Allegory (summary)

source: Gerhard Kurz Metapher, Allegorie, Symbol, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck, 1982, 6. Auflage 2009

An allegory is not a literary genre of its own. It is a mode of literature (Fletcher, Tambling) tied to narrative or descriptive texts. Apart from the apparent subject of the narrative or the description (initial meaning¹), these texts evoke a second, allegorical meaning as suggested by the etymology of the word allegory which is made up of Greek άllon and agoreúein – „anderes im öffentlichen Sprechen mit-sagen und ‚eigentlich‘ machen“ (Menke, p. 117).

[What is publicly said connotes another meaning which is the relevant content of the text.

(My translation)]

          The allegory actually says what it means – it conveys its meaning both directly and indirectly. 
          It means what it says [...], and with this and by this it connotes another meaning [...], which can
          be the really relevant one.
          Kurz, p. 38,  My translation

Allegorical texts contain references such as key terms, allusions to or indirect quotations from a praetext², that is, a discourse³ or chronologically earlier text, which motivates readers to reconstruct the allegorical meaning (S. 35) – reconstruction, because readers are supposed to be able to connect the given clues and supplement them with information from the praetext.

The initial meaning is not completely eclipsed by the allegorical meaning, but has a value of its own (S. 34).

'die initiale Bedeutung wird als eigenständige aufgebaut und in die allegorische aufgelöst, ohne indes ihre (relative) Eigenständigkeit ganz aufzugeben.' S. 34

The allegorical meaning can also be made explicit instead of being implied. In that case the initial meaning loses its relevance such as in the song "Das Narrenschiff" by the German singer-songwriter Reinhard Mey. 

By conveying the praetext into the here and now of the reader, the allegorical text becomes part of a historico-cultural tradition and thus acquires a deeper meaning (S. 69). Due to its function in the allegorical text, the praetext itself is reinterpreted and its relevance put to the test.

"Sie [die Allegorie] konstituiert Geschichtsbewusstsein, Bewusstsein von Kontinuitäten, indem sie Altes als Neues erzählt und Neues als Altes.“ (p. 45)

Text und Praetext überlagern und durchkreuzen sich. Sie illuminieren sich dabei wechselseitig. Der Text lenkt und konzentriert die Aufmerksamkeit auf Züge des Praetextes, die sonst nicht aufgefallen wären. Er modelliert das Verständnis, die Bewertung und affektive Einstellung auf den Praetext. Er deutet ihn und deutet ihn daher auch neu. (S. 69)

The potential of allegorical texts to affirm or criticize discourse⁴, e.g. to be supportive or critical of ideologies or political systems, results from this interaction between text and praetext. In extreme cases the allegorical meaning can be coded in such a way that the text conceals content which is potentially dangerous to the author and can be decoded only by those who are in on the key.
(Kurz, 42)

           Due to its deviation from everyday language the use of allegory has time and again roused 

           suspicion of abetting the Other with regard to the publicly accepted – elite circles, secret 

           societies in politics, the transmission of heretic ideas in religion. Conversely, the allegorical 

           mode enabled the author to broach politically problematic topics in public and to make the 

           reader responsible for socially unacceptable content.

            Haselstein, Allegorie, DFG-Symposion 2014, S. 338, my translation.

Literary genres like the proverb, the enigma, the fable and the parable are based on the allegorical mode of representation. Besides, allegories can be found in other prose texts, in drama and also in poetry. The quest, the pilgrimage and the journey on the one hand, the battle and the debate on the other are typical narrative patterns initiating an allegorical interpretation (Kurz, S. 51, Fletcher). The metaphors of the theatre and the ship (Melville Moby Dick) are easily extended in such a way that they point to an allegorical meaning. Descriptions of dreams, visions and particular enclosed spaces (e.g. the garden) also initiate an allegorical interpretation (S. 53).

As to textually based praetexts, stories from the Bible and Greek mythology frequently occur in European literary history.

1The terminology is from Quilligan, The Language of Allegory, 1992, and explained in Kurz, p. 44.

2The terminology is from Quilligan, The Language of Allegory, 1992, and explained in Kurz, p. 44.

3As defined by Foucault.

4With Foucault "a discourse is an institutionalized way of speaking or writing about reality that defines what can be intelligibly thought and said about the world and what cannot."

http://routledgesoc.com/category/profile-tags/discourse

Short bibliography

Fletcher, Angus, 1964. Allegory: The Theory of a Symbolic Mode. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press.

Haselstein, Ulla (Hrsg.) 2016, Allegorie, DFG-Symposion 2014, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter.

Kurz, Gerhard (1982/2009) Metapher, Allegorie, Symbol, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck, 6. Auflage.

Tambling, Jeremy, 2009, Allegory, London [u.a.]: Routledge.