Allegory and allegorical fiction: Theory and Practice

Multi-level fiction dates back to the Parables of Jesus and the fables of Aesop...and earlier. Medieval allegory and its study needs a library of its own. Please stick to common definitions of allegory.
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140 books · 57 voters · list created September 19th, 2009 by Thom Dunn (votes) .
25 likes · 
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Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

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Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) What a terrific list! It's going to be difficult to draw a clear line, though, even TRYING to stick to "common" definitions of allegory ...

Also: Would you rather limit contributions to allegory in literature? If so, I'll delete those that I included on allegorical paintings. Having been to a production of "Tannhäuser" just yesterday, I'm actually tempted to branch out even further, but I realize that this would open a can of worms you probably would prefer to keep tightly shut -- or would it?


message 2: by Thom (new)

Thom Dunn The absolute core of allegorical writing has to be Dante, with his 4-fold or 4-level allegory: literal, historical, allegorical, anagogical--if memory serves. Usually, if we work from the core outward we can fill up a list in about 37 seconds. On that "can of worms", I have a book of Breughel's line drawings which are often specifically allegorical, and then there's Plato's Allegory of the Cave....from Gorgias ?....I guess there are worse problems than an embarrassment of riches


message 3: by Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) (last edited Sep 20, 2009 03:09AM) (new)

Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Yes, I'd been wondering about Plato. I'm not aware of anything scholarly specifically addressing the Cave -- so I guess it's OK to just include the source text as such? (I think it's "The Republic," but I'll double check.)

Amended: Yes, the Cave analogy is in "the Republic." Plus, there is the Chariot allegory in "Phaedrus" ...


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Hmm. The voting pattern on "Fables of the Reconstruction" (at least on this particular list): an all too facile allegory of spam and greedy self-promotion?


message 5: by Deb (last edited Feb 18, 2018 03:02AM) (new)

Deb Omnivorous Reader Just came across this list. I am going to say, there are a few VERY odd interpretations of 'Allegory' on here....

Art books? The book of Kells? Medieval manuscripts?

Even if the subject of the book (such as the stained glass windows, or Botticelli painting) is an allegory, how is the non-fiction description of the artwork itself an allegory?


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