Wybrane francuskie teorie fantastyki a ich recepcja w Polsce
Selected French theories of fantastic literature and their reception in Poland

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this article is first to discuss the most well-known French theories of fantastic literature, and second, to describe their reception in Poland. The origins of the French fantastic as a controversial trans-generic genre are presented. Furthermore, the article examines the restrictive attempts to define the genre in the 1950s-1970s in France (by Castex, Caillois, Vax, Todorov), as well as the subsequent efforts of critics (Andrevon) to redefine the genre and return to the widest trans-generic perception of the fantastic. Then, it illustrates various attempts to interpret French theories in Poland (using the example of Lem’s and Niziołek’s works). The conclusion emphasizes that it is possible for these two simultaneous critical discourses, originating from the Polish and Romance tradition, respectively, and defining the fantastic in very different ways (the wider versus the restrictive approach), to reach a consensus in Poland, thanks to recent attempts to reform the theory of the fantastic in France.

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