Features of the fantastic in the collection of stories by Carlos Fuentes «Masked Days»

The article is devoted to the analysis of the fantastic in the debut collection of stories by Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes «Masked Days», which reflects the mystical connection of modern people with ancient beliefs of the Indians, the interweaving of the supernatural and the ordinary, reality with the otherworldly, the present with the past. The authors consider the main themes in the writer's work, analyze the fantastic and mythological elements, unusual events in the stories «Chak Mool», «Tlakotacin from the Flemish Garden», «The Spell of the Orchid», associated with the «Mexican essence», which runs like a red thread through all the work of Carlos Fuentes.