|
1-11
The Allegory as Explanation?
A reflection that must
be taken into account in the world we have been living in for some
time now.
Allegory
“A form of metaphor in which concrete figures and incidents
take the place of the actually intended (but more difficult) abstract
meaning. In fact, the text is then one long elaborate metaphor.
The best known example is Elckerlyc (± 1485). More recent
texts with an allegorical slant include “De verwondering”
(Hugo Claus) and “Mystiek lichaam” (Frans Kellendonk).
The explanation from
Wikipedia:
1-11a Allegory
Pearl, miniature from
Cotton Nero A.x. The Dreamer stands on the other side of the stream
from the Pearl-maiden. Pearl is one of the greatest allegories from
the High Middle Ages.
As a literary device, an allegory is a narrative in which a character,
place, or event is used to deliver a broader message about real-world
issues and occurrences. Authors have used allegory throughout history
in all forms of art to illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts
in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers,
or listeners.
Writers and speakers
typically use allegories to convey (semi-)hidden or complex meanings
through symbolic figures, actions, imagery, or events, which together
create the moral, spiritual, or political meaning the author wishes
to convey. Many allegories use personification of abstract concepts.
1-11b Etymology
Salvator Rosa: Allegory
of Fortune, representing Fortuna, the goddess of luck, with the
horn of plenty
Marco Marcola: Mythological
allegory
First attested in English in 1382, the word allegory comes from
Latin allegoria, the latinisation of the Greek a (allegoría),
“veiled language, figurative”,which in turn comes from
both (allos), “another, different” and (agoreuo), “to
harangue, to speak in the assembly”,which originates from (agora),
“assembly”.
1-11c Types
Northrop Frye discussed
what he termed a “continuum of allegory”, a spectrum that
ranges from what he termed the “naive allegory” of the
likes of The Faerie Queene, to the more private allegories of modern
paradox literature. In this perspective, the characters in a “naive”
allegory are not fully three-dimensional, for each aspect of their
individual personalities and of the events that befall them embodies
some moral quality or other abstraction; the author has selected
the allegory first, and the details merely flesh it out.
To
Chapter 13
|
