The Fantastic as A "Good Evil": A Reading Of “Bienvenida A La Comunidad”, By Samanta Schweblin

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the short story “Bienvenida a la comunidad”, from the book El buen mal (2025), by contemporary Argentine writer Samanta Schweblin. It is a work of the fantastic genre, in which the concepts of “good” and “evil” are central. These energies combine, producing what the author calls the force of the “good evil”. This raises questions such as: How much does good need evil, and evil need good? How does the dialogue between them function? How much harm do we cause when we believe we are doing good? And vice versa? Our hypothesis is that, in the story, these tensions are driven by the fantastic phenomenon, which, although linked to an evil that befalls the narrator, has a positive and revelatory impact on her, subverting sociocultural structures and questioning her perception of everyday reality. This allows us to glimpse the subversive and destabilizing potential of the genre highlighted by Rosemary Jackson (2009 [1981]), David Roas (2011), and María Negroni (2015 [2009]). In our analysis, we will focus on four aspects: the tensions between the everyday and the impossible, which allow us to reflect on the fantastic in the enunciation; the disintegration of the subject in this literary genre; the various dimensions of the force of the “good evil” and the subversive will of the fantastic, which links it to the “good evil”.