XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.cs-lewis, rec.arts.books.childrens   
   XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
      
   In rec.arts.books.tolkien westprog  wrote:   
      
   >  wrote in message news:drauma$6of$1@news.msu.edu...   
   >> In rec.arts.books.tolkien westprog  wrote:   
   >>   
   >> > "Steve Hayes"  wrote in message   
   >> > news:4fhgt1td54gijc31etookgoj1m71bp3vdp@4ax.com...   
   >> > ...   
   >> >> To call a whole work "allegory", as some insist on doing with the   
   > Narnia   
   >> >> stories (illegitimately, i believe) is quite different. In allegorical   
   >> > works,   
   >> >> the allegory is intended by the author,   
   >> > ...   
   >>   
   >> > I think that an allegory needs to have a single interpretation. It isn't   
   >> > really possible to have multiple viewpoints as to what Pilgrim's   
   > Progress or   
   >> > Animal Farm are allegories of.   
   >>   
   >> > If a work plausibly suggests multiple interpretations, then it certainly   
   >> > isn't an allegory.   
   >>   
   >> > J/   
   >>   
   >> How about "Moby-Dick" then?  The dictionary.com definition of   
   >> 'allegory' cites "Moby-Dick" as an example of allegory.  Is   
   >> there only one possible interpretation of "Moby-Dick"?   
      
   > If there are multiple interpretations, all of similar likelihood, then I   
   > don't see how it can be an allegory. If that were so, then any sufficiently   
   > deep work of art would qualify.   
      
   > I've never heard of Moby-Dick being an allegory. The characters are   
   > archetypal to some extent, but they aren't the same as Mrs Bun the Baker's   
   > Wife.   
      
   > J/   
      
   Well the only definition I have seen quoted so far for allegory included   
   'Moby-Dick'.  'Moby-Dick' definitely is open to multiple interpretations.   
      
   Here is the definition of 'allegory' from Wordnet 2.0, copyright 2003   
   	Princeton University   
      
   allegory   
      
   n 1: a short moral story (often with animal characters) [syn: fable, parable,   
   apologue] 2: a visible symbol representing an abstract idea [syn: emblem]   
   3: an expressive style that uses fictional characters and events to describe   
   some subject by suggestive resemblances; an extended metaphor   
      
   tLW&tW seems to have a bit of all three of these definitions,   
   especially the third given how much ground "suggestive resemblances"   
   covers.  Aslan's sacrifice to redeem Edmund surely has suggestive   
   resemblances to Christ's sacrifice to redeem mankind.   
      
   Allegory seems to be one of those words whose definition   
   is very much in the eye of the beholder.   
      
   Stephen   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)