Magical Realism1

7/29/2019 Magical Realism1

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Magical RealismWorld Literature


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Magical Realism Frame or surface of the work may be

conventionally realistic, but contrastingelements invade the realism and change thewhole basis of the art.

Supernatural

Myth

Dream Fantasy


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Magical Realism Popularity in many parts of the world just

after WWII

Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina, South America) Gabriel Garca Mrquez (Columbia, South America)

Isabel Allende (Chile, South America)

Gnter Grass (Germany) Italo Calvino (Italy)

Umberto Eco (Italy)


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Magical Realism Popularity in many parts of the world just

after WWII

John Fowles John Barth

Thomas Pynchon

Emma Tennant

Don DeLillo

Salman Rushdie

Leslie Silko


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Mrquez on Magical Realism The question of what is realis at the heart of magical realism.

Implies that our notions of reality are too limitedthat realityincludes magic, miracles and monsters.

By making things happen in his fictional world of Macondothat do not happen in most novels (or in most readers'experiences either), Marquez asks us to question ourassumptions about our world, and to examine our certaintiesabout ourselves and our community.

Because the magical events in Macondo are presented matter-of-factly, our own sense of what is possible is amplified andenriched. Ordinary objects and events are enchanted.


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Mrquez on Magical Realism Suggests that cultures and countries differ in what

they call "real."

It is here that magical realism serves its most

important function, because it facilitates theinclusion of alternative belief systems.

It is no coincidence that magical realism isflourishing in cultures such as Mexico andColombia, where European and indigenous cultureshave mixed, with the result that ancient myths areoften just beneath the surface of modernity.


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Magical Realism Engages belief systems that defy rational, empirical

(scientific) proof

Crucial difference between magical realism and science

fiction/fantasy is that magical realism sets magical events inrealistic contexts, thus requiring us to question what is "real,"and how we can tell.

Undermines our certainties, and we eventually accept (oftenwithout authorial explanation) the fusion, or co-existence, of

contradictory worldsworlds that would be irreconcilable inother modes of fiction.

Is not "either/or" but "both at once"


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Magical Realism Also defies our expectation of fictional selves.

In realistic novels, characters are given

individualized names, personalities, and familyhistories.

We identify with them because their specific

humanity engages us, and their individuality

resembles our own.


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Magical Realism Objects and places in magical realist novels behave

in ways that they could not in a realistic fiction.

Imagine you are sitting in an armchair, reading anovel about a man sitting in an armchair, about to be

stabbed to death from behind, reading a novel about

a man sitting in an armchair who is about to be

stabbed to death from behind and is reading a novel. Do you turn and look behind you?


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Some Pop Culture Examples


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Magical Realism and Surrealism in Art


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Sources Zamora, Lois Parkinson. Magical Realism in a Nutshell. Oprahs Book

Club. .

Harmon & Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 10th ed.

Images taken from Google Images

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Magical Realism1