Allegorical narratives stage the failure to read rather than the failure to name

Evidence

The paradigm for all texts consists of a figure (or a system of figures) and its deconstruction. But since this model cannot be closed off by a final reading, it engenders, in its turn, a supplementary figural superposition which narrates the unreadability of the prior narration. As distinguished from primary deconstructive narratives centered on figures and ultimately always on metaphor, we can call such narratives to the second(or the third) degree allegories. Allegorical narratives tell the story of the failure to read whereas tropological narratives, such as the Second Discourse, tell the story of the failure to denominate. The difference is only a difference of degree and the allegory does not erase the figure. Allegories are always allegories of metaphor and, as such, they are always allegories of the impossibility of reading — a sentence in which the genitive “of” has itself to be “read” as a metaphor. — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 535

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes allegory (failure to read) from tropology (failure to denominate), and defines allegory as always allegory of metaphor.
• XREF: connects to: Postmodern allegory is horizontal and relational rather than vertical and fixed — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 392; Deconstructive narrative moves from doubting one metaphor to doubting language itself — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 534; Language’s naming habit makes people mistake fictitious entities for real ones — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 404 (+2 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Postmodern allegory is horizontal and relational rather than vertical and fixed — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 392; Deconstructive narrative moves from doubting one metaphor to doubting language itself — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 534; Language’s naming habit makes people mistake fictitious entities for real ones — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 404 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Language’s naming habit makes people mistake fictitious entities for real ones #complicates (0.73) — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 404