RSA 2023 (San Juan, March 9–11): New Approaches to Early Modern Metaphor
“A metaphor,” wrote philosopher Monroe Beardsley in his Aesthetics (1958), “is a miniature poem, and the explication of a metaphor is a model for all explication.” Beardsley recognized the interpretive value of the trope, and metaphor offers a rich site to deepen cultural, artistic, and literary understanding of the early modern period. This panel seeks papers across disciplines that offer new theoretical frameworks for engaging with early modern metaphor. It also aims to foster transdisciplinary dialogue among panelists. Possible topics include visual metaphor, scientific and mathematical metaphor, metaphor in translation, poetic and literary metaphor, legal metaphor, Renaissance theories of metaphor, and problems of interpretation.