HUMAN BEINGS DO NOT LIVE ON REALITY ALONE FANTASTIC STORIES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE COSTA RICAN LIBERAL POLITICAL PROJECT (1887-1899)

Abstract

Two fundamental questions that we will try to answer in this article are. First, which socio-historical conditions made possible for fantastic and gothic literature to be produced in Costa Rica in the last decades of the Nineteenth century and the first years of the Twentieth century, in a context in which realistic and costumbrist literature were privileged as a way to strengthen the prevailing nation-state project? And, second, what role did such literature play in the context of the political project of Costa Rican liberals? To answer these questions, we will analyze a corpus made up of thirteen non-mimetic stories published between 1887 and 1899, the majority in newspapers and magazines with national or regional circulation.