Fantastic Quote by Howard Kerr
““Supernatural fiction contains its own generic borderland: a neutral territory, which Tzvetan Todorov calls 'the fantastic,' between 'the marvelous' and 'the uncanny.' According to Todorov, 'The fantastic is that hesitation experienced by a person who knows only the laws of nature, confronting an apparently supernatural event.' Once the event is satisfactorily explained (and sometimes it is never explained), we have left the fantastic for an adjacent genre - either 'the uncanny,' where the apparently supernatural is revealed as illusory, or 'the marvelous,' where the laws of ordinary reality must be revised to incorporate the supernatural. As long as uncertainty reigns, however, we are in the ambiguous realm of the fantastic.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, 1970
The fantastic exists where a reader hesitates between natural explanation and supernatural, creating a tension that defines the genre.
In simple terms: A story that blurs reality and the supernatural.
Key Takeaway
Embrace ambiguity.
Themes
literature
genre
uncertainty
Mood
curious
reflective
Type
literary
analytical
When to use this quote
- reading fiction
- writing horror
- film analysis
- creative workshops
Key Concepts
Narrative theory
psychology of perception
Questions to Reflect On
- What makes a story feel truly fantastic?
- How does uncertainty affect engagement?
A Different Perspective
Readers may force a single interpretation, losing nuance.
![“There's a fantastic, thousand-page book by David Thomson about [David O. Selznick]. Again, it's not the best argument or the best advertisement for his story, because most people aren't going to read a thousand-page book. But I feel like the rise and fall and the work [Mayer] produced - not just…” quote by Karina Longworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/282/karina-longworth-26763_advertisements_there-s-a-fantastic-thousand-page-book-b_13508.jpg)
