Allegorical tales? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Aiwendil · 04-03-2002, 10:36 PM

Tolkien remarked many times that he detested allegory - by which he meant conscious, explicit allegory. Tolkien did admit, however, that allegory and story converge in truth. That is, the better written an allegory is, the more valid it will seem as a story; and the better a story is, the more likely it will have relevance to the real world. This latter is what Tolkien called "applicability". So Tolkien would say that, for example, the destruction of the country side does NOT "represent" the industrialization of England; but there is a similar theme in both of these things, as a result of the fundamental truth embedded in the story.

04-03-2002, 10:36 PM	#3
Aiwendil Late Istar Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,224	Tolkien remarked many times that he detested allegory - by which he meant conscious, explicit allegory. Tolkien did admit, however, that allegory and story converge in truth. That is, the better written an allegory is, the more valid it will seem as a story; and the better a story is, the more likely it will have relevance to the real world. This latter is what Tolkien called "applicability". So Tolkien would say that, for example, the destruction of the country side does NOT "represent" the industrialization of England; but there is a similar theme in both of these things, as a result of the fundamental truth embedded in the story.