Oh goodness me, I hope not – that looks awful. Neither Lewis nor Pullman could write as cringe-makingly as that!
Let me try again.
Pilgrim’s Progress, Animal Farm etc are allegories. It is intended that the moral should be prominent, the characterisation less so. Fine.
Other books may be written where the novel stands as a novel, with human characterisation and growth visible, but with a clear moral compass: Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Rings, The Way We Live Now, Huckleberry Finn. (I would add Swallows and Amazons for anyone who read and remembers).
If one writes a novel which attempts to convince of a religious truth rather than exhibit a moral truth there will be a danger that it will fall somewhere between the allegory and the true novel. It’s a matter of judgement, of course, whether a book does that or not. In my view Narnia tends that way. And for some reason I find any drift towards depicting children simply as symbols distasteful. I accept that may be just an especially weird characteristic of mine.
