This page contains content adapted from an encyclopedia entry on pataphors that originally appeared on Wikipedia until it was deleted in 2007. The content has been revised and updated with additional information through 2015. This is not an official Wikipedia page and is maintained as an educational resource on the pataphor concept.
The pataphor is a figurative device that extends beyond metaphor to create a new ontological layer, invented by writer P.A. Lopez in 1991. The concept draws from Alfred Jarry's "science" of 'pataphysics but represents a distinct theoretical contribution to figurative language theory and philosophy.
As Jarry claimed that 'pataphysics existed "as far from metaphysics as metaphysics extends from regular reality," a pataphor attempts to create a figure of speech that exists as far from metaphor as metaphor exists from non-figurative language.
Whereas a metaphor establishes a direct relationship between two referents (A is like B), the pataphor transcends this initial comparison by establishing the secondary referent as a new reality system with its own internal logic and reference points.
The pataphor moves entirely into the secondary referent (B), establishing it as a new reality system with its own internal logic and reference points. In going beyond mere ornamentation of the original idea, the pataphor seeks to describe a new and separate world, in which an idea or aspect of a concept has taken on a life of its own.
Like 'pataphysics itself, pataphors essentially describe two degrees of separation from reality (rather than merely one degree of separation, which is the world of metaphors and metaphysics). The pataphor may also function as a critical tool, describing the world of "assumptions based on assumptions," such as belief systems or theoretical frameworks that have developed their own internal momentum and coherence.
Pataphor (noun):
"That which extends as far beyond metaphor as metaphor extends beyond non-figurative language."
"That which occurs when a lizard's tail has grown so long it breaks off and grows a new lizard."
Tom and Alice stood side by side in the lunch line.
Tom and Alice stood side by side in the lunch line, two pieces on a chessboard.
Tom took a step closer to Alice and made a date for Friday night, checkmating. Rudy was furious at losing to Margaret so easily and dumped the board on the rose-colored quilt, stomping downstairs.
(The pataphor has created a world where the chessboard exists, including the characters who live in that world, entirely abandoning the original context.)
"Jenny is eleven years old. She lives on a farm in Luxembourg, West Virginia. Today Jenny is collecting eggs from the henhouse. It is 10 a.m. She walks slowly down the rows of cages, feeling around carefully for eggs tucked beneath clucking hens. She finds the first egg in number 6. When she holds it to the light she sees it is the deep tan of boot leather, an old oil-rubbed cowboy boot, creased with microscopic branching lines, catching the light at the swelling above the scarred dusty heel, curled at the cuff, bending and creaking as the foot of the cowboy squirms to rediscover its fit, a leathery thumb and index prying at the scruff, the heel stomping the floor. Victor the hotel manager swings open the door and gives Cowboy a faint smile." - (from "Pataphor Test," by P.A. Lopez)
- Jenny exists in reality
- The boot exists in metaphor
- Cowboy (and the hotel, Victor, etc.) exist in pataphor
The term 'pataphor' was coined by P.A. Lopez, who attached a specific meaning to the word, created its relationship to metaphor, and devoted an entire body of work to its explication and exploration.
The concept was first introduced in "Closet 'Pataphysics," published in the University of New Orleans literary journal Ellipsis in 1991. It was further developed in Lopez's Master's thesis titled "Pataphors" at Hollins University in 1995, which comprehensively explored the concept and its applications in literary theory and philosophy of language.
The pataphor concept has since been cited in academic publications from Harvard University Press, State University of New York Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, and numerous scholarly journals worldwide. It has been referenced across various disciplines including philosophy of language, literary theory, computational linguistics, architectural theory, and cognitive science.
The pataphor concept has received significant academic attention globally across multiple disciplines. Notable citations include:
The concept has crossed linguistic and cultural boundaries, appearing in academic literature in multiple languages including English, Korean, Russian, Turkish, and Finnish.
In December 2005, The Carnets du Collège de Pataphysique n°22, published by the Collège de 'Pataphysique, featured a series of literary pataphors illustrated photographically, demonstrating the concept's recognition by the institution most directly connected to Jarry's 'pataphysics.
The pataphor concept has applications across multiple fields:
Theoretical Physics: Lopez has suggested that far-reaching concepts such as string theory constitute a kind of mathematical pataphor, insofar as these concepts correspond to the 'pataphysical notion of "supposition built on supposition." As string theory is speculation based on ideas that are themselves speculative (in this instance, the theories of general relativity and quantum mechanics), it represents a form of 'pataphysical thinking.
Literary Theory: Pataphors provide a framework for analyzing extended figurative constructions in literature, particularly in postmodern fiction and magical realism where multiple layers of reality often intermingle.
Educational Applications: Research published in the Journal of Digital Convergence (2016) explores the application of pataphors as visual tools for scientific communication and education.
Computational Linguistics: Recent work in artificial intelligence and computational concept creation has examined pataphors as examples of complex figurative language that challenge conventional language processing models.
Design and Fashion: Studies in the Journal of Basic Design & Art (2018) have explored the use of pataphorical thinking in fashion communication and visual media.
Original Works by P.A. Lopez:
Other Publications:
In March of 2007, an article published in the Chilean newspaper El Clarín ("Chile Under the Influence of 'Pataphysics and Pataphors") likened the nonsensical, inventive language of the government to pataphors. [archived link]
In February of 2008, Dutch artist Hidde Van Schie published a book in the Netherlands called PATAPHOR, inspired by pataphors (ISBN 978-90-8690-165-4).