Merits of Fantastic Literature: A Proposal for Theoretical Framework

Abstract

The paper attempts to set ground for a comprehensive debate on the merits of non-mimetic (fantastic) literature, tentatively proposing a system of four basic merits — the entertaining/fabulative, the emotional-cognitive, the speculative/extrapolative, and the aesthetic. These merits can also be alternatively viewed as narrative functions, precisely defined presuppositions, agreements between the implied reader and writer as to what literary gratifications are to be expected by the reader from the reading experience. They constitute structural dominants which are well manifested in the texts themselves. The author’s proposals should be read merely as certain initial approximations, albeit hopefully useful ones, capable of inspiring further debate.