XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.childrens   
   XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: spamgard@blueyonder.co.uk   
      
   Steve Hayes  wrote:   
      
      
      
   > I think this thread represents Usenet at its best, or nearly so. It's   
   > crossposted to several newsgroups, yet has remained on-topic in most   
   > of them for most of the time, and has brought togeter people of a   
   > wide variety of viewpoints and levels and fields of expertise. This   
   > makes it interesting and stimulating and challenging   
      
   I agree. The whole allegory/not allegory subthread may have been started   
   by my injudicious use of the word (though someone else would have used   
   it eventually), but it has been very interesting.   
      
   I have a few thoughts on this, but I'm not quite sure where to add them.   
   I think this post will be as good a place as anywhere.   
      
   I've seen several literary terms and literary techniques referred to in   
   this discussion, including:   
      
   allegory   
   analogy   
   metaphor   
   sustained/extended metaphor   
   symbol   
   supposal   
   representation   
   figurative representation   
   archetype   
   portrayal   
   fictionalized account   
   similarity   
   depiction   
   speculation   
   correspondence   
   parable   
   fable   
   amalgamation   
   suggestive resemblance   
   abstract idea   
      
   Which of these apply to Narnia? IMO, given the right context, most of   
   these words can be used to describe aspects of, or all of, Narnia and   
   what Lewis was trying to achieve with his story.   
      
   One more term, or rather technique, that I haven't seen used, and that I   
   would like to add to the mix, is this one:   
      
   retelling   
      
   I was wondering whether the whole argument about using the word allegory   
   in connection with the Narnia stories could be side-stepped by saying,   
   much as Lewis does, that it is a fictionalised _retelling_ of the   
   Christian story? Much as people retell myths and legends from age to   
   age, the Christian story is being told in a different form. There are   
   therefore two stories proceeding at the same time, side-by-side:   
   elements of the Christian story, and then the story of Narnia providing   
   a background to the story. Recall the discussion (I think it was between   
   Tolkien and Lewis) where the Christian story is compared to myth, and   
   how this form of story strikes deep into the human psyche.   
      
   Consider the aim of retelling a story, or to phrase it another way:   
      
   recasting   
      
   An author recasts/retells a tale to present it to a different audience.   
   And that was clearly one of the aims that Lewis had. To present the   
   story in a different context so that the essential points of the story   
   would be understood and transmitted, without just being thought of as a   
   "boring bible story".   
      
   So LWW is a "contextualised retelling of the Christian story".   
      
   "Allegory" is so 14th-century! :-)   
      
   Someone did ask "Who does Peter represent?" with respect to LWW. I'm not   
   sure who he represents there, if indeed he represents anyone at all, but   
   on a recent re-reading of the Narnia books I was struck by the scene in   
   'The Last Battle' where Peter, for some reason, is the one that produces   
   a golden key (seemingly out of nowhere) and locks the door through which   
   everyone has just come, from Narnia, into what we later discover is   
   another level up, effectively heaven. I suddenly noticed the slight   
   correspondence here between Peter Pevensie and St Peter, he of the   
   pearly gates, said to greet those entering heaven. But maybe I am   
   over-reading the text?   
      
   Christopher   
      
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