ALLEGORIES: THREAT OR MENACE? The Narnia movie (which I haven’t seen–never really got into the books) has prompted a bunch of people to comment on the difficulties of writing allegory. Now, I think Lewis said at some point (maybe?) that Narnia was never meant to be an allegory per se, but rather a story set within a Christian universe; but it’s pretty obvious that the Christian themes he wanted to draw out shaped his plots and characterizations in a way that is at least allegory-like. And since I’m in the process of revising a basically allegorical story (“Getting Fired”), I’m really interested in figuring out whether and how allegory works, as a genre or form. So I would greatly appreciate any thoughts you all have on the following questions:

The most common criticism of allegories seems to be that once you figure out the philosophical framework, if it differs from your own then you begin to find previously overlooked or even loved aspects of the story repellent, because now you see that they “stand for” beliefs you would find repellent if they were naked rather than cloaked in allegory. And that’s not really something any writer can do much about, I think. But the second-most-common criticism of allegories seems to be that you can’t understand them or submerge yourself in the story unless you already know the “trick,” the key, the framework. Therefore allegories don’t change anyone or do any exciting literary work: You get from the allegory pretty much what you brought to it, and not much more.

Have you guys found this to be true?

Have you been changed, or felt yourself in the presence of a new truth or an unexpected beauty, through reading an allegory? If so, what was it, and how did it happen–what worked for you? Was the allegory written from within a worldview you already shared, or not?

What has frustrated you about the allegories you’ve read? (Or allegories you’ve experienced in other narrative art forms like movies or operas–I think non-narrative art forms like paintings are really different, though if you want to talk about ways in which e.g. explicitly symbolic or one-to-one-correspondence-y paintings, architecture, or music work like allegory/better than allegory/worse than allegory, please do.)

Seriously, any thoughts you have, even the most random, would be welcome, as I’m fascinated by this stuff. Thanks!