In Reply to: Allegory posted by jbmcb on April 7, 2006 at 12:34:35:
If you define the word allegory as as a direct, one-for-one representation (i.e. every element in a story will have a real world equivalent/correlation), then, no, the Narnia series is not an allegory. However, take the following quotes from Lewis:"I don't say. 'Let us represent Christ as Aslan.' I say, 'Supposing there was a world like Narnia, and supposing, like ours, it needed redemption, let us imagine what sort of Incarnation and Passion and Resurrection Christ would have there.'"
"[Aslan] is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question 'What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?' This is not allegory at all."
While the Narnia series is not, itself, necessarily, an allegory, it is hard to argue that there is no symbolism in the writings. If you read any other works by Lewis, it becomes quite clear what his life was about, and why he wrote the way that he did.
BTW, you want to read a good Lewis book? Try "The Screwtape Letters".
Cheers,
Chris
"Music is God's gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven."
-Walter Savage Landor
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Follow Ups
- Depends upon the definition that you are using for 'allegory'. - TopPop 20:37:27 04/07/06 (1)
- Interesting! - jbmcb 22:07:46 04/07/06 (0)