Zur metaphorisch-diskursiven Wirklichkeit in Josef Haslingers Roman „Opernball“
On metaphorical-discursive reality in Josef Haslinger’s novel “Opernball”

Summary/Abstract: Among linguistic devices, metaphors influence our thinking and acting in a crucial way. They determine what we see and what we hide from our perception area. We primarily perceive and communicate what we have schemes for (concepts and models), but there is a wide range of perceptions that can only be adequately communicated through metaphors. On the basis of crime novels, we deal with these certain areas, which are occupied by comparisons and analogies of all kinds, focusing on contents and aspects that are increasingly taken into account in this genre. We investigate the question of how key aspects of crime fiction, i.e. aspects that are associated with phenomena of crime, as well as aspects of social criticism are metaphorically conceptualized in the crime novel. Metaphors related to the phenomena of crime (e.g. social environment, psychological dispositions, historical contexts) are also taken into account. Opernball (1995; Opera Ball) is a media-critical political thriller with a multi-perspective narrative structure and a socio-critical crime novel by Austrian novelist Josef Haslinger, which draws a socio-political picture of Austria from the mid-1990s. Based on the analysis of the metaphor in Haslinger’s novel, we have located, interpreted, and evaluated numerous metaphors in the following major areas: media, culture, politics, church/religion, individual, and community/society.

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