But it’s not an allegory. Yes, it is clear that Aslan is Jesus. That doesn’t make the Narnia books allegories though. There is a philosophical point Lewis was trying to explore in Narnia and his Space Trilogy, which is that Jesus appeared on Earth at a particular time and place, but obviously he didn’t appear on Mars or Venus. So given that Earth isn’t the only place in the Universe, what does that mean?
In the Space Trilogy Jesus appears on Earth because Earth experienced Original Sin. But Mars didn’t, and while Humans are fallen the inhabitants of Mars aren’t.
These books aren’t allegories. What do the talking animals represent? The fauns and river gods and dryads and dwarfs? Aslan=Jesus doesn’t make the books allegorical, any more than Father Christmas showing up in Narnia does.
Even if Ridley Scott *does *decide whether Deckard was an replicant, the Scott of 1982 gets to make that decision, not the Scott of 2012. The former was a genius filmmaker; the latter is a hack.
Another subtle nuance about the definition of “allegory” (and Tolkien and Lewis were both masters of the subtle nuance) is that Aslan, in the Narnia books, doesn’t represent Jesus. In the context of those books, he is Jesus. Lewis’ premise is that the same entity who became a corporeal human in Bethlehem also became a corporeal lion in a different world.
Delicious question! I don’t know! Let me think a bit…
Doesn’t it depend on how they’re used? If I write about Abraham Lincoln, and emphasize his resemblance to Christ, then, yeah, that’s allegorical. If I just write about him as the President during the Civil War, then not so much.
Doesn’t allegory have to have a point? How can a person be “allegorical” to himself? If that’s the case, every character is allegorical. Hamlet refers to Hamlet.
But if Hamlet is said to be comparable to Oedipus (which I don’t believe, but, hey, take it as a hypothetical: there are some similarities!) then that’s an allegory.
But if Rex Stout is interviewed years later, and says that Gary Strauss was the killer, he was wrong - even though it was his own work. Some of the errors people are talking about in this thread are of that kind.
To put it another way: If I went to Manor Farm, and said to whichever pig it was “Hey, Trotsky!”, the pig wouldn’t respond, because while it represents Trotsky, it isn’t isn’t actually Trotsky. Thus, Animal Farm is an allegory. By contrast, if I went to Narnia and said to Aslan “Hey, Jesus!”, he would reply “Yes, my child?”. Aslan is Jesus, he doesn’t just represent him. In that sense, the Narnia books are not an allegory.
Interesting but I’d consider Aslan to be Narnia’s Jesus.
A quote from the Author from wiki "According to the author, Aslan is not an allegorical portrayal of Christ, but rather a suppositional incarnation of Christ Himself:
If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity, he would be an allegorical figure. In reality however, he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, ‘What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?’ This is not allegory at all.[4]
Interesting theory… I personally don’t agree that it would work that way, and I’m not at all convinced that Lewis would agree either.
If this is the case…pretty blasphemous, isn’t it?
Anyway, the physical guise – the physicality as a lion – is allegorical. Jesus was not that big, was probably bipedal, and didn’t have quite so impressive a mane.
On earth, yeah, but in Narnia he’s a lion. Just like how Abraham Lincoln, after travelling in time to the 31st Century (under the alias “Isaac Sherwood”), has a cybernetic arm.
I don’t think that’s so much a “theory” as “definition of what an allegory is.”
I’m not aware of any injunction in the Church of England against using Jesus as a character in a fictional story, provided it’s handled with appropriate reverence. These are Anglicans we’re talking about, not the Taliban.
It was symbolical, for sure, but while allegory is a form of symbolism, not all symbolism is allegory.