What does fantasy contribute to our perception of reality and how does it enable us to view it differently? What force of subversion and emancipation of the burlesque, humour and strangeness does it represent?

Arnon Grunberg, a Dutch author living in New York, has won a number of literary prizes. He has a mischievous imagination. In The Jewish Messiah (2008), he recounts the crazy and hilarious saga of the grandson of an SS member who is convinced that he is destined to become a great Jewish savior. This cruel and bizarre tale, set against a messianic fever, merges with a powerful analysis of Jewish identity. We find this caustic cynicism in Monkey Grabbing Hold of Happiness, a satire about the small world of Dutch diplomats.

Toby Litt was born in Bedford (England) in 1968. After writing just four novels, he managed to get himself recognised as one of the big names in English literature. Resolutely inventive, he always surprises the reader by reinventing the style, the register and the setting of each of his books. In his latest novel, Hospital (2007), he impresses us once again with his shadowy and terrifying vision of the world of the hospital where the characters are dysfunctional and malevolent.

Véronique Ovaldé is one of the most original voices of contemporary French literature. Throughout her five novels, she has managed to create a unique universe where the boundaries between reality and fantasy dissolve, making way for the fantastic, the burlesque and the disturbing. Her latest book, Et mon coeur transparent, is a deceptive thriller, a real-false inquiry in which Lancelot, the narrator, attempts to solve the mystery of the death of his wife.

Born in Paris in 1960 to political refugee parents, Sergi Pàmies has chosen to write in Catalan. This writer, whose style is as lively as it is hilarious, plunges the reader into universes far-removed from everyday life. The narration picks up speed and reality becomes twisted as funny and dark tales of the improbable are recounted. Sergi Pàmies takes pleasure in playing with the banality that pushes him into a corner, allowing him to see its fantastic side.