Supernatural reinvented: the neofantastic genre in O anjo e o resto de nós, by Letícia Wierzchowski

Abstract

Supernatural phenomenon are a part of narrative strategies with highly and proficuous value in past and present literary writing. Matter of important theoretical discussions, one of these supernatural most famous façades, known as the fantastic or fantastic genre, was amply studied by more than a single researcher, but it was Tzevetan Todorov who gave it a systematic treatment. However, supernatural in traditional fantastic narratives is not the same present in the XX century stories or tales, which profoundly altered the genre. This essay has as its main purpose to analyze the volume O anjo e o resto de nós, by Letícia Wierzchowski, exploring its contents to indicate how the fantastic genre evolved and developed, maintaining its supernatural basis. In Wierzchowski’s mentioned work, fantastic main traditional traces are subverted, withdrawing themselves from the Todorovian postulates and drawing nearer to the “neofantastic”, term created by Jayme Alazraki. This essay indicates the most relevant differences between the fantastic and the neofantastic genres, while also explaining how these differences and originalities are explored in Letícia Wierzchowski’s novel.