"If you take myth and folklore, and these things that speak in symbols, they can be interpreted in so many ways that although the actual image is clear enough, the interpretation is infinitely blurred, a sort of enormous rainbow of every possible colour you could imagine"
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Myth is the rare kind of clarity that refuses to be pinned down. Diana Wynne Jones gets at the paradox that makes folklore so durable: the “actual image” lands with the blunt force of recognition, yet the meaning refuses to sit still. Her phrasing treats symbolism like optics. You can see the shape, the hero, the forest, the bargain, the monster. But the moment you ask what it “really” means, the story refracts into an “enormous rainbow” of readings, all plausible, none final.
The intent here feels quietly polemical: a defense of ambiguity as a feature, not a flaw. Jones is pushing back against the classroom itch to translate symbols into single, tidy morals. In her view, myth isn’t a code to crack but a lens that keeps changing depending on who looks through it and when. That “infinitely blurred” isn’t a failure of communication; it’s the whole technology of the form. Symbols travel across centuries because they don’t arrive pre-labeled.
Context matters: Jones wrote fantasy that is famously alert to the mechanics of story, often playing with archetypes while refusing to be trapped by them. The subtext is a writer’s credo: if you build images with enough archetypal charge, readers will do the rest, bringing their own fears, politics, and private histories to the same scene. The rainbow metaphor also signals a kind of generosity. Interpretation isn’t a battle for the correct answer; it’s a spectrum, and the richness is in the spill.
The intent here feels quietly polemical: a defense of ambiguity as a feature, not a flaw. Jones is pushing back against the classroom itch to translate symbols into single, tidy morals. In her view, myth isn’t a code to crack but a lens that keeps changing depending on who looks through it and when. That “infinitely blurred” isn’t a failure of communication; it’s the whole technology of the form. Symbols travel across centuries because they don’t arrive pre-labeled.
Context matters: Jones wrote fantasy that is famously alert to the mechanics of story, often playing with archetypes while refusing to be trapped by them. The subtext is a writer’s credo: if you build images with enough archetypal charge, readers will do the rest, bringing their own fears, politics, and private histories to the same scene. The rainbow metaphor also signals a kind of generosity. Interpretation isn’t a battle for the correct answer; it’s a spectrum, and the richness is in the spill.
Quote Details
| Topic | Deep |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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