Conceptual Blending: the Invention of Ghosts in Homer
Dr. James Bertie Norman examines how Homer constructs the image of the shade in Hades by looking at conceptual blending theory. Blending is the automatic human ability to combine at least two pieces of information to come up with new imaginative scenarios. Dr. Norman argue that Homer blends two known symptoms of death – the dying breath, and the appearance of the corpse – to construct the image that the ghost is an airy immaterial look alike of the once living person. This theory has the potential to explain how beliefs about the afterlife in Homer and wider mythologies are generated.
For further reading:
Fauconnier, Giles, and Mark Turner. The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind's Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books, 2002.
Turner, Mark B. 'Double-Scope Stories' NARRATIVE THEORY AND THE COGNITIVE SCIENCES, David Herman, (ed.) 2003, pp. 117-142, Stanford: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 2003
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