Metaphor as Thought in Elias Canetti’s Masse und Macht

Elias Canetti’s Masse und Macht was first published in 1960. Since then it has been both criticised as banal and unscientific and applauded for using literary techniques to provide valuable insights into crowds and power. This book resolves this apparent paradox by examining the language and theories in Masse und Macht using a typology of metaphor that draws on recent theories in the field of cognitive rhetoric. This area of cognitive linguistics argues against the division of scientific, literary and common language into irreconcilable spheres and shows that the human ability to reason is predicated on metaphorical thought. By illustrating the essential inseparability of various types of metaphor in Masse und Macht, this book demonstrates that there is no conflict in accepting Canetti’s theories as both poetic and scientific insights simultaneously.