Allegory and Phenomenology

Abstract

This chapter argues that allegory, as a structure that supports appearances, has a fundamental connection to phenomenology, the study of appearances. By analysing a foundational philosophical text, Plato’s Republic, and the appearance of the ideal world in the ‘allegory of the cave’, the essay shows that allegory phenomenalizes the power of language to bring worlds into appearance in philosophy as well as in literature. Further analysis includes Heidegger’s late work on language, art, and Unscheinbaren and Derrida’s focus on literature that is a critical experience of itself. The structure of allegory proves fundamental for each philosopher to make his case about language in language. The chapter concludes with a brief analysis of how allegory applies to contemporary work of literature by Aboriginal writers of Australia, who phenomenalize their truth in literature, their complex two-world existence founded on Dreaming/Law/Lore, both revealing and keeping secret, a seemingly universal characteristic of allegory.