La letteratura weird

Abstract

The thesis is a study on the weird fiction, a particular type of speculative fiction. The survey is based on two inquiries: a tentative of definition of the weird fiction itself, and an investigation about the evolution of the fantastic between the XIX and XX centuries. The first chapter analyses different theoretical positions about the fantastic (primarily by C. Todorov and R. Ceserani) and about the weird (especially in the works by the critics S. T. Joshi and M. Fisher). The result is an analytic proposal: the weird fiction is a literary mode specific for the supernatural narrative, an evolution of the “fantastic” developed under the influence of Modernism and strongly linked to its cultural and aesthetic references. The thesis then proceeds with a discussion on the works of weird fiction authors, investigating how the fantastic turned in weird in three different literary and cultural contexts. The second chapter examines the narrative works by H. P. Lovecraft, delving also into his critical position about the supernatural fiction. The third chapter focuses on S. Grabiński and his short tales heavily influenced by Decadentism. The fourth chapter studies the fiction written by J. Ray and how it is related to a research of innovation in the speculative fiction. Through these examples, the thesis defines the weird as a literary mode specific for the narration of supernatural themes, based on continuous omissions and allusions that constantly flip over the perception of reality.