What is fascinating to me about the whole "allegory thang" is how authors, readers and critics take sides on whether not that is what the author meant. Which is ridiculous. Literary deconstruction is totally not dependent on what was the writer's intent. This is true because often the writer, him or herself, is unaware of the alchemy happening as they take pen to paper or fingers to keypad.
Quentin Tarintino continues to refute esoteric deconstructions of his movies, particularly "Pulp Fiction" and the whole whether or not Vincent and Jules are avenging angels sent to retrieve Marcellus Wallace's soul from minions of the Devil (this includes long-winded arguments about the scar at the back of Ving Rhames' head - where, allegedly his soul was extracted). And my argument has always been that just because he doesn't know its there doesn't mean its not there! I was 600 pages into my first novel, The World Ebon, before I became aware that it was, in fact, an allegory about the history of black people in America. In its non-linear narrative, it contains a transport across water in chains, slavery, plantation life, ghetto oppression, sexism, racism, a civil rights movement, discrimination in the entertainment industry and uplift through higher education and politics. Who knew? ~rave! --- In SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com, "maidmarian_thepoet" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Well, thanks for giving me a "wow" moment this morning. > You make me want to go back and read the books. And it helps me to > understand why Ryman felt free to experiment even further with "Was". > > --- In SciFiNoir_Lit@yahoogroups.com, "ravenadal" <ravenadal@> wrote: > > > > Many of the events and characters of the book resemble the actual > > political personalities, events and ideas of the 1890s.[1] The 1902 > > stage adaptation mentioned, by name, President Theodore Roosevelt, oil > > magnate John D. Rockefeller, and other political celebrities.[1] (No > > real people are mentioned by name in the book.) Even the title has > > been interpreted as alluding to a political reality: oz. is an > > abbreviation for ounce, a unit familiar to those who fought for a 16 > > to 1 ounce ratio of silver to gold in the name of bimetallism, though > > Baum stated he got the name from a file cabinet labeled A-N and O- Z. > >>.. > .. > .. >
