A Reader’s Response Study of

The Fantastic

Background

Aesthetic movements are not created from a vacuum.The fantastic in Latin America has both positive and negative influences (+) Poe, Kafka, Faulkner, Joyce, et al.(-) Realism was unable to capture the complexity and uniqueness of Latin American culture.Wed to magic realism, the fantastic offers few aesthetic restrictions. As a result, the complexities of Latin America can be illustrated insofar as they can be imagined

Todorov and The Fantastic

“In a world which is indeed our world, the one we know, a world without devils, sylphideds, or vampires, there occurs an event which cannot be explained by the laws of this same familiar world.”The fantastic occupies the duration of uncertainty.The Uncanny or Marvelous.

Cortazar

Questions of ontology - inversions of reality and dreams.

The confusion at the end typifies the kind of fantastic experience Todorov addresses.

What effect does this technique have on our reading and opinions?

Pedro Paramo

Experiencing the fantastic along with a character vs. outside the narration.First encounter with Eduviges Dyada.How does this, in comparison to “The Night Face Up,” affect our reading of the narrative?Is the experience mitigated when we are suspended along with a character?

Paradox of Experience

Any attempt to define the fantastic as a moment of hesitation is inherently paradoxical.

Identity crisis

How is this problem solved?

Genre, baby, genre

If the fantastic is explored as a genre then it is allowed to be an experience per se - like horror or romance.Cortazar exemplifies the fantastic qua genreWhat about Rulfo?We can also think of fantastic as aesthetic tool like sublime. We are aware of its presence in the text but looking at its context adds richness.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold., ed. Bloom’s Major Short Story Writers: Julio Cortazar. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004.

Cortazar, Julio. “The Night Face Up.” The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories. Echevarria, Roberto

Gonzalez., ed. Oxford: Oxford Press, 1997.

Franco, Jean. An Introduction to Spanish-American Literature. New York: Cambridge UP, 1969.

Rulfo, Juan. Pedro Paramo.

Todorv, Tzvetan. The Fantastic. New York: Cornell UP, 1975