[CLUE-Talk] Tolkien and allegory

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 16:58:55 -0700
Jeff Cann <j.cann at isuma.org> wrote:

> Also, some stories have two stories - they one that is obvious and the other,  
> underlying point.  There are many reasons for this type of writing.  One 
> example is when an author wishes to make a political point contrary to his 
> government's.  He cannot simply state his opinion within his story for fear 
> of censorship.  So, clever writers hide their opinions or thoughts within the 
> context of another story.  Analysis yields these embedded thoughts.

Indeed -- with some older stories it was absolutely necessary for the
author to conceal the true meaning of the story because if they came out
and said what they wanted to say, the king (or whomever) would have had
their head lopped off. 

> Other writers purposely veil their meanings so the reader has to consider the 
> work beyond the words on the page.  These are the great works of literature 
> -- something you learn about in literature classes! :)

Well, there's subtle and there's obscure. I find that reading Vonnegut's
work is a pleasure because I constantly find "hidden" meaning and
subtexts in his work that aren't right out in the open, but they're
not hard to find, either. 

On the other hand, reading T.S. Eliot and other authors is downright
painful because they were deliberately obscure because they were only
writing to other literary types -- not a general audience. I can't stand
those kinds of works, and I think it's a failure on the part of the
author when you can't read a work without having to dig for
understanding. 

Best,
Zonker
--
"Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off 
their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more." - Mark Twain