O neofantástico: uma proposta teórica do crítico Jaime Alazraki

Abstract

The Argentinian critic Jaime Alazraki (1934-) presents, in his essay entitled “¿Qué es lo neofantástico?” a theoretical proposal that aims at delimiting a new genre intimately related to the traditional fantastic, through the analysis of the work of two Argentinian writers: Julio Cortázar (1914-1984) and Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986). After a long and extensive study of short stories written by these authors, published in several theoretical books and synthesized in the essay previously mentioned, Alazraki proposes the characterization of a new genre that maintains strong links with the traditional fantastic without adhering to the themes or narrative structures seen as typical of the fantastic. Alazraki coined this new genre neofantastic. The main feature of neofantastic works would be to try to perceive and represent reality overcoming the barrier created and imposed by reasoning, whose rules are directly connected to social and cultural conventions. It is an effort to subvert the real in a discrete way, removing the abrupt rupture frequently found in writings of the traditional fantastic. Undoubtedly, Alazraki based this delineation of the neofantastic genre on the ideas expressed by Cortázar and Borges in conferences, essays and literary texts. From this perspective, Alazraki proposes a new genre capable of describing, in a more adequate form, works produced after World War I in the West.