Phantastische Metafiktion und das Ende der Romantik in Honoré de Balzacs Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu. (German)

Fantastic Metafiction and the End of Romanticism in Balzac's Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu. (English)

Balzac's Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu is about an artist who grapples with the problem of a fantastic imagination. The narrative refers to the 16th and 17th century of art, which serves as basis for a fantastic meta-fiction that thematically goes beyond the art of painting. The novella can provide great insights for studies in the fantastic insofar as nothing fantastic actually happens, but it rather discusses the principles of the fantastic imagination and aesthetics on a meta-level. This paper intents to show how a discussion of art theory, which puts a blank canvas into a central position, is evoked through the staged description through intermedial connections of the protagonists. Thus, the paper proposes that Balzac's text approaches the neo-fantastic by questioning the fantastic style via meta-fictional commentary. Through fantastic meta-fictionality a paradigm is constituted on a poetological level that bids farewell to fantastic romanticism in both content and form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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