Allegory in the Old World

Abstract

This chapter sets out the models of European allegory from which the American tradition developed. These models formed the allegorical inheritance which was transported to the New World with the first Puritan settlers. I begin with a survey of the originary styles of allegorical interpretation because the narrative form of literary allegory developed historically from classical and biblical models of allegorical interpretation and, as such, the narrative genre is characterized by the thematization of allegorical hermeneutics within the story or plot. Differing assumptions about, and practices of, interpretation have given rise to an enormous diversity of allegorical narratives. What they all share is the quest for spiritual meaning which is sought through the correct interpretation of material signs: the signs of temporal history, corporeal nature and human reason. This spiritual meaning is assumed to explain the character of the human condition in terms of some culturally important book. The authority of this sacred book and also the legitimacy of its cultural representations are protected and promoted by the practice of allegorical interpretation. Allegory, in fact, appears at times of peculiar cultural crisis, when the authority of the sacred book is under threat from various quarters.