The Metaphor of Food in Diana Abu Jaber’s "The Language of Baklava"

Inhaltsangabe oder Einleitung

This paper deals with the metaphor of food in Diana Abu Jaber's "The Language of Baklava" that reveals aspects of cultural identity and memory through food and metaphor. The analysis of textual representations of food is based on a theoretical framework that includes a cultural anthropological perspective, as well as a rhetorical perspective. Furthermore, textual analysis is used to examine metaphorical and food narratives in the literature.

Food is a powerful universal metaphor. It is associated with our senses, health and emotions besides our basic survival. Terry Eagleton states that food as well as literary works are actually a relationship. Furthermore, food is a central motif in cultural life and its metaphorical existence continuously touches on socio-cultural meanings. The metaphorical manifestation of food can extend the interest of the reader of literature to cultural and social interactions laden with food-related meanings.

Sidney Mintz argues that consumption is always conditioned by meaning as well as a form of self-identification and communication. In the same vein, Mary Douglas has identified food as a social code. Many voices and theorists from different disciplines have contributed to the cultural studies of food. Thus, this paper will analyse the textual representations of food from the cultural, anthropological, and rhetorical perspective, and how to employ the textual analysis in order to examine the motif of metaphor and food narratives in literature.