SEVEN BRIDGE PRESENTS
Saturday, March 18, 2017
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Thayer Memorial Library
Flying and Leaping:
The Power of Figurative Language in Fiction
with John Stazinski
Ordinary words convey only what we know already;
it is from metaphor that we can best get hold of something fresh.
Aristotle
Figurative language is a kind of shortcut in prose (and poetry)--leaps of a powerful kind that transport the reader beyond the page to a deeper understanding of story and of self. When Pablo Neruda writes, “There is no place wider than grief,” we understand grief in a new way - as wide, desolate space that may or may not be crossed. It’s a metaphor that creates new connections in the reader mind, helping the reader to see beyond words and images to new meaning, and to what is otherwise inexpressible.
In this hands-on workshop we will look at the way figurative language functions to enrich the style and themes of our stories. We will look at the types of figurative language available to the writer and explore how, when, and why they are used by looking at examples and by making some leaps of our own.
John Stazinski's work has most recently appeared in the Southern Review, the Missouri Review, the Glimmer Train Stories, the Hopkins Review, and the Chattahoochee Review. He teaches writing and literature at Quinsigamond Community College.
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