2. • Todorov, is a well known theorist in media studies
for his contribution to narrative theory, know as
his structuralist theory of “Equilibrium.”in
Todorovs book of genre, it provides us with a
clear mindful process of studying the concept of
genre and believes that the concept genre
deserves more attention. Todorov divides genre
into two sections, the historical genres; which
results from the observation of texts, and
theoretical genres; which results from analysis.
3. • Todorov positions the genre he calls 'the
fantastic' between the closely related genres
of 'the marvellous' (the supernaturally
inexplicable) and 'the uncanny' (the rationally
explicable) suggesting that 'the fantastic'
always resolves into one or the other and that
the 'hesitant' delay in this act of resolving into
one of these related genres is the defining
aspect of 'the fantastic' as a genre
4. • Todorov's greatest contribution to literary theory was his defining of
the Fantastic, the fantastic uncanny, and the fantastic marvelous.
Todorov defines the fantastic as being any event that happens in our
world that seems to be supernatural. Upon the occurrence of the
event, we must decide if the event was an illusion or whether it is real
and has actually taken place. Todorov uses Alvaro from Cazotte's Le
Diable Amoureux as an example of a fantastic event. Alvaro must
decide whether the woman he is in love with is truly a woman or if she
is the devil.
• Upon choosing whether the event was real or imaginary, Todorov says
that we enter into the genres of uncanny and marvelous. In the
fantastic uncanny, the event that occurs is actually an illusion of some
sort. The "laws of reality" remain intact and also provide a rational
explanation for the fantastic event. Todorov gives examples of dreams,
drugs, illusions of the senses, madness, etc. as things that could
explain a fantastic/supernatural event. In the fantastic marvelous, the
supernatural event that occurs has actually taken place and therefore
the "laws of reality" have to be changed to explain the event. Only if
the implied reader cannot opt for one or the other possibility is the
text purely fantastic.
