Includes bibliographical references (p. 198-209) and index.

In search of the figurative rhetoric of writing -- The double bind of writer and to write: graded categories -- Bind upon bind: the general-ability and specific-expertise views of writing -- Three licensing stories: the literate inscriber, the good writer, and the author writer -- Writing as transcription, talk, and voice: a complex metonymy -- The writing self: conceptual blends, multiple selves -- Writing to 'get ideas across': the role of the conduit metaphor -- Codes and conversations: the other conduit metaphor -- Metaphor and choice.

"This volume explains how metaphors, metonymies, and other figures of thought interact cognitively and rhetorically to tell us what writing is and what it should do. Drawing on interviews with writing professionals and published commentary about writing, it argues that our everyday metaphors and metonymies for writing are part of a figurative rhetoric of writing - a pattern of discourse and thought that includes ways we categorize writers and writing; stories we tell about people who write; conceptual metaphors and metonymies used both to describe and to guide writing; and familiar, yet surprisingly adaptable, conceptual blends used routinely for imagining writing situations. The book will give scholars a fresh understanding of concepts such as 'voice', 'self', 'clarity', 'power', and the most basic figure of all: 'the writer'"--Provided by publisher.