ABSTRACT
This chapter shows that the author's cultural background provides an opportunity to see how the female use of the fantastic is affected by inter-textual relations. Thereby making Paola Capriolo's work a magic mirror in which to reflect other female writers' treatment of similar issues: the body, the domestic space, the artistic subject and textual influence and reference. In 'Il gigante' Capriolo depicts the imprisoning space of the matroneum with another powerful spatial concept. 'La grande Eulalia' shows how experiencing the self as 'artistic image' constitutes one crucially uncanny moment for the female reader and, therefore, writer of the fantastic. The chapter explores the kind of relationship between canonical texts and the narrator's amnesia that exists for the author and the reader. It analyses how the contested relationship between the body and the fantastic space in the novel interact with these to betray a distinct unease with the positioning of women within literary culture.
