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Forms of Literature: Allegory: Chaucer to Whitehead

ENG 401

1232
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Why not say what you mean? As a mode of literary representation, allegory forces readers to do a lot of work. Sometimes allegory is a system of signifiers that corresponds to "real" things. At other times, allegory creates layers of simultaneous possible meanings, the divergence--even contradiction--of which frustrates arrival at any clear "point." In this course, we will ask: What is allegory? How does it create meaning? How do readers read it? Why do authors turn to allegory for particular projects at particular moments in history?
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Section C01