“Metaphor is the secret of all life.” ~ Martin Foss

 “[Metaphor] is the secret of all life. It is the innermost secret of the life of God himself.” ~ Martin Foss

“The present is not a phase in time. It is the tension by which past and future are metaphorically united and overcome.” ~ Martin Foss

In 2007 I accidentally discovered Martin Foss’s profound book, Symbol and Metaphor in Human Experience at the GTU library in San Anselmo, California. 

Upon doing a little research, I discovered that at the time Symbol and Metaphor was published in 1949, it was highly acclaimed and prompted some scholars to regard Foss as a greater philosopher than Martin Heidegger (see Armour & Trott’s book, The Faces of Reason: An Essay on Philosophy and Culture in English Canada.) But a few short years later, Foss and his work were largely forgotten. In 1956, the American Scholar listed Symbol and Metaphor in Human Experience as one of the most important and neglected books of the twentieth century.

Several decades later, no one has heard about Martin Foss and his books have been out of print for eons. I created a Wikipedia page for him.

Here’s my article about my experience with Martin Foss’s work:  https://www.kimhermanson.com/2021/02/15/metaphor-martin-foss-and-the-creative-process/

Enjoy.  🙂