A fantastic story presents supernatural elements.
In order to know the meaning of the term fantastic story, it is interesting to start by discovering the etymological origin of the two words that give it shape:
-Story derives from Latin, exactly it comes from “computus” which can be translated as “account” or “computation”.
-Fantastic, on the other hand, derives from Greek. In your specific case it comes from “phantastikos” which means “that only exists in the imagination.” It is the result of the sum of two different parts: the verb “phaine”, which is synonymous with “appear”, and the suffix “-tico”, which is equivalent to “relative to”.
A story is a short narrative that presents fictional events. Fantastic , on the other hand, is something out of the ordinary or linked to fantasy (imagination).
Characteristics of a fantastic story
In this framework, we can affirm that a fantastic story is a story that has supernatural elements . The definition, however, is not very precise, since most of the stories are based on supernatural situations or characters and, however, not all of them are classified as fantastic.
Generally, a fantastic story is considered to be one based on something extraordinary , which has no existence in the real world nor can be explained by reason . In the internal logic of the story, however, the fantastic can be seen as normal.
"Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp" is a very popular fantasy story.
The example of "One Thousand and One Nights"
The book known as “The Thousand and One Nights” , to cite one case, is popular for its fantastic stories. In “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp,” for example, a genie comes out of a lamp and grants all the wishes of a young man. In “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” a magical cave that holds treasures opens and closes to the expressions “Open, Sesame!” or “Shut up, Sesame!” . These stories are fantastic since, in the real world, there are no genies capable of granting wishes or objects that move by magical formulas.
A fantastic story could include the following fragment: “Desperate over the death of his son, Ringo went to the town shaman. The witch, moved, gave him a violet powder and told him to throw it on his son's grave on the next night of the full moon. Ringo took the powder, left and three days later, he was able to carry out the shaman's instructions. Despite his action, he did not notice any movement and returned home crying. While he was trying to rest in his room, he heard the door open: when he looked up, he saw his dead son entering the room..."
Great authors of fantastic stories
Throughout the history of literature, there are many authors who have managed to leave their mark thanks to the fantastic stories they have created. Among those we can highlight some such as the following:
-The American writer Henry James (1843 – 1916), who left us works such as “Private Life” (1892), “The Altar of the Dead” (1895) and “The Turn of the Screw” (1898).
-The Englishman Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) wrote fantastic works such as “The Canterville Ghost” (1887).
-Washington Irving (1783 – 1859) is an American author who has also achieved great relevance thanks to his fantasy-style short story titled “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820).
-The genre of horror literature has a great exponent in the North American writer Stephen King. A pen that has created fantastic stories that have been collected in different anthologies, such as “Fantastic Stories” (2016).