Defining the Fantastic

        This week I read chapter 2 of Tzvetan Todorov’s The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre. This chapter explores Todorov’s definition of “the fantastic.” The fantastic consists of uncanny events that cannot be explained according to the laws of the world we are familiar with. Todorov’s definition of how the fantastic works as a literary genre hinges on the concept of hesitation; for a story to embody the fantastic, the reader must hesitate between assigning uncanny events a natural or a supernatural explanation. The characters of the story may also experience this hesitation, but it is not necessary. The third clause of Todorov’s definition is that the reader must reject poetic and allegorical interpretations of the story in order for a story to embody the fantastic, as poetic and allegorical interpretations remove the ambiguity that is necessary for the fantastic to exist. The moment that a reader suppresses his hesitation to assign an uncanny event a natural or supernatural explanation is the moment that the fantastic ends. If the reader decides that the event has a natural explanation, it renders the event simply eerie or strange, whereas a supernatural explanation renders the event “marvelous,” but no longer fantastic.

        Through this lens I will evaluate several 19^th century short stories which all share in common the presence of uncanny events.

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving, 1820

        “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” relates the tale of Ichabod Crane, a stern schoolmaster with pretensions of marrying up into high society. He pursues the wealthy heiress Katrina Van Tassel, but must compete for her affections against local bully/hero Brom Bones. They live near Sleepy Hollow, a valley that is reputed to be inhabited by ghosts, and in particular the Headless Horseman. After attending a party where villagers relate their sightings of the famous spectre, Crane proposes to Katrina but is soundly rejected. He rides home through Sleepy Hollow, becoming increasingly nervous as he remembers the ghost stories he has heard. His imagination runs wild until he realizes he is being followed by none other than the Headless Horseman, who throws his head at him and causes him to fall of his horse. The next morning, Crane is nowhere to be found, and all that remains of him is the horse, his hat, and a shattered pumpkin. Katrina goes on to marry Brom Bones, who looks “exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related.”

        I would argue that “Sleepy Hollow” does not qualify as a fantastic tale under Todorov’s definition because at the culmination of the story, there was a clearly plausible natural explanation of the uncanny event (the appearance of the headless horseman and Crane’s disappearance). Irving gives the readers clues as to the nature of the event: the smashed pumpkin is the head that was thrown at Crane, and Brom is the prankster who disguised himself as the Headless Horseman in order to drive Crane out of town, which we can infer from his knowing looks whenever Ichabod’s story is told. The reader is even told that Crane isn’t dead, but turned up in another state. Although there is some ambiguity left in the tale, as many of the women in the town uphold the belief that Crane was spirited away by the Horseman’s ghost, as a reader my sense of hesitation was suspended and put to rest by the end of the story.

“Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving, 1819

        In “Rip Van Winkle,” the eponymous Rip is a hen-pecked husband who is averse to all “profitable labor” done on his own behalf, though he will help out anybody else who requires assistance. One day, Rip goes out with his dog, Wolf, and his gun in order to escape his wife’s haranguing. In the mountains, Rip encounters an old man attempting to carry a keg up the mountain, who he then assists. At the top of the mountain, Rip sees a party of queer people with strange faces who are dressed in antiquated clothing. Although they are playing a game of nine-pins, the crashes of which sound like thunder, they all appear solemn. Rip drinks from the keg and passes out. When he wakes up, he is at the foot of the mountain. In place of new gun is an old rusted one and his dog is nowhere to be found. He returns to the village to find that he doesn’t recognize anyone and that everybody is dressed differently. The villagers touch their chins and gape at Rip, who discovers he has a beard that is a foot long! He searches for those he used to know, but eventually discovers that twenty years have passed and everything has changed, including the fact that his wife has died and the America has fought and won its independence from Britain. Rip goes on to become a village legend, with some believing he ran away from his wife and others believing his supernatural tale.

        Initially I was inclined to think that “Rip Van Winkle” did qualify as a fantastic tale according to Todorov’s definition, but upon further reflection, I do not believe that it does. Unless Rip cannot be trusted as a reliable narrator, which is a possibility, it would appear that there is a clear supernatural explanation to the events that befell him, which eliminates the element of hesitation. When Rip comes back to town, the villagers relate to him how it is common lore that the founders of the area are known to come back every twenty years to play at nine-pins in the mountain, and it would appear that Rip encountered these supernatural beings.

“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1835

        This story begins as Goodman Brown leaves his wife of three months, Faith, to go on an unknown errand in the woods, but the author lets us know that he has an “evil purpose.” On his journey Goodman Brown meets a fellow traveler with a staff shaped like a snake. Goodman Brown experiences misgivings about continuing the journey, believing that to continue the journey will endanger his status as a good Christian. His fellow traveler assures him that both his father and grandfather before him took the same journey before him. The traveler boasts of friends from all walks of life, including politicians and priests, and stops to greet pious Goody Cloyse who refers to him as the Devil but welcomes him anyway. Goodman Brown refuses to venture further into the woods, saying that he refuses to quit his Faith for the devil, but sees his spiritual advisors pass him in the woods to attend some sort of communion. He hears Faith scream and finds one of her hair ribbons and declares Faith gone and all good in the world gone with her. He follows everybody else into a clearing where everyone he knows, both good and evil, join together in an unholy communion. The leader of the communion declares that once he is initiated, he will be able to see sin everywhere, as “evil is the nature of mankind.” Across the altar he sees his wife, Faith. Goodman Brown tells her to resist the wicked communion, but he does not see if she obeys. Suddenly the clearing is empty and he is by himself. He returns to the village the next morning but sees wickedness everywhere and in everyone where before he had seen good. He becomes distrustful and “shrank from the bosom of Faith” thereafter.

        This story may or may not qualify as a fantastic story under Todorov’s definition depending on whether the reader chooses to read the story as an allegory about the recognition of evil in human nature. If it is read as an allegory, it is no longer fantastic. However, if one reads it simply, they are left to wonder whether it was all a dream, or a fit of madness, that led Goodman Brown to so radically change his worldview. I am more inclined to read it as an allegory, especially because of the fact that he wife is named Faith, which seems a bit too on-the-nose to be incidental.

        That all of these stories do not qualify as fantastic under Todorov’s definition makes me believe that his definition is too narrow. To me, the fantastic does not have to be ambiguous, as the recognition of something as supernatural does not disqualify it from being fantastic in my opinion. To me, the fantastic is anything that cannot be explained by the laws of nature. By my own definition, “Sleepy Hollow” still does not count as a fantastic story, but “Rip Van Winkle” surely does. As for “Young Goodman Brown,” I am inclined to agree with Todorov that poetic and allegorical interpretations take a story out of the realm of the fantastic.