A NEW CLASSIFICATION OF THE FANTASTIC: “DEFINING” THE FANTASTIC THROUGH AN ARTISTICALLY AND HISTORICALLY CONTEXTUALIZED LENS IN BALZAC’S LE CHEF D’ŒUVRE INCONNU, GAUTIER’S MADEMOISELLE DE MAUPIN, AND AKUTAGAWA’S JIGOKUHEN.

Abstract

I aim to classify Le Chef d’œuvre inconnu by Honoré de Balzac, Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier, and Jigokuhen by Ryunosuke Akutagawa as fantastic works by presenting them through a more historically and artistically contextualized lens than those presented in the literary theory canon; the works can, as a result of the ineffable impact that art tends to have on the characters, in my view, be equally as grotesque, disturbing, and “unreal” as the classic fantastic tales by Gautier, Maupassant, Kyoka, Akutagawa, and Hoffmann. I first state the ambiguity that results from an attempt to define the term “fantastic,” and then provide historical context for the works in relation to the literary trends of mid-nineteenth century France and early twentieth century Japan. This second chapter includes a case study of the French baroque aesthetic, as the two works by Balzac and Gautier take place during the seventeenth century. Following the interpretation that the authors set their works in a previous time period as a result of a desire for an “ideal” past, I investigate the role of the obsessed artist and his presentation, in certain cases, as a kind of demonic figure -- this transitions into a discussion of the notion of the ideal in the works, most significantly in terms of the ideal beauty, the ideal piece of art, and the warped ideal, and the ways in which the narrations contribute to the overall fantastic qualities, and ultimately to their classification as fantastic tales from a novel, artistic perspective.