Phantastic reference and literature of transgression

Abstract

This article not only gives a critical review about the different layouts and ways to tackle the essence of the fantastic literature, as for example T. Todorov, R. Caillois, I. Bessière, A. M. Barrenechea and R. Campra, but also suggests a definition for "the fantastic" based on semantic criteria, since it upholds that, although syntactic and pragmatic elements play an important role within the fantastic literature, these ones also concern the semantic elements.

Actually it asserts that "the fantastic" is defined by the relationship between the literary referent and the empiric reality, although the author cannot forget that "the real" is a social and historical construction and, therefore, a changing one; this may cause that considering an element or a text as fantastic could change as time goes by. Finally there is also a reflection about the possibility of same grade of credibility despite transgression.