Abstract
The article under studies deals with the issue of differentiating between the genres of science fiction and fantasy within contemporary literary theory. Particular emphasis has been laid on historical, theoretical, and receptive approaches to the evolution of these two genres. The article regards the concept of the genre matrix, which reflects the key invariants and dynamic changes in the genre nature of literary texts and focuses on the views of G. Genette, T. Todorov, J.-M. Schaeffer, as well as contemporary Ukrainian researchers who offer innovative approaches to the study of genre evolution. The article also traces up how fiction, which historically emerged at the intersection of mythology, folklore, and epic, evolved into meta-genre forms such as science fiction and fantasy. It considers the specifics of the simulative chronotope, which combines the real and the imaginary, intertextuality as a key element of genre construction, as well as the receptive orientation of the genre. The concepts of genre transformation and modification, which affect the transformation of genres into new forms, are analyzed separately. The study also emphasizes the differences and common features between science fiction and fantasy, in particular, through the criteria of chronotope, motivation of events, and receptive specificity of texts. It suggests regarding fantasy as a meta-genre with a wide range of varieties, from epic to philosophical. The differentiation of the fantastic deepens the understanding of genre boundaries and mechanisms of literary dynamics.