Time, Space, and Fantasy, Haruki Murakami and Carlos Fuentes · The Fantastic: A Structural...

Time, Space, and

Fantasy, Haruki

Murakami and Carlos

Fuentes KHANH MINH TRINH

SENIOR SEMINAR

Relationship between knowledge and interpretation,

reading and writing.

Simultaneity:

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - two spaces at the same time.

Aura – same space but two different times.

Simultaneous occurrence leads to uncertainty.

Uncertainty, the key of the fantastic

Thesis Statement

The Fantastic: A Structural

Approach to a Literary Genre

- The Definition of the Fantastic:

“that hesitation experienced by a

person who knows only the laws of

nature, confronting an apparent

supernatural event.”

- The Uncanny, the Marvelous, and

the Fantastic

Hard Boiled Wonder Land Aura

2 spaces - 1 time 2 time - 1 space

Uses of “I”

1993 Tokyo, Japan

Programing

Uses of “You”

Translating

Simultaneity

Convergence

Writing

1962 Mexico City, Mexico

Opens Endings

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the

End of the World

Haruki Murakami – the inkling vs the INKling

2 independent yet related worlds

Science fiction vs Fantasy

The Japanese formal and informal I vs the past and the present tense in English, the protagonist has no name.

The Fantastic – how theovel can be read.

Open endings

Hard Boiled Wonderland:

- Semiotecs, Calcutec,

- The Inklings, Underground Tokyo, the old man,

- Eternal life in sub-consciousness, End of the Wolrd

The End of the World

- The Wall, the town, Unicorns, Shadows

- Dream reading, Skull

- Deception, sacrifice

Aura (1962)

Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012)

Mexico City

The “you” form of narration

Reading and writing

Reason and desire

Allegory to the fantastic

Characters:

- The French-Spanish interpreter (Felipe Montero)

- The old widow(Consuelo)

- The widow’s niece (Aura)

- The General (Llorante)

Historical Background

The French Invasion (1861-1867)

Maximilian – Mexican-French monarchy

Liberal, democratic congress

Downfall, Napoleon III, Maximilian executed

Conclusions

What is the purpose of the two texts?

The world and its interpretation - thesis

Fuentes is highlighting the way we read our past is

shaped by our present and also shape our present

Criticism of modernism and I-centrism – the main

character’s downfall

Thank You For Your Attention