The "Fantastic" stories: Dominick’s Bargain and The White Cat of Drumgunnoil

“The Fantastic”, a literary genre as defined by Tzvetan Todorov, describes literary works in which the characters’ experience events that can have both scientific and supernatural explanations. It is often left to the reader to decide whether the explanation is natural or supernatural. Tordorov states that, “…the text must oblige the reader to consider the world of the characters as a world of living persons and hesitate between a natural and a supernatural explanation of the events described.” J.S. Le Fanu’s Sir Dominick’s Bargain and The White Cat of Drumgunnoil are both stories which leave the reader to decide between natural or supernatural explanations and can therefore be categorized as literature of “The Fantastic” genre.

Sir Dominick’s Bargain is the story of Sir Dominick, a man who, in an immense state of desperation, made a deal with the devil to have unlimited riches for seven years. At the end of these seven years he would then serve the “Evil One”. The deal is taken and at the end of the seven years, the Evil One comes to claim his end of the deal. When Sir Dominick attempts to evade him, the Evil One then smashes Sir Dominick’s head against a wall leaving a blood stain that cannot be removed.

The tale of Sir Dominick is told by a seventy year old man sitting near the stained wall. Belief in the story of Sir Dominick relies solely on the credibility of the seventy year old man who did not experience it first hand, but was told by his grandfather. The reader oscillates between the natural and supernatural when choosing to believe the old man’s story or pass it off as misinformation. It is said of the stain on the wall that, “That’s a splash of brains and blood. It’s there this hundred years; and it will never leave while the wall stands.” The reader is then forced to decide whether the blood stain is ingrained in the rock wall by some scientific physical means, or whether it is a supernatural mark that will truly never disappear. The presence these real and supernatural explanations are criteria which categorize this story in “The Fantastic” genre.

The White Cat of Drumgunnoil is the short story of a family which is plagued by many deaths. In the days preceding their death, a person encounters a white cat with green eyes which walks near their feet growling. It is believed by the family and other members of the community that this white cat is an omen of death and appears when the end of life is imminent. “It is the messenger simply of death. And it’s taking shape of a cat-the coldest, and they say, the most vindictive of brutes-is indicative of the spirit of its visits.”

When reading of these feline encounters, the reader is forced to choose between natural and supernatural explanations of events. It may be a mere coincidence that the cat appears before the death of an individual, or the cat may truly be the embodiment of a death omen. Another conclusion that a reader can draw is that the cat is infected with a sickness which is then contracted by the family member upon encountering the cat. The reader is left to theorize as they please or believe the theories of the characters. There is no final revelation that the cat in fact is a supernatural being. This oscillation between natural and supernatural explanations of events categorizes The White Cat of Drumgunnoil as “Fantastic” literature.