Fantastic Intrusions: The Fantastic as a Concretization of Human Hardship

Abstract

This essay explores the role of the fantastic in both historical and contemporary works. The essay delves into the questions: What does it mean when the fantastic appears in a work of fiction? What does the fantastic bring to the work that cannot be achieved with straight realism? How does the fantastic achieve what it does? The essay takes a broad overview of how the fantastic has been used, from ancient fairy tales all the way to how it is being used currently, in an attempt to answer these questions.