Le Surnaturel en littérature et au cinéma
The Supernatural in literature and cinema
Contributor(s): Katarzyna Gadomska (Editor), Agnieszka Loska (Editor), Anna Swoboda (Editor)
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Series: Studia literackie
- E-ISBN-13: 978-83-226-3496-7
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-83-226-3596-4
- Page Count: 386
- Publication Year: 2018
- Language: English, French
Le fantastique: origines et parcours théoriques
Le fantastique: origines et parcours théoriques
(Fantastic Literature: Origins and Theoretical Pathways)
- Author(s):Maria Cristina Batalha
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:23-39
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:theoretical frames; supernatural; imagination; fantasy;
- Summary/Abstract:This paper aims at reviewing some of the fantastic literature theoretical aspects which have been developed not only by the critics but also by some authors who wrote fantastic novels as well. Our purpose is to present the different variables, as well as to point out the differences related to the concepts regarding imagination, fantasy and supernatural. The diversity lies not only on the interpretation made from the novels over time and in different geographical areas, but also due to the several translations attributed to the genre when it has first appeared.
- Price: 4.50 €
Réel, surnaturel et fiction: réflexions sur un certain fantastique
Réel, surnaturel et fiction: réflexions sur un certain fantastique
(The Real, the Supernatural, and Fiction: Reflections on a Certain Fantastic)
- Author(s):Marilyn Bueno
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:40-52
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:supernatural; fantasy; science-fiction;
- Summary/Abstract:The boundary is an essential notion in the study of the fantastic genre. As a result, this article hinges around an analysis of the boundary at stake between this genre and the closest one, that is science-fiction. Then, it reflects on the limits between what is fictitious and what is real in the fantastic genre through a reflection on the notion of supernatural and its main characteristics.
- Price: 4.50 €
Le surnaturel et le corps. Le néofantastique du corps dans les récits contemporains francophones
Le surnaturel et le corps. Le néofantastique du corps dans les récits contemporains francophones
(The Supernatural and the Body. The Neo-fantastic of the Body in Contemporary Francophone Short Stories)
- Author(s):Katarzyna Gadomska
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:53-67
- No. of Pages:15
- Keywords:body: supernatural: vagina dentata: decorporalization: monster;
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of this article is to study the relationship between the supernatural and the representations of the body in neo-fantastic francophone short stories (by J.-P. Andrevon, J.-P. Bours and A. Dorémieux). My hypothesis is that the classic 19-th century fantastic literature was the fantastic of the appearance of the body (e.g. spectral), while today, with the dominating motifs of decorporalization, we can speak about the neo-fantastic of the disappearance of the body. In both cases, the body is the main producer of the supernatural, although presently the isotopy of this motif is based on regressive dynamics. Moreover, this article examines the cases of monstrous bodies in neo-fantastic literature, particularly vagina dentata as the source of the supernatural. It also analyzes the metaphorical and metonymical function of the body.
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Le surnaturel dans l’oeuvre de Thomas Ligotti: Cette absolue ténèbre derrière la semblance des choses
Le surnaturel dans l’oeuvre de Thomas Ligotti: Cette absolue ténèbre derrière la semblance des choses
(The Supernatural in Thomas Ligotti’s Fiction: This Absolute Darkness Behind the Appearance of Things)
- Author(s):Denis Moreau
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:68-81
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:supernatural; fantastic literature; darkness; ontological loneliness; selfreflection; metafiction; metalepsis; Thomas Ligotti;
- Summary/Abstract:The weird fiction of Thomas Ligotti uses a variety of images and subjects within a thematic unit focused on the presence of a shadowy and malevolent force, an unintelligible darkness hidden beneath the surface of the sensible world. In the philosophical thought of Ligotti’s fiction, inherited from Arthur Schopenhauer and Peter Wessel Zapffe, the supernatural appears as a base for ontological questions about the limits of the knowable, the meaning of the world and the humankind’s place and role in the universe. This question of humankind’s relation to the rest of the universe induces a primal and epistemic anguish. The supernatural takes here the form of an absolute blackness, as an embodiment of the epitome of the unknown and its impact upon the human psyche.The world, deprived of transcendence and finality, is not the way it appears, and becomes a grotesque chaos of fear, nonsense and epistemological isolation. On the other hand, this epistemological problematic is coupled with elements of metafictional self-reflection and different metaleptic layers, with the aim of illustrating the theme of illusion and reality and the permeability between the fictional and the real.
- Price: 4.50 €
Elementi lovecraftiani nel ciclo fantasy Cronache del Ghiaccio e del Fuoco di G.R.R. Martin
Elementi lovecraftiani nel ciclo fantasy Cronache del Ghiaccio e del Fuoco di G.R.R. Martin
(Lovecraftian Elements in the Fantasy Saga A Song of Ice and Fire by G.R.R. Martin)
- Author(s):Elena Vetere
- Language:Italian
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:82-92
- No. of Pages:11
- Keywords:G.R.R. Martin; H.P. Lovecraft; Weird fiction; Fantasy;
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of this article (in the Italian language) is to highlight the points of contact between H.P. Lovecraft’s works and poetic and G.R.R. Martin’s fantasy saga A Song of Ice and Fire. Martin himself said on many occasions that during his early years, he found inspiration in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft. Because of this, the references to Lovecraft are not only hints or mentions. The presence of the writer from Providence is visible in stylistic and thematic elements. In works of both of the American authors, the tension in the description of something weird and other can be found. Particularly in Martin’s texts, despite the fantasy setting so distant from our reality, something like the White Walkers, the magic and the religions are difficult to understand for the characters, protagonists or not, who reject the unknown or almost unknown as something dangerous and hard to understand. This sense of extraneousness is spread to the reader too, with many rhetorical expedients that bring the public to realize a particular idea: something perceived as impossible and wrong can appear even in a fantastic world. This happens because Martin uses allusive narrative methods very similar to the ones used by Lovecraft. This is clear even from a stylistic point of view: Martin, like Lovecraft, stops for a long time on descriptions and tends to procrastinate, telling something about the topic, but remaining silent about much more. In this way, he creates an atmosphere of suspension and uncertainty, of curiosity and interest, that renovates constantly in the narration. Clearly there are more direct references to Lovecraft. For example, the characters and history of the House Greyjoy are very much connected to the Lovecraftian background, with names like Dagon (one of the lords of the Iron Islands), the religion of the Drowned God – also known as “He Who Dwells Beneath the Waves” – and the mysterious people of the Deep Ones; but in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire there are also other hints, like the Essos’ gods Black Goat and Many-Faced God, and the Isle of Leng. There are also more indirect quotes, like the chapter where by Cersei, fearing that her parricide brother Tyrion is hiding beyond the walls, repeats that the sounds that she hears are only “rats in the walls”. Finally, this article will focus not only on the more direct mentions to Lovecraft, but even on the style and the formal aspects that the two writers share, pointing out how themes and narrative methods can melt giving a particular atmosphere to a genre like the fantasy.
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Le surnaturel dans le Jeu des Trônes: À propos de Jon Snow*
Le surnaturel dans le Jeu des Trônes: À propos de Jon Snow*
(The Supernatural in the Game of Thrones: About Jon Snow)
- Author(s):Éric Auriacombe
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:93-106
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:Game of Thrones; Jon Snow; supernatural; fantastic; fear; depression; early mourning;
- Summary/Abstract:At first glance, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones is not supernatural. Suddenly, surprising and unpredictable events occur which also take the readers / spectators by surprise: the dragon eggs hatch, the Gods seem to act, the dead revive and they attack the living. I propose to note that events of fantastic appearance erupt in the reality of the series to reveal strangeness, as well as to discover a wonderful universe at the origin of History. Jon Snow believes that he defends the Wall, but he must first fight the undead, kill his paternal substitute, make friends with different forms of life (giants), die and resurrect, discovering the existence of the White Walkers and their universe: A Song of Ice and Fire.
- Price: 4.50 €
The Fantastic Variations of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods
The Fantastic Variations of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods
(The Fantastic Variations of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods)
- Author(s):Ewa Drab
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:107-115
- No. of Pages:9
- Keywords:Neil Gaiman; American Gods; the fantastic; the marvelous; the supernatural; fantasy; postmodernism;
- Summary/Abstract:With the characteristics typical of postmodernist fiction, the novels written by Neil Gaiman, a British author of the imaginary, represent a contemporary perception of the imaginative literatures, regarded through the prism of hybridization. In consequence, in Gaiman’s work, different poetics and conventions, such as the fantastic and the marvelous, are combined to reveal various depictions of the supernatural. As a result, in order to examine the author’s style, it is necessary to ponder on the influence of the postmodernist on the choice of the genre. Furthermore, the analysis of the most important manifestations of the supernatural in Gaiman’s astounding novel American Gods (2001) should be preceded by a short introduction to the understanding of the terms “the fantastic” and “the marvelous.”
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The Supernatural and the Monstrous-Feminine in Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black
The Supernatural and the Monstrous-Feminine in Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black
(The Supernatural and the Monstrous-Feminine in Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black)
- Author(s):Olga Glebova
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:116-130
- No. of Pages:15
- Keywords:horror fiction; Neo-Victorian Gothic; the supernatural; ghost story; haunting; the monstrous-feminine; trauma;
- Summary/Abstract:Susan Hill’s novel The Woman in Black (1983) is an example of neo-Victorian Gothic, a popular genre which reflects the contemporary fascination with the irrational and the monstrous. In The Woman in Black the supernatural horror is represented by the female monster, or the monstrous-feminine, which takes the form of a revengeful spectral woman. Hill’s novel reveals the gaps and silences in the stories of Victorian women and uses the monstrous-feminine as a powerful metaphor to portray the situation of “unwed mothers,” stigmatized and ostracized in Victorian times. Moreover, the figure of the female monster offers a possibility to explore the psychological implications of a mother’s traumatic separation from her child and to highlight the contemporary relevance of the concerns expressed in Hill’s novel.
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L’espace anxiogène dans La Meute de Serge Brussolo sur l’exemple de la figure de la demeure noire
L’espace anxiogène dans La Meute de Serge Brussolo sur l’exemple de la figure de la demeure noire
(Anxiogenic Space in Serge Brussolo’s La Meute
on the Example of Black Dwelling (fr. demeure noire))
- Author(s):Aleksandra Bogusławska
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:131-143
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:gothic novel; black novel; neogothic novel; literary horror fiction; fear; anxiogenic space; black dwelling; Serge Brussolo;
- Summary/Abstract:The aim of this article is to analyze the space presented in Serge Brussolo’s novel La Meute (1990) as an example of anxiogenic space with a specific emphasis put on its multiple attributes related to the black dwelling (fr. demeure noire), a characteristic figure developed by the horror fiction genre. The sensation of fear is obtained through the attribution to the space of the house of the protagonist the anxiogenic features already present in the first texts of the genre initiated by Horace Walpole, namely the gothic novel, such as: the atmosphere of hostility, the connection with a macabre past, the relationship with death, the isolation of civilization, enclosed space. In La Meute, there are also references to the innovative features characterizing the neogothic space. Thus, by choosing the location of the haunted house in the Parisian metropolis, Serge Brussolo resorts to the topos of the giant city, representing a daily and banal space becoming the scene of violent events, inexplicable by the laws of terrestrial reality. Space attracts the characters and exerts an evil influence on their spirits generating a relationship of submission and mental dependence. Thus presented, linking traditional and innovative traits the space in Serge Brussolo’s La Meute represents an anxiogenic space par excellence.
- Price: 4.50 €
Magic is the New Black: Gothic Tradition, Cross-Dressing, and Pulp Fiction
Magic is the New Black: Gothic Tradition, Cross-Dressing, and Pulp Fiction
(Magic is the New Black: Gothic Tradition, Cross-Dressing, and Pulp Fiction)
- Author(s):Fabrizio Foni
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:144-159
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:Gothic tradition; myths and legends of the Middle Ages; gender-related issues; allegory; metaliterature; historical fiction; Pulp Fiction;relativism;
- Summary/Abstract:Marjorie Bowen’s Black Magic is far from being a literary masterpiece. And yet, this novel, which was quite popular at the time, deserves to be investigated in the light of a rich supernatural-related tradition, ranging from folklore to the most famous Gothic novels. Its ending enables us to analyse the supernatural as a metaliterary projection of the author herself.
- Price: 4.50 €
L’ambiguïté du surnaturel dans la série télévisée fantastique
L’ambiguïté du surnaturel dans la série télévisée fantastique
(The Ambiguity of Supernatural in Fantasy TV Series)
- Author(s):Mathieu Pierre
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:160-170
- No. of Pages:11
- Keywords:Fantastic; fantasy; supernatural; television series;
- Summary/Abstract:On the example of contemporary American fantasy series, this article aims to show that the question of the supernatural assumes an ambiguous form, which is always more difficult to define and to circumscribe, as there are iterations on its themes. Moreover, we shall see that these series undermine the principles of the fantastic, as defined by Todorov.
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« Celui qui inquiète le voir… ». Un dispositif de l’ombre: autour des Revenants
« Celui qui inquiète le voir… ». Un dispositif de l’ombre: autour des Revenants
(“The one which troubles vision…” A Scheme of the Shadow: Around the Revenants)
- Author(s):Isabelle Rachel Casta
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:171-184
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:gated communities; ghost story; living dead; resurrection; supernatural;
- Summary/Abstract:A spectre who returns to make his wife pregnant… A little boy who has been dead for thirty years (or more), emerging in the night to trot behind a lost and lonely young nurse… A waitress, murdered several times, but still alert and seductive… In Les Revenants, French series by Fabrice Gobert, the cohorts of sorrowful ghosts cross paths for a moment, but the two journeys will not continue together, as each one unwittingly or unknowingly goes his own dark way again. Meanwhile, apartments are invaded by flies, rot, cockroaches – a silent infestation of signs of corruption, in the decor and in the body. The intensity of strangeness is reinforced here with the choice of a young phantom, Victor/Louis Levanski, as an icon: his black eyes, extremely disturbing frozen features and unsettling paleness highlight the cover of the best-seller inspired by the series. Therefore, it seems interesting to scrutinize what in the choice of filming and chromatic palette establishes this new kind of the supernatural.
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Le surnaturel: une esthétique du regard impliqué (Dracula à la scène et à l’écran)
Le surnaturel: une esthétique du regard impliqué (Dracula à la scène et à l’écran)
(Dracula on Stage and on Screen: A Concerned Vision in Supernatural Narratives)
- Author(s):Florence Fix
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:185-197
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:Vampires; Dracula; dramatization; spectacular;
- Summary/Abstract:From Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula (1897) to the recent invasion by vampires of cinema and television series, a major change has occurred: once unclear and subject to doubt as to their appearance, supernatural beings and activities have become spectacular, visible by all, even if not always comprehensible by all viewers. Therefore, vampires as supernatural characters are still subject to scrutiny, but the questions they raise are not about their doubtful look or appearance, but about the desire, envy and jealousy they generate. Moreover, their hunter, once accepted as a scientist determined to eradicate them, is now being questioned: looking at extraordinary things, animals or creatures is not only a matter of knowing but of domination and control.
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La figure de l’enfant monstrueux et le surnaturel dans le romanesque d’Anne Duguël
La figure de l’enfant monstrueux et le surnaturel dans le romanesque d’Anne Duguël
(The Monstrous Child and the Supernatural in
Anne Duguël’s Novels)
- Author(s):Agnieszka Loska
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:198-209
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:monstrous child; fear; horror; supernatural; neofantastic; Anne Duguël;
- Summary/Abstract:Although we always tend to perceive children as pure and innocent beings, fantastic literature aims to break with their idealized image by presenting them as a corrupted sadists who feed on their victims’ fear and suffering. L’asile de la mariée and Mon âme est une porcherie are two novels by Anne Duguël, a contemporary Belgian francophone author of fantastic literature, in which, by introducing the supernatural elements, she depicts two children who commit ferocious acts. The aim of the article is to present and characterize these cruel children in order to examine the origins of the evil that has invaded them and the causes of their thirst of blood forcing them to commit several abominable crimes.
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El Espinazo del Diablo and Pa Negre: Childhood Resilience through the Gothic and the Monstrous in Spanish Civil War Cinema
El Espinazo del Diablo and Pa Negre: Childhood Resilience through the Gothic and the Monstrous in Spanish Civil War Cinema
(El Espinazo del Diablo and Pa Negre: Childhood Resilience through the Gothic and the Monstrous in Spanish Civil War Cinema)
- Author(s):Java Singh
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:210-224
- No. of Pages:15
- Keywords:deterritorialization; Spanish Civil War; childhood; resilience; Gothic; Monstrous; abjection; chronotope; oxymoron ;
- Summary/Abstract:The opening and closing voiceovers in The Devil’s Backbone ruminate on the “singularities” of a ghost – “it is a terrible event (evento terrible) doomed to repeat itself time and again, a moment of pain, an emotion suspended in time.” In Bakhtinian terms, an event is a specific intersection of space and time, the when and where of the event generate distinct chronotopes, each with its own affect capacity.As an event, gothic childhood actualized in the context of a civil war stands at the intersection of a space marked by vulnerability and historical time marked by ideological conflict. This is one potential becoming made sensible by a particular regime of attractions operative in the “theatre” of Bakhtin’s chronotope of the Gothic castle, wherein fear is the dominant affect. The chronotope of the Gothic castle, with its denotive traces of legends, myths, weaponry, and hierarchical relationships, features prominently in the selected films; nonetheless, its antithesis, the chronotope of threshold is just as pervasive in the narratives. The chronotope of the Gothic castle calibrates the spaces controlled by adults, and the chronotope of threshold infuses the liminal spaces under the influence of the gothic and monstrous children.The films, acting as mimes, deterritorialize the event of childhood through the “factory” of the chronotope of threshold, which makes resilience possible. Boris Cyrulnik, a noted psychiatrist and a holocaust survivor, based on his extensive work with children in conflict zones, states that “the function of fear is to tame emotions while giving us advice at the same time. The horror has a reassuring effect because it supplies a code that tells us how to act in a dangerous situation.” The paper examines how the films, by presenting a contrasting placement of the antithetical chronotopes, demonstrate key elements of Cyrulnik’s study of childhood resilience.
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Ghosts in the Machine: Supernatural Dread vs. Technology in the Brazilian Erotic Horror Thriller Excitação (1976)
Ghosts in the Machine: Supernatural Dread vs. Technology in the Brazilian Erotic Horror Thriller Excitação (1976)
(Ghosts in the Machine: Supernatural Dread vs. Technology in the Brazilian Erotic Horror Thriller Excitação (1976))
- Author(s):Tiago Monteiro
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:225-237
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:Brazilian cinema; supernatural horror; Jean Garrett; Boca do Lixo; Excitaçao;
- Summary/Abstract:Excitaçao (1976) is a Brazilian feature film which tells the story of Helena, a mentally disturbed woman married to Renato, an ambitious software engineer. While recovering from a recent trauma and left alone by Renato in a house by the sea, where the former owner, Paulo, committed suicide, Helena gradually descends into madness when several electronic devices start to acquire a life of their own. This paper aims to discuss the relevance of Jean Garrett’s auvre to the constitution of a “cinematic Brazilian Gothic,” which borrowed elements from both contemporary Hollywood and European genre films as well as rewrote them from an ambivalent perspective, due to the working-class and conservative background from which producers, filmmakers, and the audience came. Therefore, through an analysis of Excitaçao’s plot, main characters, and Gothic atmosphere, I intend to place the film not only in the context of Brazilian horror cinema, but also as the embodiment of a multi-layered process of social and cultural changes.
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L’usage du surnaturel chez Perrault et chez les Grimm
L’usage du surnaturel chez Perrault et chez les Grimm
(The Uses of the Supernatural by Perrault and by the Brothers Grimm)
- Author(s):Pierre-Emmanuel Moog
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:238-252
- No. of Pages:15
- Keywords:Fairy tales; wonder; supernatural; magic; verisimilitude; Charles Perrault; Brothers Grimm;
- Summary/Abstract:In fairy tales, supernatural events usually do not disturb characters. However, the poetics of the genre still needs to address how it introduces such events to readers. A thorough comparison of similar tales by Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm reveals opposite uses. The classic French tales actually contain very little supernatural, with few agents of magic, and whenever magic is used, it is clearly delineated. The German romantic tales intertwine the real world and the supernatural one, blurring the lines between them. As a result, the poetics of the tales by the Brothers Grimm relies on the supernatural to redress the real world and attain immanent justice in a moral universe, whereas the limited use of the supernatural in Perrault’s tales, while stressing the verisimilitude of the situations overall, allows for the acceleration of the narration and a focus on what is truly at stake in these stories.
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La problématique identitaire au prisme du fantastique dans Alice au pays des merveilles
La problématique identitaire au prisme du fantastique dans Alice au pays des merveilles
(The Problematic of Identity through the Prism of Fantasy in Alice in Wonderland)
- Author(s):Sonia Dosoruth
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:253-271
- No. of Pages:19
- Keywords:identity; fantasy; algebraic lessons; strangeness; Underland;
- Summary/Abstract:This paper will examine the representation of identity through the prism of fantasy in the book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in its French version namely Alice au pays des merveilles (the 2010 edition) and the film Alice in Wonderland by Tim Burton (2010). We shall depict the background of the Victorian era which might have had a direct influence on the author. That should allow us to portray the intrinsic aspects which characterise the writing of the book. Lewis, being a mathematician, has also slipped into his book a numerous amount of examples related to the realm of mathematics precisely through algebraic lessons. This element surely brings into light the fantasy approach of the book like the strangeness of animals Alice comes to meet. It also sheds light on issues that Alice will have to face, including that which allows her to reflect on her identity. However the lavish interpretation (to be understood in its positive sense here) given to the book has been the film by Tim Burton in 2010. Burton, through specific technical effects like the numerical Dalsa camera which greatly helps to double The Queen of Heart’s head, also uses a green background for most parts of the film with computer-generated imagery (CGI). The technical approach gives a real sense of fantasy to the film and the identity of the then grown-up Alice is awakened. It soars to give her much prowess to come to terms with the Jabberwocky, the enemy she only can kill through the use of the vorpal sword according to the Oraculum, the illustrated scroll that tells the past, present and future in the Underland.
- Price: 4.50 €
Territoires du surnaturel: l’espace de l’aventure à la fin du XIXe siècle
Territoires du surnaturel: l’espace de l’aventure à la fin du XIXe siècle
(Supernatural Territories: Space of Adventure at the End of the 19th Century)
- Author(s):Paul Faggianelli Brocart
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:272-285
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:imperialism; adventure novel; space; science; supernatural;
- Summary/Abstract:This article focuses on the spatial translation of the literary categories of the supernatural, within the imperial hierarchy that divides territories between center and margins. Through a group of adventure novels from the 19th century, going from Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, to Rosny, we will focus on how the supernatural can ben encoded in a spatial representation, and how the distortion triggered by the supernatural can be domesticated through the scientific apparatus.
- Price: 4.50 €
Il était une fois au pays (dés)enchanté: le merveilleux inquiétant chez Gaétan Soucy
Il était une fois au pays (dés)enchanté: le merveilleux inquiétant chez Gaétan Soucy
(Once upon a Time in the (un)Enchanted Country: Gaétan Soucy’s Disturbing Marvel)
- Author(s):Vicky Montambault
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:286-298
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:wonderful; fantasy; puppet; worrisome; symbolism; ruin; city; initiatory forest; imaginary; monstrosity;
- Summary/Abstract:Within the framework of this article, we interrogate nature and function of the supernatural in the imaginary of Music-Hall !, (2002) a book of Gaétan Soucy. The notion of the wonderful of Soucy’s universe provokes a discomfort: he worries more than amazes. He inscribes under the sign the overthrow, the tale draws a world of (dis) enchantment. Firstly, traditional initiatory space represented by the forest inverted and moved to the city. This strategy influences the relation between nature/culture which becomes ambiguous. On the other and, certain figures relate to the universe fairy tales inverse double of certain characters, like Pinocchio. This intertextual strategy underlines the difficulties of adaptation of the protagonist in a modern world in constant change, a world where they feel stranger.
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L’Olympe des Infortunes, au-delà de la Fable
L’Olympe des Infortunes, au-delà de la Fable
(The Olympus of Misfortunes, beyond the Fable)
- Author(s):Zineb Ouled Ali
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:299-306
- No. of Pages:8
- Keywords:fable; man; wonderful; fantasy; myth;
- Summary/Abstract:Yasmina Khadra, the Algerian writer of French expression, plunges us, in his novel, L’Olympus of misfortunes, into a universe close to the fable where he offers us puppets, without any social or geographical identification. The vices and virtues, despairs and aspirations of modern man. Living from the waste of the city, in their world of Horr, these characters rejoice in their solitudes, exposing themselves to the sea, and taming the rocks. So many symbols, allusions, myths … are superimposed in this romantic universe of Yasmina Khadra, drawing from the repertoire of the fable, transmitting a disoriented word with a light tone but concealing a permanent questioning on the legitimacy of the “Act of literary writing as a moment of reflection on the human condition”. Reflections that we will try to reveal throughout our analysis of the stakes of the use of the fable in this novel.
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The Supernatural and Folklore in the Short Tales by Giovanni Magherini-Graziani and Eraldo Baldini
The Supernatural and Folklore in the Short Tales by Giovanni Magherini-Graziani and Eraldo Baldini
(The Supernatural and Folklore in the Short Tales by Giovanni Magherini-Graziani and Eraldo Baldini)
- Author(s):Francesco Corigliano
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:307-319
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:fantastic literature; Italian literature; contemporary Italian literature; folklore; literary criticism; Giovanni Magherini-Graziani; Eraldo Baldini; Lucio Lugnani; Remo Ceserani;
- Summary/Abstract:The essay focuses on the presence of the supernatural in Italian literature, and specifically in a trend linked to the folklore. The first part is about the literary production of Giovanni Magherini-Graziani (1852–1924), a writer from Tuscany who was the only Italian author published by the famous magazine Weird Tales. The tales of the supernatural written by Magherini-Graziani take much from the Tuscan folklore, imitating the folktale not only in the themes but also in the particular storytelling’s modes. The second part of the essay focuses on the tales by Eraldo Baldini (1952–), a contemporary writer from Emilia-Romagna, who uses the folklore in a way similar to Magherini-Graziani. Even if set nowadays, the stories written by Baldini develop around the possibility of a real existence of beings present in legends and folktales. The works of Magherini-Graziani and Baldini are selected as examples of a literary tendency present in Italy but overshadowed by the more traditional fantastic tale derived from gothic and romantic experiences, which is different for many reasons. This folkloric line is still close to the “orthodox” fantastic, and meanwhile has unique characteristics. Similarities consist in the narrative attitude and the presence of narrator- characters in the story: in the works by Magherini-Graziani, the tales are often told by many narrators, building an atmosphere of uncertainty and vagueness perfectly linked to the impossibility of the supernatural itself. In the works by Baldini, the story often focuses on a single narrator, or on a character whose responsibility it is to narrate, and who is involved personally in supernatural situations; the contemporary context influences the storytelling’s nature. Differences from the traditional fantastic tale consist in the collective imagination. If in the fantastic there is often an inversion of the general natural order (what is believed verisimilar in all the world), in the tales by Magherini-Graziani and Baldini, the imaginary is local and peculiar of the Italian province; the supernatural consists in the materialization of a legend or a folktale, and the reality’s inversion happens mainly in the close field of the beliefs typical of the regions narrated in the stories. The goal of the essay is then to highlight this part of the fantastic Italian production that draws fully not from the literary precedents but from the provincial substrate, moving the narrative mechanism of the oral tales in a written form with characteristics recurring in the time which maintain the actualization and representation of ancient beliefs.
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Des univers et des créatures étranges: le surnaturel chez José Luís Peixoto
Des univers et des créatures étranges: le surnaturel chez José Luís Peixoto
(Strange Universes, Strange Creatures: Supernatural Features i José Luís Peixoto’s Novels)
- Author(s):Vânia Rego
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:320-333
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:supernatural; fantasy; realismo mágico; José Luís Peixoto;
- Summary/Abstract:Portuguese contemporary novelist José Luís Peixoto, mostly known for his reflexive and intimate writing, goes beyond the field of self-writing by adding features of a supernatural universe drawn from Portuguese traditional tales and folklore.In his novels, the supernatural shows as a result of a mixed literary heritage – fantasy and realismo mágico, in particular – and the writing of the self proves to bea fertile ground for the construction of strange universes with an undeniable link to the fantastique genre and the presence of ethereal realms.Through the supernatural, Peixoto allows himself to express a crisis of values, since the metaphysical search for man and God might be understood as an allegory for the anxieties in contemporary societies. The use of elements of fantasy, in the works of an author coming from the Alentejo, a Portuguese rural region, might also represent the apprehension for the loss of his childhood world, including its inhabitants, oral traditions and legends.
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“Cette nature fragile:” Conflict and the Fantastic in the Novels of Maryse Condé
“Cette nature fragile:” Conflict and the Fantastic in the Novels of Maryse Condé
(“Cette nature fragile”: Conflict and the Fantastic in Maryse Condé’s Novels)
- Author(s):Jessica Tindira
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:334-346
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:fantastic literature; historical fiction; witchcraft;
- Summary/Abstract:Unlike in magical realism, in fantastic literature, as Tzvetan Todorov explains, the reader and the character hesitate: rational and magical explanations for the phenomenon remain in conflict. In Maryse Condé’s Moi, Tituba, sorciere… Noire de Salem, Tituba’s persistent state of conflict with European, Christian characters stems from such possibilities. For example, the first-person narration prevents the reader from arriving at a tenable conclusion about whether Tituba has true supernatural abilities or simply believes herself to have them, eliciting questions from the reader regarding Tituba’s agency. To further destabilize the reader, the novel manipulates the plot and characters of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s well-known novel The Scarlet Letter and blends historical fact and fiction. These unsettling stylistic elements complement the hesitation evoked by the fantastic nature of the narrative itself. On a narrative level, if Tituba does perform magic, having been raised to believe she has a natural gift, she cannot attribute her power to the devil as the Puritans conceive him with any certainty, even if constant accusations that Tituba is evil punctuate the novel. The conflicting explanations for Tituba’s power invite the reader to question her innocence of charges of witchcraft and thus, the novel’s foundation. Ultimately, this paper concludes that by attributing the conflict between Tituba and her community to the hesitation inherent in a fantastic narrative, the novel recognizes that the unknown, whether spiritual or cultural, isolates Tituba more thoroughly than her supernatural abilities.
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Le pouvoir surnaturel dans la dramaturgie postcoloniale L’exemple de La Tignasse et La Termitière
Le pouvoir surnaturel dans la dramaturgie postcoloniale L’exemple de La Tignasse et La Termitière
(Supernatural Power in the Postcolonial Dramaturgy. The Example of La Tignasse and La Termitière)
- Author(s):Fétigué Coulibaly
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:347-358
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:African religion; traditional beliefs; African cosmogony; initiation trail; occult forces; supernatural dimension;
- Summary/Abstract:The many African religious beliefs can be summed up as animism, which is ancestral religion. This ancestral religion contains great secrets also called supernatural powers which are energies, occult forces, immeasurable powers. In Africa, the holders of these mystical powers are referred to by various names, including Devins, Healers, Wizards, Seers, Marabouts, Witches. They are, in African societies, the object of great covetousness by their capacity of intervention in all spheres of social life, including politics and theater.
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Le personnage face au surnaturel dans La Folie et la Mort et De l’autre côté du regard de Ken Bugul
Le personnage face au surnaturel dans La Folie et la Mort et De l’autre côté du regard de Ken Bugul
(A Character Facing the Supernatural in Ken Bugul’s La Folie et la Mort and De l’autre côté du regard)
- Author(s):Anna Swoboda
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:359-371
- No. of Pages:13
- Keywords:Ken Bugul; Senegal; fantastic literature; marvelous; supernatural;
- Summary/Abstract:When analyzing African fantastic literature, one needs to be aware of the specific context of its emergence. Unlike in Western fantastic literature, the supernatural is rooted in everyday life and often does not evoke any fear nor surprise. This article aims to analyze the heroines’ reaction to the supernatural in two novels by a Senegalese writer Ken Bugul: De l’autre côte du regard and La Folie et la Mort. The hesitation between belief and disbelief of the supernatural, as defined by Todorov, is possible when the protagonist has an ambivalent relationship with the African tradition and is influenced by the Western thought. However, if the protagonist is not at all surprised or afraid of the supernatural, we are dealing with a neighboring genre: the marvelous. In my study, I will refer to the Western, as well as the African theories of fantastic literature.
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Mystique et mysticisme dans Le Soleil, la folle et le taureau de Mamadou Samb
Mystique et mysticisme dans Le Soleil, la folle et le taureau de Mamadou Samb
(Mystique and Mysticism in Mamadou Samb’s Le soleil, la folle et le taureau)
- Author(s):Joseph Ahimann Preira
- Language:French
- Subject(s):Studies of Literature
- Page Range:372-385
- No. of Pages:14
- Keywords:mystic; mysticism; curse; fetish; animism; worship;
- Summary/Abstract:In its evolution, Senegalese literature presents the beliefs and lifestyles of the Senegalese people. Thus, after works like Ô pays mon beau peuple of Ousmane Sembene, Aliin Sitooye Jaata ou la dame de Kabrus of Marouba Fall, the novel Le Soleil, la folle et le taureau, published in 2003 and written by the Senegalese Mamadou Samb, plunges us in the middle of traditional diola. The cultural realism of the work leads the reader to a village in the department of Oussouye, in the heart of Casamance, in southern Senegal where a woman is the victim of two ruthless curses that leave no escape. Indeed, to the curse of the territorial spirits is added the curse of the fetish of the village. Nene, heroine of the novel is oppressed by mystical forces that also attack all those who approach her. Observing the type of the territorial and ancestral curse that falls on Nene, the animistic practices related to magical religious beliefs, mysteries and fantasy are updated. It is then a whole set of mysteries related to mystic and diola mysticism that is discovered by the reader through the work.
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