"Membership in the family of God is neither inconsequential or something to be casually ignored. The church is God's agenda for the world. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The church is indestructable and will exist for eternity. It will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it."
- Rick Warren
Thursday, December 16, 2010
I simply did not expect the level of response -- neither the amount, nor the, um, passion -- to my post on the Narnia stories and allegory. When I learned, from reading Lewis himself that allegory was A and the Narnia stories were not-A, I believe my first reaction was "Wow, I was mistaken about what allegorical means. I'm glad I know that now." Or something approximately nerdy like that. My appreciation for the Narnia stories didn't diminish. In fact, I was happy to know something new about them. But apparently explaining that allegory according to classic understanding is one thing and the Narnia stories are another is a really huge stinkin' deal. Here is a rundown of the types of negative responses to my post so far:
1) Nuh-uh.
2) I don't care what Lewis says.
3) This is all a big waste of your time posting and discussing. But not mine in commenting to tell you that.
4) You ruined my life.
Let's keep things in perspective, folks. And while I've got you reeling, I've got another world-shaker for you: Aliens is more a horror movie than science fiction. Let the flaming begin!
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Comments on "Narnia and Allegory: The Fallout":
2. Dave
- 12/16/2010 8:34 am CST
Wow. That was one heated debate! I think a lot of it comes down to what one commenter said, "Allegory is not a genre." That's exactly right, though some books are commonly referred to as "an allegory." Pilgrim's Progress is one. Gulliver's Travels is another. Some say Lord of the Flies, though I don't see it. But, no matter what, it is problematic to refer to any book as "an allegory" in the sense of genre, as the device of allegory is usually too simple to be applied in a general sense to something as complex as a novel. I had this same debate a long, long time ago in lit classes at university. Why people get upset about any of it is beyond me. But, what is obviously true is that the Narnia stories use allegory, as well as many other literary devices, like symbolism, mythic structure, and much more, to tell somewhat modernized moral tales that have a Christic base. The big problem with calling a Narnia book an "allegory" is that it is a massive oversimplification. I think Lewis and J.R.R.T. saw it that way. How is that a bad thing? If Narnia "is an allegory," then E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial movie "is an allegory." And it's not.
3. jen
- 12/16/2010 9:55 am CST
Aliens - agree. Horror that happens to happen in deep space.
On the same note - I fully expected Deep Horizon to be a sci-fi movie but it was 100% horror and happened to be set in space. This does not make it a sci-fi movie.
As to the Lewis-Narnia-allegory debate, I have no dog in that hunt. I like the stories and that's all that really matters to me.
4. kenleonard
- 12/16/2010 10:09 am CST
It's amazing what will touch a nerve sometimes, isn't it?
I was more than a little surprised, too, to find that an academic discussion of literature was off limits to readers of a blog called Thinklings.
Oh, well ...
8. Jared
- 12/16/2010 7:58 pm CST
Alex, I did my best to engage with the disagreement in the original post. Then it went chaotic, with people using crude language, people saying I was in favor of killing imagination, people saying I was ruining the stories, etc. And nobody once quoted Lewis to prove what I was saying he said was wrong.
At several points I repeated that if somebody wants to disagree with Lewis and say the stories are allegorical, they're welcome to do that. Nobody can stop them, least of all me.
In your last comment there, you were condescending about the site. You can't have it both ways, man. If you want to disagree charitably, do it. If you're just looking for me to say you're right -- ain't gonna happen. But, you know: that's life. People disagree. Happens all the time. I'm not upset about that. Why are you?
I'm not sure what more you want.
To repeat what I've already said: I never anticipated people taking exception to simply quoting the author and making the claim he himself does. The response has been really bewildering. Now the claims are that I'm ruining the stories or saying allegory is bad. It's like if I said ice cream isn't an appetizer, dessert lovers saying I was ruining sweets. If we can honor Lewis's fiction, can't we also honor his literary criticism?
Maybe not.
9. stephy
- 12/17/2010 12:49 am CST
Hi Jared,
I don't see Alex trying to get you to agree with him, but to just have a discussion. It's interesting that this response is bewildering to you because I understand what he's saying so I would like to help it make sense if I can. But being bewildered by something a conversation always means it's a good conversation, for me anyway. :)
12. Bill
- 12/21/2010 6:37 am CST
I've been thinking about this post, trying to figure out where you have gone horribly wrong with it, so wrong, in fact, that it's ruined my Christmas, and all future Christmases.
I've figured it out.
Aliens is not horror. It's an action flick.
Alien is horror.
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Next thing you'll be posting is that Keyser Sose and Verbil Kent are the same person.