XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.fan.tolkien, alt.fan.harry-potter   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   On Wed, 20 Oct 2010 09:36:33 +0200, Dirk Thierbach   
    wrote:   
      
   >Steve Hayes  wrote:   
   >> On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:31:33 +0200, Dirk Thierbach   
   >>  wrote:   
   >   
   >>>Steve Hayes  wrote:   
   >>>> On Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:33:48 +0200, Dirk Thierbach   
   >>>>  wrote:   
   >   
   >>>>>OTOH, Granger seriously proposes to see Gilderoy Lockhart as a parallel   
   >>>>>to Philip Pullman, which I think is totally nuts. So I'm a bit wary now   
   >>>>>of what he writes.   
   >   
   >>>> Now THAT would be an allegory, however veiled.   
   >   
   >> Allegory, a figurative narrative or description, conveying a veiled moral   
   >> meaning: an extended metaphor.   
   >   
   >Ok. So what's the veiled moral meaning or metaphor in having an   
   >invented character that shares some personality traits with a real   
   >person (but has otherwise nothing to do with the real person)?   
   >   
   >It's not like Lockhart is Christ. Or Truth.   
      
   No, he isn't. And he's not Philip Pullman either.   
      
   The Harry Potter books are not allegory, though there may possibly be some   
   allegories within them, though I can't recall any.   
      
   Neither are the Narnia stories allegories, nor is Lewis's science fiction   
   allegory, nor are Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit allegories.   
      
   While allegories may have a veiled moral meaning, not everythin g that has a   
   veiled moral meaning is an allegory.   
      
   But "Animal Farm" is an allegory.   
      
   Some have taken LOTR as an allegory, with the Ring being nuclear weaponry, for   
   example. But Tolkien has explicitly said that that was not in his mind when he   
   wrote it.   
      
   >   
   >OTOH, Aslan *is* Christ. And the relationship of the protagonists   
   >to Aslan mirrors the the relationship the reader should have to Christ:   
   >That's the metaphorical moral meaning.   
   >   
   >Do you agree?   
      
   But it's not allegory.   
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes   
   Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/litmain.htm   
        http://www.goodreads.com/hayesstw   
        http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius   
      
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