The top 10 allegories in fiction

I used to think that the allegory was a rather straightforward, narrow form: a simple, metaphorical story conceived to deliver a political or moral lesson. But, in fact, it is stretchier and more show more versatile than that.

Allegories, I’ve learned, can be used to persuade or to parody. They can be used to give a lesson, to draw equivalences, and to highlight hypocrisies. They can be used to crystallise the reader’s understanding of a situation, but also to blow smoke in her eyes. And an allegory can be understood as a moral act in itself. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is one such. This slim work of genius doesn’t so much impart a moral, as embody the attempt to live, and write, in line with a set of principles – no matter the opposition.

When I started writing Beasts of England – my sequel to Animal Farm – I was worried I might find the conventions imposed by the allegorical setting restrictive. In the end, I was struck by the space it offers the writer and reader, and the fun that can be had with it.

Below are 10 of my favourite allegories, from classics that defined the form (and our view of the world), to surreal and unsettling parables and contemporary masterpieces.

Adam Biles – LT author page

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