upon choosing whether the event was real or imaginary, todorov says that we enter into the genres of 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. todorov gives examples of dreams, drugs, illusions of the senses, madness, etc. as things that could explain a fantastic/supernatural event. 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. only if the implied reader cannot opt for one or the other possibility is the text purely fantastic.