French Literature Reviews - 2026
B. Letellier, Penser le fantastique en contexte arabe
Comparative and World Literature
Bénédicte Letellier, Penser le fantastique en contexte arabe
Paris: Honoré Champion, coll. "Bibliothèque de littérature générale et comparée, 102", 2012.
440 p.
Price: 100EUR.
EAN: 9782745323538.
Publisher's overview:
This study questions the universality of the fantastic mode as standardly defined. It approaches the fantastic through two distinct contexts: a Western context and a context where the fantastic is traditionally foreign—at least in terms of definition and critical approaches—namely, Arabic literature. While Arab critics adopt Western critical terminology, they do not claim the existence of a distinct fantastic genre. When examined against a Western critical and literary corpus, the fantastic is characterized by two essential functions: it acts as both the revealer and the driving force of the thought that underpins it. This is illustrated through the works of Aymé, Buzzati, and Pellerin. The Arabic context, explored through the short stories of Tamer, Nasr, and Toubia, as well as through contemporary Arab literary criticism, invites a reassessment of the limits of certain definitions of the Western fantastic and prompts a broader conceptualization of the fantastic mode.
Bénédicte Letellier is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Réunion.
The study of the fantastic has long been grounded in Western theoretical frameworks, often treating the genre as a universal category. Comparative literature frequently examines how narrative structures and theoretical concepts travel across linguistic and cultural borders. Readers interested in comparative approaches to narrative modes and genre definition may find it a relevant contribution to contemporary literary scholarship.
Bénédicte Letellier examines the works of authors such as Marcel Aymé, Dino Buzzati, and Jean Pellerin alongside the short stories of Zakaria Tamer, Guirian Nasr, and Souad Toubia. The volume also incorporates contemporary Arab literary criticism to question standard generic boundaries. Bénédicte Letellier is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Réunion.