The transreality of the poetic object

Abstract

The significant appearance of the poetic object consists in the fact that it can be a mere appearance, a simple image; in other words, that it possesses a certain independence with respect to the real - this word "real" being understood in the limited sense of material reality or more properly historical. Thus, for example, the knight Amadis de Gau is poetic, as are the characters in Andersen's stories. None of these figures correspond to historical reality.