The Fantastic

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The Fantastic

• Todorov, Tzvetan
• The Fantastic A Structural Approach to a
  Literary Genre

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The Fantastic

• the uncannythe fantasticthe marvelous
  (reasonhesitationsupernatural)
• Uncertaintythe first condition of the
  fantasticThe fantastic is that hesitation
  experienced by a person who knows only the laws
  of nature, confronting an apparently supernatural
  event. (25)

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the fantastic-uncanny

• the fantastic-uncanny events that seem
  supernatural throughout a story receive a
  rational explanation at its end. (44)

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the pure uncanny

• events are related which may be readily
  accounted for by the laws of reason, but which
  are, in one way or another, incredible,
  extraordinary, shocking, singular, disturbing or
  unexpected and which thereby provoke in the
  character and in the reader a reaction similar to
  that which works of the fantastic have made
  familiar. (46)? the supernatural explained
  an experience of limits (transgression)

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the fantastic marvelous

• the class of narrative that are presented as
  fantastic that end with an acceptance of the
  supernatural. (52)

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the marvelous

• ?the supernatural
• 1. hyperbolic marvelousIn it, phenomena are
  supernatural only by virtue of their dimensions,
  which are superior to those that are familiar to
  us. (Arabian Nights)

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the marvelous

• 2. exotic marvelousIn this type, supernatural
  events are reported without being presented as
  such. The implicit reader is supposed to be
  ignorant of the regions where the events take
  place, and consequently he has no reason for
  calling them into question. (Sinbad)

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the marvelous

• 3. instrumental marvelouswe find the gadgets,
  technological developments unrealized in the
  period described but, after all, quite possible.
  (the flying carpet)

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the marvelous

• 4. scientific marvelous science fiction the
  supernatural is explained in a rational manner,
  but according to laws which contemporary science
  does not acknowledge.