distinct in the fact that it concretises the metaphor, in this example, as it occurs, violating convention in the most fundamental way, rendering the whole narrative as unpredictable and metamorphic as a dream.

Notes on Strange Fiction: The Pataphysical Quirk Hal Duncan 2008

The wikipedia article on pataphysics offers an interesting avenue for investigation in the idea of the "pataphor", a figure of speech that is to the metaphor as the metaphor is to the literal representation, one that creates an additional degree of separation between the narrative and its context.

Notes on Strange Fiction: The Pataphysical Quirk Hal Duncan 2008

The wikipedia article on pataphysics offers an interesting avenue for investigation in the idea of the "pataphor", a figure of speech that is to the metaphor as the metaphor is to the literal representation, one that creates an additional degree of separation between the narrative and its context.

Archive 2008-08-01 Hal Duncan 2008

We might easily follow that pataphor with another, a description of the character "unlocking the door of that house of cards, picking up the mail from the mat as they walk in."

Notes on Strange Fiction: The Pataphysical Quirk Hal Duncan 2008

The pataphor outlined above may result in this, but the effect can also be achieved by straightforward self-contradiction.

Notes on Strange Fiction: The Pataphysical Quirk Hal Duncan 2008

So if a literal representation of the context would have a character "make it clear exactly where they stand," and a metaphor would have them "lay their cards on the table," a pataphor would transform the metaphor into a new context, have the character "lay their cards on the table, then pick them up and start building a house of cards".

Archive 2008-08-01 Hal Duncan 2008

So if a literal representation of the context would have a character "make it clear exactly where they stand," and a metaphor would have them "lay their cards on the table," a pataphor would transform the metaphor into a new context, have the character "lay their cards on the table, then pick them up and start building a house of cards".

Notes on Strange Fiction: The Pataphysical Quirk Hal Duncan 2008

The pataphor outlined above may result in this, but the effect can also be achieved by straightforward self-contradiction.

Archive 2008-08-01 Hal Duncan 2008

We might easily follow that pataphor with another, a description of the character "unlocking the door of that house of cards, picking up the mail from the mat as they walk in."

Archive 2008-08-01 Hal Duncan 2008