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“On steppe” by Samanta Schweblin: an example of contemporary fantastic, following the established canon by Cortázar

Abstract

The poetry of Schewblin Samanta, in the story “On steppe”, proposed a mechanical and reiterated scheme of fantastic contemporary procedures of the speeches, particularly the nonexistence of information about the motivating object of the narrative, which it was established as canon from “House taken” by Julio Cortazar. In this case, the use of “tacit subject” (default name) creates fantastic, or disturbs atmosphere and so on, similar to the name in an explicit strategy but ignored by the reader. These procedures are fairly analyzed for Cortazar, who frequently uses them. The adoption of this style by Cortázar justifies the position of critics that Schewblin follow her illustrious predecessor, consecrated by tradition. This is the perspective from which it is proposed to read “On steppe” by Samanta Schewblin among other possible worlds of fantastic fiction.

Keywords
new fantastic speeches; contemporary fantastic; possible worlds of fiction; strategies of narrative construction; unusual fiction

Programa de Pos-Graduação em Letras Neolatinas, Faculdade de Letras -UFRJ Av. Horácio Macedo, 2151, Cidade Universitária, CEP 21941-97 - Rio de Janeiro RJ Brasil , - Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil
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