-
Notes
- Temple University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Notes Introduction: The Fantastic as a Literary Genre 1. I prefer to use the word fantasy to refer to works of literature that deal with obviously invented worlds and supernatural beings, such as The Lord of the Rings, in which there is no pretense that the world of the text resembles our own. The marvelous is closely related to fantasy, in that it allows the existence of supernatural or otherworldly events and characters without the accompanying fear or anxiety that is associated with the fantastic . Myths, legends, and fairy tales are usually considered examples of the marvelous. The uncanny is a Freudian concept that refers to something that is both familiar and strange at the same time. In a literary text, the uncanny manifests itself as something that is mysterious and eerie but not necessarily inexplicable, since it comes into being through psychosis, dreams, or delusions. “The Sandman” by Hoffmann is often cited as an example of the uncanny. The absurd has its roots in French existentialism, which claims that humans are destined to fail in their search for meaning in life because life has no meaning. The fantastic, by contrast, suggests that there is meaning, but it lies beyond our reach. See Cornwell, for a full discussion of how the absurd is represented in literary texts. Many critics, including Cornwell, see Kafka as a writer linked to the absurd rather than the fantastic. The grotesque is often discussed in relation to the gothic in literature. The grotesque creates situations and characters that inspire both disgust and empathy in the reader, such as Frankenstein’s monster, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, or the Phantom of the Opera. Most critics agree that the gothic appeared in European literature in the late eighteenth century along with romanticism, and representative works include Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho. The gothic combines the sublime and beautiful with evil and terror, and it uses supernatural elements to create mystery or inspire fear. Generally in these texts, the supernatural element is explained in the end as something within the natural order (a dream, madness, a hoax, a hallucination). Lovecraft discusses gothic themes and formulas. For more on the gothic and the grotesque, see Punter. 238 / notes 2. There is disagreement about whether the term realismo mágico should be translated as magic realism or magical realism in English. I prefer the latter, as a nod to Angel Flores, who first popularized the term among North American critics. For me, magical realism is the same as lo real maravilloso, and Carpentier’s ideas about it remain valid, regardless of what we call it. I favor interpretations of magical realism, like those offered by Mena, Irish, Ben-Ur, Alazraki, Chanady, and Angulo, where there is some attention to thematic content as well as style. I am also influenced by what writers associated with the genre, like García Márquez and Asturias, have said about it. They believe that magical realist fiction tends to filter reality through the myths and marginalized peoples of the Americas. While many critics argue that magical realism is a universal form of expression, my interest in it lies firmly in Spanish America. For a more universal approach, see Schroeder and also Warnes. Later in the Introduction, I will return to the subject of magical realism and its relationship to the fantastic. 3. Jesús Rodero, for example, uses terms like la ficción ciéntífica, lo neofantástico, lo postfantástico, and el feminismo mágico to classify types of fantastic stories in Latin America. Although he gives an excellent analysis of the stories, the subcategories he proposes bring us no closer to understanding the nature of the fantastic as a genre. 4. Sardiñas, for example, has recently edited an important volume of critical essays, Teorías hispanoamericanas de la literatura fantástica, which grew out of a 1999 conference held in Havana at the Casa de las Americas. It represents a major contribution to the field of fantastic studies, but it is largely unavailable to U.S. readers because of trade and travel restrictions between the United States and Cuba. 5. In a letter dated April 7, 1941, Caillois wrote to Victoria Ocampo: “He visto la Antología Borges-Adolfito-Silvina: es desconcertante desde cualquier punto de vista. Hasta ahora, Alemania era considerado el país por excelencia de la literatura fantástica : no hay, por decirlo así ningún alemán . . . en...