#allegory

A man inherited a field in which was an accumulation of old stone, part of an older hall. Of the old stone some had already been used in building the house in which he actually lived, not far from the old house of his fathers. Of the rest he took some and built a tower. But his friends coming perceived at once (without troubling to climb the steps) that these stones had formerly belonged to a more ancient building. So they pushed the tower over, with no little labour, and in order to look for hidden carvings and inscriptions, or to discover whence the man's distant forefathers had obtained their building material. Some suspecting a deposit of coal under the soil began to dig for it, and forgot even the stones. They all said: 'This tower is most interesting.' But they also said (after pushing it over): 'What a muddle it is in!' And even the man's own descendants, who might have been expected to consider what he had been about, were heard to murmur: 'He is such an odd fellow! Imagine using these old stones just to build a nonsensical tower! Why did not he restore the old house? he had no sense of proportion.' But from the top of that tower the man had been able to look out upon the sea. ↗

— J.R.R. Tolkien

#beowulf #criticism #critics #fantasy #literature

I wrote The Same Sea not as a political allegory about Israelis and Palestinians. I wrote it about something much more gutsy and immediate. I wrote it as a piece of chamber music. ↗

— Amos Oz

#allegory #chamber #i #immediate #israelis

Twelve dead?” I said. “Jesus. ↗

— Dennis Lehane

#biblical #brief #humour #i #inspirational

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock The meat it feeds on. ↗

— William Shakespeare

#jealousy #mockery #monsters #vices #jealousy

This philistinism of interpretation is more rife in literature than in any other art. For decades now, literary critics have understood it to be their task to translate the elements of the poem or play or novel or story into something else. Sometimes a writer will be so uneasy before the naked power of his art that he will install within the work itself - albeit with a little shyness, a touch of the good taste of irony - the clear and explicit interpretation of it. Thomas Mann is an example of such an overcooperative author. In the case of more stubborn authors, the critic is only too happy to perform the job. ↗

— Susan Sontag

#allegory #criticism #art

Everything for me becomes allegory. ↗

— Charles Baudelaire

#becomes #everything #me

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. ↗

— Augustine of Hippo

#books #broad-mindedness #classic #education #imagery

I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned– with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author. ↗

— J.R.R. Tolkien

#books #literature #experience

V is like a mythical situation. It's an allegory for what could happen. V has philosophies within it that actually warn against things like that happening. ↗

— David Lloyd

#against #allegory #could #happen #happening

An allegory is not meant to be taken literally. There is a great lack of comprehension on the part of some readers. ↗

— Naguib Mahfouz

#comprehension #great #lack #literally #meant