One of Todorov's greatest contribution to literary theory was the defining of the "Fantastic" , "The Uncanny Fantastic" and "The Fantastic Marvelous"
Todorov defines the fantastic as being any event that happens in out world that seems to be supernatural, upon its occurrence of the event we must then decide whether it is real and has actually taken place or whether it was an illusion.
An example of this would be Alvaro from "Cazottes Le Diable Amoureux" because Alvaro has to decide whether or not the woman he is in love with is truly a woman or if she is the devil.
After choosing whether the event was real of imaginary we enter into the genres of the "Uncanny" and "Marvelous". In the Fantastic Uncanny the event that occurs is actually an illusion of some sort the "laws of reality" remain intact and also provide a rational explanation for the fantastic event. Examples that could explain a fantastic/supernatural event would be - dreams, drugs, illusions and madness.
In the Fantastic Marvelous the supernatural event that occurs has actually taken place and therefore the laws of reality have to be changed to explain the event. If the reader is unable to opt for one of the other possibility the text is simply "Fantastic"
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