This essay examines the origins of the fantastic literature in Colombia by analyzing José Félix Fuenmayor novel, Una triste aventura de 14 sabios. I argue that the emergence and consolidation of the fantastic have their origins in a paradoxical experience with modernity. I explore how Fuenmayor’s literary creation was not only impacted by a historically conflicting condition produced by the rise of modern subjectivity, but also by the incorporation of different cultural artifacts into his literary aesthetics.