Weaving the Autobiographical Web: A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of Alice Munro’s “The Peace of Utrecht”

The paper uses the conceptual metaphor WEAVING AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE IS WEAVING A WEB as an analytical tool to guide the exploration of the autobiographical aspects of Alice Munro’s short fiction, in which the writer often reconstructs the emotional reality of her past. The paper analyses Munro’s The Peace of Utrecht through the lens of Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar, focusing on the use of the English Present tense. To conclude, the study bears out Langacker’s epistemic account of the English present, revealing how the protagonist’s conception of reality changes as she weaves her narrative in an attempt to reconnect with the past.