An Analysis of the Fantastic by Sarah Haselhorst

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Sarah Haselhorst
An Analysis of the Fantastic in “La migala”, “Lejana” and “Funes el memorioso”
The fantastic genre has existed since antiquity in the classic myths and legends that were
part of the Mesopotamian, Roman and Greek cultures. In the modern age, almost everyone is
familiar with fantastic stories that capture interest while entertaining the reader with their
supernatural elements. Over time, fantastic literature has developed with the influence of writers
like Borges, Arreola and Cortázar who have advanced the genre with their unique writing style.
However, although the genre has distinct characteristics it is most known for its ambiguity, and
for this reason every reader has to use the fantastic elements to form their own conclusions about
the plot. “Lejana”, “La migala” and “Funes el memorioso” are three fantastic stories by different
authors that each exemplify the genre and its classic characteristics.
There are many theories concerning the definition of a fantastic story and a great number
of literary scholars have written studies about the genre. For the purpose of this investigation, the
fantastic, according to Cynthia Duncan, is a break in everyday reality with an extraordinary event
that produces a transformation in the world of the character. The event does not have a rational
explanation and this element of uncertainty is extremely important in identifying the fantastic.
Fantastic stories are also situated against reality, which make the fantastic event or element seem
even more unreal and out of place.
Additionally, the fantastic genre has certain characteristics that contribute to the plot
while capturing the interest of the reader. First, all fantastic stories have an element that seems
impossible, supernatural or unexplainable, and Duncan suggests that this element, “incorporates
something into the narrative that may strike readers as supernatural or otherworldly, inexplicable
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or impossible, something that unsettles readers and makes them hesitate or doubt the nature of
what they are reading” (Duncan 2). The majority of the time this element is an event that initiates
the appearance of the fantastic and the author presents it in a way that makes the reader ask if it
could really happen. In this sense, the reader has to work in order to decide what is real and what
is fantasy. At the same time, the reader has to follow the oscillation between different levels of
reality because sometimes one level pertains to the unreal and the other pertains to the true
reality.
Another important element of fantastic literature is that the extraordinary events happen
to characters that appear to be normal and based in the everyday world. For this reason, the
reader is able to identify with the characters and their environment that is based in reality instead
of a fictitious world. Duncan affirms, “In order to encode the fantastic into the text in ways that
will condition the reader reaction, the writer must share the worldview and cultural norms of his
readers and characters so that they conceive of reality in similar ways and will feel a similar kind
of alarm when the order of their known universe is altered” (Duncan 30). This element is
important because readers have a large role in the interpretation of fantastic stories and “reader
response to the text is one of the defining characteristics of the genre" (Duncan 9). Since the
stories are based in reality, readers are able to identify with it. This draws attention to the
fantastic elements that appear even more strange and impossible. If fantastic stories were based
in fictitious worlds of fantasy, the extraordinary events would not draw as much attention or have
the same effect.
Similar to the common role that readers play in the decoding of fantastic literature, there
are common themes that are present throughout fantastic stories as well. For example, the theme
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of the double is prominent and calls attention to different ways that people view themselves.
Many times the double refers to an “other” that represents the opposite characteristics of a
character to make a comparison.
Another popular theme is the oscillation between reality and dreams that produce
contrasting levels of reality within the storyline. Sometimes the levels are clear, but other times
the reader has to form their own conclusions. This is because fantastic stories don’t have the
intention of resolving or explaining the mystery of the extraordinary events, and there is a sense
of accepting the supernatural. Duncan suggests, “In the fantastic, we still believe in cause and
effect, we still believe that means and ends exist, but they are beyond our comprehension. They
are blurred or contradictory, and we are never able to discover the ultimate end of our
actions” (Duncan 12). For example, in another common theme that involves the perplexity of an
incredible fact, the extraordinary event produces a strange occurrence that does not have a
definitive explanation. The reader can create their own explanation, but fantastic stories do not
clearly reveal a reason. Also, the theme of terror is an important part of the fantastic genre and
the extraordinary events produce a feeling of fear.
One story that exemplifies the fantastic genre is “Lejana”, one of the eight short stories in
the Bestiary by Julio Cortázar. “Lejana” is the diary of Alina Reyes, a woman of the upper class
who is tired of material things, her family, and the activities that she considers boring. At night,
she is not able to sleep and begins to play word games in order to deal with her insomnia. Soon
Alina converts the word games into an obsession and begins to feel the existence of another
woman who is suffering in Budapest. To satisfy her obsession, Alina and her husband travel to
Budapest for their honeymoon and one night Alina walks alone to the center of a bridge where
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she confronts “la lejana”, a ragged woman. The two embrace in a hug and, at the same time,
Alina closes her eyes in a state of total fusion. Alina maintains her appearance but the her soul is
now in the body of the lejana, and the soul of the beggar woman is now in the body of Alina.
There are many fantastic elements throughout the plot of “Lejana”. Like all fantastic
stories, “Lejana” is based in reality because at the beginning everything seems normal. Alina is a
normal woman who is simply tired of her boring life that is making her unhappy. The reader can
relate to this reality and the fact that even though someone is able to have a good quality of life,
they are still not happy. Because of this, Alina is unable to sleep at night and begins to create
palindromes and anagrams. These palindromes bring Alina to her extraordinary even and the
creation of her double when Alina writes, “Alina Reyes, es la reina y...” because she realizes that
she is not a queen. Then, Alina continues, “A esa que es Alina Reyes pero no la reina del
anagrama; que será cualquier cosa, mendiga en Budapest, pupila de mala casa en Jujuy o
sirvienta en Quetzaltenango, cualquier lado lejos y no reina” (Cortázar 1). Alina wants to be
anyone other than herself and the idea of beggar woman in Budapest fascinates her.
From the first moment that Alina thinks of the beggar woman, or the lejana, her world
changes. The extraordinary event initiates her obsession and Alina starts to know and feel the life
and emotions of the lejana. Cortázar demonstrates these fantastic elements when Alina writes,
“Puedo solamente aborrecer las manos que tiran al suelo y también a ella, a ella todavía más
porque le pegan, porque soy yo y le pegan” (Cortázar 2). The strange fact is that all of a sudden
Alina enters into another world, the world of a beggar woman in Budapest, and there is no
explanation as to why or how. The beggar woman also enters into the world of Alina and
completely interrupts the everyday activities of her life: for example, when Alina is dancing with
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her boyfriend, Luis María, and she has to tell him that she is not feeling well because she knows
that the lejana is suffering and begins to feel sick. For every good thing in the life of Alina there
is something bad in the life of the beggar woman and Alina must find her double.
As a result of the presence of a double, or other fantastic element, there is an oscillation
between reality and dreams. At night Alina is completely consumed by the thoughts of a woman
in Budapest and the story oscillates between these levels of reality. This is illustrated when Alina
writes, “Anoche me dormí confabulando mensajes, puntos de reunión” (Cortázar 2). Throughout
the story, Alina’s life and the life of her double mix together in the thoughts of Alina and the
reader has to work in order to decide what is real and what is a dream. At the same time, the
presence of an other in a far away place is a mysterious concept and forces the reader to think
about whether it is possible or simply a fantasy.
When Alina finally arrives in Budapest the story changes from first person to third person
and the dates on the diary entries disappear. Alina finds the bridge that she knows from her
thoughts of the lejana and there she encounters her double, “la harapienta mujer de pelo negro”.
The two women embrace in a hug and the narrator says, “Cerró los ojos en la fusión total,
rehuyendo las sensaciones de fuera, la luz crepuscular; repentinamente tan cansada, pero segura
de su victoria, sin celebrarlo por tan suyo y por fin” (Cortázar 5). This strange event seems
almost impossible to the reader because Alina maintains her appearance but her soul is now in
the body of her double and the soul of her double is now in the body of Alina. Meyer-Minneman
affirms, “Desde luego, no es nada fantástico que alguien, que adolezca de esquizofrenia, se sienta
usurpado por otro, pero sí lo es cuando este otro se convierte (aunque sólo sea ficcionalmente) en
la persona usurpada, y la persona usurpada en la persona usurpadora” (217). There is no
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explanation of the extraordinary events, of why Alina begins to believe that she has a double, nor
of how the switching of souls is possible.
However, Cortázar presents the fantastical elements in a way that makes it seem as if the
events are possible. At the end, instead of finding out exactly how the strange facts happened, the
reader accepts them for what they are. Also, there is a more profound meaning of “Lejana” and,
“es posible asignar al cuento un sentido alegórico, el cual podría ser, por ejemplo, la
inestabilidad fundamental de la identidad del ser humano” (Meyer-Minneman 219). Everything
in the world of Alina seems normal, but the instability of her identity produces the fantastic and
Duncan suggests that for Cortázar, "the function of fantastic fiction is 'taking us for a moment
out of out habitual little boxes and showing us, although it might only be vicariously, that
perhaps things do not end at the point where our mental habits fix them'" (28).
Another short story that pertains to the fantastic genre is “La migala” by Juan José
Arreola. In this fantastic story, a man is dealing with the loss of the love of his life named
Beatriz. The man sees the spider for the first time with Beatriz at a street fair stall, and after a
few days he returns to buy the spider. As the man returns to his house, he realizes that in his
hands he holds the scariest thing that his spirit is able to handle, and he can feel the weight,
impure and poisonous, of the spider. The man frees the spider in his house and it marks the
beginning of a life filled with terror, worry and the wait for a deadly bite.
One of the fantastic characteristics of “La migala” is that the story is based in reality. The
situation of the man is very common because he is suffering from a broken heart as a result of
Beatriz not being in his life. This is a very common experience and the reader is able to identify
with the universal feelings of an ended relationship. Also, a fantastic story has an extraordinary
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event and in this case it is when the man frees the spider in his house. After freeing the spider,
his life completely changes and night and day the invisible presence of the spider inflicts fear on
the mind of the man.
Fear is an important theme of fantastic literature and the man is full of fear as the spider
is set loose within his house. The only thing he is able to think about is the spider, which invades
his dreams and “llena la casa con su presencia invisible” (Arreola 1). As a result, reality and
dreams mix and while the man sleeps he is able to feel the spider on his skin. Because of this,
“Muchas veces despierto con el cuerpo helado, tenso, inmóvil, porque el sueño ha creado para
mí, con precisión, el paso cosquilleante de la araña sobre mi piel, su peso indefinible, su
consistencia de entraña” (Arreola 1). This fantastic element produces an oscillation between
levels of reality in which the reader has to work in order to interpret the story.
In addition, “La migala” is classified as a fantastic story because the situation between
the man and the spider is presented in a way in which the supernatural aspects seem almost
possible. The spider incites a very real fear in the mind of the man and even though his situation
is extreme, the reader is left to interpret whether it is reality or simply a fantasy. Another
characteristic of fantastic literature is that there is no explanation of the strange situation. Arreola
doesn’t tell the reader if the man is crazy or if the spider is actually in the house because he has
no intention of resolving the mystery. The man is never able to be sure of the whereabouts of the
spider and the man, who is telling the story in first person, says, “Dejo siempre que el azar me
vuelva a poner frente a ella, al salir del baño, o mientras me desvisto para echarme en la
cama” (Arreola 1). However, the whereabouts of the spider do not have an explanation because it
is not important. The man is only able to wait in terror for the fatal spider bite, “Pero en realidad
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esto no tiene importancia, porque yo he consagrado a la migala con la certeza de mi muerte
aplazada” (Arreola 1). The fantastic story finishes with uncertainty and the man becomes a
victim of the terror produced by the spider, similar to the way in which he is a victim of his lost
love.
“La migala” is an allegorical story, which means that there are two levels of meaning for
the reader. Heusinkveld affirms that Arreola or the allegorist, “emplea imágenes, situaciones, y
personajes ficticios para representar simbólicamente una verdad- o un suceso histórico o un
concepto abstracto” (Heusinkveld 46). In this story, the spider is an image which suggests “las
limitaciones y fracasos del hombre, en vez de su potencial” (Heusinkveld 47). The man is not
able to overcome his fear of the spider and continuously lives in fear of receiving a deadly bite.
As a result, Heusinkveld suggests that “estos antagonistas o fuerzas sobrenaturales representan la
impotencia del hombre en todas las esferas de la existencia humana” (Heusinkveld 47).
The third story that exemplifies fantastic literature is “Funes el memorioso” by Jorge Luis
Borges. The fantastic story begins with a fictitious version of Borges, as the narrator, recounting
his memories of Ireneo Funes. In the summer of 1984 the narrator meets Funes for the first time
as he is riding horses with his cousin. The narrator learns that Funes is known for his
eccentricities, such as always knowing the time and not associating with other people. After
leaving Fray Bentos, the narrator returns in 1987 and discovers that Funes was bucked from a
horse at a ranch in San Francisco. Now irreversibly paralyzed, Funes doesn’t move from his bed.
Similar to the previous two stories, “Funes el memorioso” is based in reality. Ireneo
Funes is a normal man but known for “Algunas rarezas como la de no darse con nadie y la de
saber siempre la hora, como un reloj” (Borges 2). Many readers are able to relate to knowing
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someone that has an extraordinary talent and Funes seems only slightly extraordinary.
Additionally, falling off of a horse is not a rare occurrence and especially in rural areas it seems
like a typical accident to have. Because of this, the reader can identify with the story and the
reality that sometimes a terrible event happens to an undeserving person.
The extraordinary event occurred when Funes falls from his horse and when he awakes,
“el presente era casi intolerable de tan rico y tan nítido, y también las memorias más antiguas y
más triviales” (Borges 4). The life of Funes changes, not only because is is paralyzed, but
because he has new intellectual abilities that seem superhuman. He is able to remember every
leaf of every branch of every tree that he has seen, reconstruct entire days, learn foreign
languages and create an original number system. Funes says, “Más recuerdos tengo yo solo que
los que habrán tenido todos los hombres desde que el mundo es mundo” (Borges 4). For Funes,
his paralysis is a small price to pay for the gift of his new almost supernatural abilities and his
infallible memory. Without his accident and subsequent paralysis, Funes would not have such an
incredible memory.
One characteristic of the story is that Funes has powers that seem impossible to an
ordinary person. His mind is able to learn and remember incredible things, like a “vaciadero de
basuras” and this strange fact does not have a clear explanation. The readers accept the
perplexity of a strange fact that seems inexplicable because the situation is presented as if it is
able to happen in reality. Duncan affirms that, “The best fantastic fiction does not explain the
supernatural, but instead allows the reader to form his own conclusions about the nature of what
has happened in the text" (Duncan 31). Without an explanation for Funes’ strange new powers,
the reader has to form their own conclusions.
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Additionally, many times when someone is talented in one aspect, they are incompetent
in other abilities. The narrator explains, “Sospecho, sin embargo, que no era muy capaz de
pensar. Pensar es olvidar diferencias, es generalizar, abstraer. En el abarrotado mundo de Funes
no había sino detalles, casi inmediatos” (Borges 6). Even though he has extraordinary abilities,
Funes lacks something that the majority of people have, the capacity to generalize and think. His
world is full of details and his incapacities make him appear more real to the reader, which
contributes to the idea that someone like Funes exists in the real world. This is the line between
fantasy and reality, a very important theme throughout fantastic literature.
Even though Funes has incredible powers, such as never being able to stop thinking, his
defects humanize him and make the story seem even more real, but the fact that Funes is only 19
years old is extraordinary at the same time. His almost supernatural powers can never be
explained and Funes’ situation stays in the mind of the reader like a legend. The narrator sums up
the life of Funes well when he says, “Funes era un precursor de los superhombres; ‘Un
Zarathustra cimarrón y vernáculo’; no lo discuto, pero hay que olvidar que era también un
compadrito de Fray Bentos, con ciertas incurables limitaciones” (Borges 1). This fantastic story
of the incredible abilities of Funes, coupled with the uncertainty of the situation permits the
reader to decide whether it is possible or not.
Another important aspect is the death of Funes at the end, which has a profound
significance in the story. Funes lives his live like a superhuman with incredible powers and “La
muerte se constituye entonces como el centro del laberinto que el hombre busca con la esperanza
de una trascendencia personal” (Eggenschwiler Nagel 66). The life of Funes represents a
personal labyrinth and within it “hay pruebas que superar: la muerte no se ofrece gratuita al
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hombre, es el resultado de un acto único, especial, que 'rescata' de errores
pasados” (Eggenschwiler Nagel 76). Because of this, the fantastic story represents life as a
labyrinth and shows how Funes navigates his personal labyrinth with his supernatural powers to
arrive at a death that “puede definirse como el acto supremo que abarca toda la vida del hombre
y aún la modifica” (Eggenschwiler Nagel 75).
Each of the three stories has classic characteristics of the fantastic genre and they also
share many similarities. “Lejana”, “La migala” and “Funes el memorioso” have a narrator in first
person that provides the reader with details about their thoughts, feelings and emotions
concerning their situation. As a result, the reader is able share the difficulties of the situation and
identify with the emotions of the characters as a result. For example, many people have an
incurable fear of spiders or other things and can identify with the fear experienced by the man in
“La migala”. Fantastic stories are based in reality and the first person perspective contributes to
the reality of each story’s plot.
Another fantastic characteristic that the three stories have in common is that the
extraordinary events occur to seemingly ordinary people. Apart from Funes, who is normal but
obviously a little different from the beginning, Alina and the man in “La migala” are average
people. For example. Alina from “Lejana” is a normal women from the upper class who has no
defect apart from the fact that she is bored with her life. The man in “La migala” is also ordinary
apart from his broken heart from his lost love, Beatriz. At the beginning of each story the reader
is able to identify with the average characters until an extraordinary event interrupts their
normality.
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At the end of each story, the reader is left wondering if it could actually happen and the
situations are so surprising that the readers continue to think about the stories after they are
finished. The strange facts are not as important as the feelings that they produce in the readers
and how they attempt to give meaning to those feelings. In one sense, the uncertainty of the
fantastic stories represents the idea that reality is not always what it seems and awakens the
reader to a new way of seeing the world. The mix of reality and fantasy represented by the
strange facts goes against what is widely believed and demonstrates that reality is what one
perceives it to be.
However, there are a few differences between the three stories, such as the way in which
the characters confront their strange situations. The man from “La migala”, Alina and Funes are,
in a way, tormented by their supernatural elements but confront them in different ways. Alina
obsesses herself with the desire to find her double and at the end satisfies her strange desire. On
the other hand, the man in Arreola’s story is consumed by the fear of the spider and never
discovers whether or not it is truly in his house, but his fear stays in his mind. In the story by
Borges, even though paralysis causes Funes inconvenience, it is a small price to pay for the
extraordinary abilities that he accepts.
The fantastic genre is an important part of literature because the ambiguous stories
confront the strange facts while maintaining a sense of reality. “Lejana”, “La migala” and “Funes
el memorioso” exemplify the fantastic story and show how different authors reflect three
possible interpretations of the same genre. Each story has distinct characteristics of the fantastic
and all are entertaining, in addition to leaving the readers thinking. The popularity of the genre
reflects the interest that people have in supernatural elements and in the mix of reality and
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dreams. Fantastic literature provokes readers to think and participate in the stories and it is like
looking through a window to a strange world that is alarmingly similar to your own.
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Work Cited
Arreola, Juan José. “La migala.” Confabulario, 1952. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.ciudadseva.com>
Borges, Jorge Luis. “Funes el memorioso.” Artifices, 1944. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.literatura.us>
Cortázar, Julio. “Lejana.” Bestiario, 1951. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. <http://www.ciudadseva.com>
Duncan, Cynthia. “Introduction: The Fantastic as a Literary Genre.” Unraveling the Real: The
Fantastic in Spanish-American Ficciones. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2010. 1-46.
Temple. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
Eggenschwiler Nagel, Olga. “La noche y la muerte en el universo fantástico de Borges y de
Buzzati.” INTI, Revista de Literatura Hispánica No. 9 (1979): 65-78. JSTOR. Web. 12
Oct.
2014.
Heusinkveld, Paula. “La nueva alegoría de Juan José Arreola.” Revista de Crítica Literaria
Latinoamericana No. 23 (1986):45-52. JSTOR. Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
Meyer-Minneman, Klaus. “Narración paradójica y construcción de lo fantástico en los cuentos
de Julio Cortázar.” Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica No. 1 (2010): 215-240. JSTOR.
Web. 12 Oct. 2014.

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