Fantastic is a literary term that describes a quality of other literary genres, and in some cases is used as a genre in and of itself, although in this case it is often conflated with the Supernatural. The term was originated in the structuralist theory of critic Tzvetan Todorov in his work "The Fantastic". He describes the fantastic as being a liminal state of the supernatural. Fantastic can refer to: The Fantastic genre of writing Fantastic art Mr. ... Tzvetan Todorov (Bulgarian: ) (born on March 1, 1939 in Sofia) is a Franco-Bulgarian philosopher. ...

A truly fantastic work is subtle in the working of the feeling, and would leave the reader with a sense of confusion about the work, and whether or not the phenomenon was real or imagined. Todorov compares this with two other ideas: The Uncanny, wherein the phenomenon turns out to have a rational explanation such as in the gothic works of Ann Radcliffe; or the Marvelous, where there truly is a supernatural explanation for the phenomenon. Strawberry Hill, an English villa in the Gothic revival style, built by seminal Gothic writer Horace Walpole Gothic fiction is an important genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. ... This article is about the 19th-century author. ...

There is no truly typical "fantastic story", as the term generally discusses works of the horror or gothic genre. But two representative stories might be:

• Algernon Blackwood's story "The Willows", where two men travelling down the Danube River are beset by an eery feeling of malice and several improbable setbacks in their trip; the question that pervades the story is whether they are falling prey to the wilderness and their own imaginations, or if there really is something horrific out to get them.
• Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Black Cat", where a murderer is haunted by a black cat; but is it revenge from beyond the grave, or just simply a cat?

A clear distinction between the Fantastic and Magical Realism is that the latter does not privilege either realistic or supernatural elements, nor does Magical Realism ask the reader or characters to do so. Algernon Henry Blackwood (March 14, 1869 – December 10, 1951) was an English writer of tales of the supernatural. ... Length 2,888 km Elevation of the source 1,078 m Average discharge 30 km before Passau: 580 m³/s Vienna: 1,900 m³/s Budapest: 2,350 m³/s just before Delta: 6,500 m³/s Area watershed 817,000 km² Origin Black Forest (Schwarzwald-Baar, Baden- Württemberg... Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, playwright, editor, literary critic, essayist and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... Magic Realism (or Magical Realism) is an illustrative or literary technique in which the laws of cause and effect seem not quite to apply in otherwise real world situations. ... Magic Realism (or Magical Realism) is an illustrative or literary technique in which the laws of cause and effect seem not quite to apply in otherwise real world situations. ...

The Fantastic is sometimes erroneously called the Grotesque or Supernatural fiction, because both the Grotesque and the Supernatural contain fantastic elements, yet they are not the same, as the fantastic is based on an ambiguity of those elements. This article is about the word itself. ... Supernatural fiction is a classification of literature used to describe fiction exploiting or requiring as plot devices or themes some contradictions of the commonplace natural world and materialist assumptions about it. ...

Examples of writers of Fantastic literature include:

• many of Edgar Allan Poe's short works
• Nikolai Gogol's "The Nose"
• Mikhail Bulgakov
• Algernon Blackwood's works
• Sheridan Le Fanu's works in "In a Glass Darkly"
• Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series
• E.T.A. Hoffmann's works, notably Der Sandmann, "The Golden Flower Pot", and "The Nutcracker and the King of Mice"
• Gerard de Nerval's "Aurelia"

In Elizabethan slang, a Fantastic was a rake; an "effeminate fool" or "improvident young gallant".^{[citation needed]} The character Lucio in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure is described in the Dramatis Personae as a Fantastic. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, playwright, editor, literary critic, essayist and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (Russian: ; IPA: ; Ukrainian: ) (April 1, 1809 — March 4, 1852) was a Russian-language writer of Ukrainian origin. ... Mikhail Afanasievich Bulgakov (Russian: Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков; May 15 [O.S. May 3] 1891, Kiev – March 10, 1940, Moscow) was a Russian novelist and playwright of the first half of the 20th century. ... Algernon Henry Blackwood (March 14, 1869 – December 10, 1951) was an English writer of tales of the supernatural. ... Sheridan Le Fanu Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (August 28, 1814 – February 7, 1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. ... Mervyn Laurence Peake (July 9, 1911 – November 17, 1968) was an English modernist writer, artist, poet and illustrator. ... Gormenghast Castle in the BBC miniseries The Gormenghast series is a series of books written by Mervyn Peake that is centered around the castle Gormenghast and the character Titus Groan. ... ETA Hoffman Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (January 24, 1776 - June 25, 1822), was a German romantic and fantasy author and composer. ... Der Sandmann (The Sandman) is a short story written in German by E.T.A. Hoffmann. ... Gérard de Nerval (May 22, 1808 - January 26, 1855) was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, the most essentially Romantic among French poets. ... The Elizabethan Era is the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. ... Shakespeare redirects here. ... Claudio and Isabella (1850) by William Holman Hunt Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, written in 1603. ...

Hadley Taylor

See also

• fantabulous
• Supernatural
• Grotesque
• Magical Realism