THE UNUSUAL AND FANTASTIC IN NUTSHELL, BY IAN MCEWAN

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the presence of the unusual and the fantastic in Ian McEwan's Nutshell. The text has a peculiar narrator: a fetus with exceptional intelligence. In order to conduct this investigation and classify the work within a literary genre, we will turn to the theorists of fantastic literature and literary criticism, Todorov (1981, 2013) and Eco (1994). Eagleton (2021) and Candido (2023) provide the theoretical framework for discussing the suspension of credulity. Throughout this analysis, we found that Todorov's theory does not offer us enough elements to adequately classify the book under discussion, with the fantastic-weird being the closest categorization. In view of this, by drawing on other sources, we finally aimed to understand the fantastic as a mode (BÉSSIERE 2001; CESERANI, 2006) and not a genre, to encompass the various forms of unusual texts.