Coursera: Fantasy and Science Fiction (Summer 2012) discussion

I know the professor commented on this in one of his added lectures, but I was interested in the take the rest of you have on this.

I do think symbolism exists in literature, sometimes deliberate and sometimes subconsciously. But I often feel that it's taken too far.

For instance, I don't know that I buy the nose being a symbol for the penis in The Invisible Man. I can see how he may have interpreted it that way, but I think the book had more opportunities to use sexual metaphors if that's what the author had really intended.

Yet, I find myself wondering if the monster in Frankenstein wasn't really Shelly's symbol for her own sexuality and how it was seen in her society. She must have been thought a 'monster' by most of 'polite society' in her time.

I know I'm rambling... I just wonder if other people ever really feel that 'a cigar is just a cigar' in the words of Freud?

Jute wrote: "I just wonder if other people ever really feel that 'a cigar is just a cigar' in the words of Freud?"

lol, all the time. Haven't been able to watch the vids yet (waiting for the kids to go to bed - I love Thursday nights with the Prof!) but yes, I'm rather sceptical that symbolism is always deliberately placed. But I find it interesting to look for it for the following reasons:

a) it may be deliberate subtext because the author felt unable to write openly due to the prevailing culture (possibly an example might be sex in Grimm or feminism in Shelley)

b) it may be subconscious on the part of the author but tells us something about the world they live in (this was the theme of my Hawthorne/Poe essay - I felt a selection of their stories were clearly influenced by the ideas of Spiritualism but it probably wasn't deliberate)

c) it can tell us something or help us form an allegory about the world we live in now and/or our own concerns, preoccupations and privilages (that was my essay this time, lol!)

Maybe it's the way my mind works, but I often find it difficult to see the more subtle symbolism in literature. You almost have to hit me over the head with it for me to see it on my own sometimes. Of course, when it's pointed out to me, I usually 'get' it, although I might question a reader's interpretation - e.g., the professor and the Invisible Man's nose being a sexual symbol. So I guess I'm with Freud.

I know what you mean *grin* For me the worst was Aseop compared to the Bible and many of the sexual ones...

Oh thank you so much for saying this! I am another "a cigar is just a cigar" person. I did a lot of literature at university, and did my damnedest to avoid the type of analysis like the Aesop example mentioned by Xiri. I can accept conscious and sub-conscious symbolism, but only so far!