Fragment et fantastique au XIXe siècle: à la recherche de l'absolu

Abstract

If one considers 19th-century French literature, Romanticism and Fantastic literature are not always clearly distinguishable. Romantic thinking rebelled against the conventions of the time, rejected the earlier models, placed problems into a new light, and renewed the concept of aesthetics fundamentally. The ideal of Romanticism finds its form in the fragment that symbolizes the fragmentedness of the work - of any work, in opposition to the values of Classicism, which was to strive for perfection. The fragment, as a rediscovered form of self expression and as an aesthetic dimension different from the previous ones in the past, naturally had an effect on Fantastic Literature. This paper outlines the form and content of these influences.