Magical realism and relative clauses

Magical Realism …and Relative Clauses

Romina Domingo English Teacher


by the Colombian author

Gabriel García Márquez is the novel that made magical realism popular

around the world.


It tells the story of seven generations

of the Buendía family, who live in an

isolated South American village called

Macondo. This is a place where

supernatural happenings are part of

everyday life - at one point everyone

living in the village suffers from both

insomnia and amnesia. Many

characters also have magical qualities.

One man, whose girlfriend is "the

most beautiful girl ever born“, is

always followed by hundreds of

butterflies, and people who die early

in the story often return as ghosts. Romina Domingo English Teacher

The book has dozens of characters,

which can make the plot difficult to

follow, but a family tree helps you

work out who's related to who. This

brilliant novel, which Márquez says is

based on his childhood memories of

living with his grandparents, has sold

over ten million copies worldwide.

Now discuss these

questions:

Where is the story set? Which family is the novel about? How many generations of this family are in the novel? What 'magical things' happen in the novel? How are the author's grandparents connected to the novel?

was the first novel written by the

Chilean author Isabel Allende.


It tells the story of three

generations of women whose

lives are changed by their

country's politics. The

women's story, which takes

place in an unnamed South

American country, begins

when the granddaughter,

Alba Trueba, finds some

diaries that her grandmother

Clara wrote 50 years earlier.


As a child, Clara realises she can

see the future and is able to

predict almost every event in her

life. She marries a powerful

landowner named Esteban

Trueba, who builds her a large

house in the country. The house

is full of ghosts and spirits,

which advise Clara on how to

deal with family problems.


The story takes place at a time when

political groups are battling for

control of the country - a fight that

ends in a bloody coup and political

chaos. This famous novel, which

began as a letter to the author's

dying grandfather, is considered a

classic of the magical realism genre.

Now discuss these

questions:

Where is the story set? Which family is the novel about? How many generations of this family are in the novel? What 'magical things' happen in the novel? How are the author's grandparents connected to the novel?


Magic realism or magical realism is a

genre where magic elements are a

natural part in an otherwise mundane,

realistic environment. Although it is

most commonly used as a literary genre,

magic realism also applies to film and

the visual arts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism

Go back to the texts…

Look at the relative clauses in green.

Do they…

tell you which person, thing, place, etc. the speaker is talking about (essential information).

add extra non-essential information.

or



The relative clauses in green… tell you which person, thing, place, etc. the speaker is talking about (essential information).

add extra non-essential information.

They are called…

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

The story takes place at a time when political

groups are battling for control of the country.

People who die early in the story often return as ghosts.


The relative clauses in orange…

…add extra non-essential information.

They are called…

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

They are put in commas. Romina Domingo English Teacher

One man, whose girlfriend is "the most

beautiful girl ever born“, is always followed by

hundreds of butterflies…

She marries a powerful landowner

named Esteban Trueba, who builds her a large house in

the country.

How do we choose

the relative

pronoun?


WHO

WHOM

THAT

refer to people


which

THAT refer to things


whose shows possession/ relationship


When

that refer to a time


where refer to a place


why gives reason


- Relative clauses describe or provide information about something or someone that we have already specified. - There are defining and non-difining (or identifying and non-identifying) relative clauses. - Defining relative clauses give necessary information essential to the meaning of the sentence. - Non-defining relative clauses give extra information and are put in commas. - To choose a relative pronoun or adverb you have to decide whether it refers to a person, a thing, a place, a time, etc.

Education

Magical realism and relative clauses