[Child of the 7th Age]

She's got it! By Jove, she's got it. (At least I think she does....)

Try again! How about Letter 185, to Joanna de Bortadano in April 1956:

Of course my story is not an allegory of Atomic power, but of Power (exerted for Domination).

And all that time, he told us it wasn't an allegory!

Later in the same letter, he discusses the theme of Death, implicitly contradicting his initial statement:

I do not think that even Power or domination is the real centre of my story.... The real theme for me is about something much more permanent and difficult: Death and Immortality: the mystery of the love of the world in the hearts of a race 'doomed' to leave and seemingly lose it; the anguish in the hearts of a race 'doomed' not to leave it, until its whole evil-aroused story is complete.