Here’s a cool fragment of literary history, from The Paris Review: “Document: The Symbolism Survey” –
“In 1963, a sixteen-year-old San Diego high school student named Bruce McAllister sent a four-question mimeographed survey to 150 well-known authors of literary, commercial, and science fiction. Did they consciously plant symbols in their work? he asked. Who noticed symbols appearing from their subconscious, and who saw them arrive in their text, unbidden, created in the minds of their readers? When this happened, did the authors mind?”
Getting the authors themselves to do your homework for you? Sure, why not. But I have to say, what caught my attention was that half of the one hundred and fifty writers solicited actually replied to then-sixteen year old high school student Bruce McAllister. Not too shabby at all.
“The answers to the questionnaire were as varied as the writers themselves. Did Isaac Asimov plant symbolism in his work? “Consciously? Heavens, no! Unconsciously? How can one avoid it?” Iris Murdoch sagely advises that “there is much more symbolism in ordinary life than some critics seem to realize.” Ayn Rand wins the prize for concision; addressing McAllister’s example of symbolism in The Scarlet Letter, she wrote, “This is not a definition, it is not true—and, therefore, your questions do not make sense.” Kerouac is a close second; he writes, “Symbolism is alright in ‘Fiction’ but I tell true life stories simply about what happened to people I knew.”
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I love Ellison’s reply that sometimes when readers see symbolism in his work it indicates “that the reader’s mind has collaborated in a creative way with what I have written”. As a reader who’s not much of a writer, I feel strangely flattered by that possibility.
As much as I adore Iris Murdoch, her answer just reeks of apophenia in a way that actually feels a little insulting.
Thanks for your reply Nicole. Ralph Ellison’s reply was my favorite of the bunch. And speaking of which, I just discovered this great “Invisible Man” manuscript at The Library of Congress —
http://www.loc.gov/rr/mss/acquisitions-adds.html#ellison