Good stories, like Ogres and onions, have layers. [1] We are not sure how many layers Ogres and onions (or cakes) have, but thanks to Dante Alighieri (and, before him, John Cassian) we know good stories, like Scripture, have four: historical, allegorical, moral, and anagogical. Are your eyes watering yet? Dante Alighieri was, of course, the author of one of the greatest stories ever written (the Divine Comedy ) so we may take him at his word that his own story had layers, but even Dante found that his readers needed help recognizing the layers through the tears. (Real Ogres cry.) Accordingly, Dante (near rhyme with Donkey) found it necessary to explain to his friend Cangrande della Scala (near alliteration with Shrek) what those layers were: For the sake, then, of clarifying what we have to say, it has to be understood that the meaning of this work [the Commedia ] is not of one kind only [ non est simplex sensus ]; rather, it may be described as “polysemous”, as havi...
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F.B.