fantástica

Fantástica is the feminine form of the adjective fantástico in Spanish and Portuguese. It is used to describe something remarkable, marvelous, or related to fantasy, imagination, or the unreal. In everyday language it can modify nouns (una historia fantástica, uma cidade fantástica) and, in literary and media contexts, it signals a connection to the fantastical.

In Iberian-language literature, the term appears in phrases such as literatura fantástica, referring to works that incorporate supernatural or improbable elements. In literary criticism, lo fantástico (Spanish) or the related Portuguese discussions describe phenomena that blur the boundary between the natural and the supernatural. This area includes theories about how readers experience uncertainty and ambiguity in narrative reality, a concept associated with critics such as Todorov. The genre often emphasizes wonder, ambiguity, and a tension between belief and doubt.

Etymology traces fantástico to Latin fantasticus, from Greek phantastikos, itself from phantasia meaning imagination or appearance. The feminine form fantástica agrees with feminine nouns in both Spanish and Portuguese, while masculine forms are fantástico (Spanish) or fantástico/gênero in Portuguese. The word is used across Spanish- and Portuguese-language contexts to describe both everyday marvels and formal genres of narrative that center on fantastical elements.

Notes: while related to English “fantasy” and to genres like magical realism, fantástica remains a language-specific term tied to Iberian linguistic and literary traditions.