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Originally Posted by davem
The reason I think his acceptance of 'allegory' in Smith is interesting is that every single time an allegorical interpretation of any of Tolkien's works is brought up those lones from the Introduction to LotR are brought up. I know very well that if I, or anyone else, had suggested that the Great Hall in SoWM was an allegory of the Church, the response would have been one of absolute rejection of the idea, because 'Tolkien disliked alllegory'.
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But if Tolkien could write Smith as a 'Fairy story' & later 'discover' an allegorical dimension to it (after dismissing other people's allegorical interpretations: cf his appreciation of Roger Lancelyn Green's statement that to look for an allegorical meaning in Smith was like cutting open the ball to look for its 'bounce') then can we so easily rule out allegory in his other works? Whatever the answer to that question we now have to accept that Tolkien didn't find allegory as distasteful as he makes out in the LotR Foreword.[/quote]
Perhaps it would be better to leave the LotR Foreword to the LotR. Whether or not Tolkien disliked allegory is up for debate, but disliking something does not automatically mean that one will not write it.
The thing here is that people seem to think that what allies to the LotR applies to SoWM- which is not necessarily the case. For all that Tolkien was renowned for his literary works getting sucked into the Legendarium, that does not mean that this is necessarily the case. In particular, I am thinking with regards to allegory. Allegory is a good deal easier to insert into a story without a ruining it when the story is short, because a short story is a good deal simpler than a complex, longer one. If allegory is purposefully inserted into a grand epic, it twists the epic and does not allow for the complex story to take its course and become a STORY, first and foremost. On the other hand, a short story can be entirely based around an allegorical idea while NOT ruining the experience as a story. Or so I view.
My point, distilled, is that there is no reason on earth that Tolkien's statement in the Foreword to the
Lord of the Rings should be taken as applicable to
Smith of Wooton Major. There is no obvious, overt, link other than the author, and that does not necessitate the transferral of the Foreword's statements.