A JOURNEY BETWEEN EAST AND WEST IN CARMEN FIRAN’S THE LOST SHADOW
A JOURNEY BETWEEN EAST AND WEST IN CARMEN FIRAN’S THE LOST SHADOW

Summary/Abstract: The increasing interest in the prominent theme of cognitive semantics, which promotes conceptual mappings, has become a favourite topic analysis both of literary and non-literary texts. Following the theoretical cognitive-semantic studies of George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, and others, the article highlights the conceptual metaphors in the latest novel of a Romanian-American writer. Carmen Firan’s “The Lost Shadow” is a book of love and adventure, a psychological exploration of the emigrant between two ages who is caught in between identity dilemmas. The stylistic analysis traces the directions in which the conceptual metaphors can lead us in exploring the possible interpretations of the novel, as well as the characters’ attitudes and actions. The research analyses the conceptualisation of life as a journey, of time as money, of vertical space as mental processes, as well as money and freedom throughout the book. It is the story of a Romanian couple settled in New York, a writer and a ballerina, who face the challenges of the new world with different intensities and perceptions. The novel thoroughly examines the paradigm of the eternal emigrant, of the man who ran away from his own success, from his own identity and his own country for no reason, and who no longer fits into any society. Therefore, the present research shall decode and interpret the conceptual metaphors LIFE IS A JOURNEY, TIME IS MONEY, and various orientational metaphors UP vs. DOWN.

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