The metaphor that kills. Some Ghost Stories by Montague Rhodes James

Abstract

Some noir stories by Montague Rhodes James are analysed, the setting of which is the Victorian English countryside, quiet and peaceful, from where the author suddenly makes a dark threat emerge, generally coming from beyond the grave. We glimpse a magical, primitive background, and a Platonic-theurgic substratum attentive to similarities and contiguities. Through the metaphorical, rhetorical and cognitive shift from one meaning to another and the subsequent reification of the new meaning, James creates horror. When the girl's golden hair, a typical metaphorical figure, a beautiful and satisfying image, becomes truly golden, then terror sets in.