I.
Characteristics
of
Magic
Realism
(From
Wendy
Faris
“Sheherazade’s
Children”)
“Magical
realism
combines
realism
and
the
fantastic
in
such
a
way
that
magical
elements
grow
organically
out
of
the
reality
portrayed”
(163).
1.
“The
text
contains
an
‘irreducible
element’
of
magic,
something
we
cannot
explain
according
to
the
laws
of
the
universe
as
we
know
them.
In
terms
of
the
text,
magical
things
‘really’
do
happen”
(167).
2.
“Descriptions
detail
a
strong
presence
of
the
phenomenal
world—this
is
the
realism
in
magic
realism,
distinguishing
it
from
much
fantasy
and
allegory…Realistic
descriptions
create
a
fictional
world
that
resembles
the
one
we
live
in,
in
many
instances
by
excessive
use
of
detail”
(169).
3.
“The
reader
may
hesitate
(at
one
point
or
another)
between
two
contradictory
understandings
of
events—and
hence
experiences
some
unsettling
doubts,”
often
“hallucination
or
miracle?”
(171).
4.
“We
experience
the
closeness
or
near-‐merging
of
two
realms,
two
worlds”
(172)
[life/death;
real/imaginary;
waking/dream;
past/future;
human/animal;
self/other,
etc.].
“The
magical
realist
vision
exists
at
the
intersection
of
two
worlds,
at
an
imaginary
point
inside
a
double-‐sided
mirror
that
reflects
in
both
directions”
(172).
5.
“These
fictions
question
received
ideas
about
time,
space,
and
identity”
(173).
From
Frederic
Jameson
on
realism
how
Realism
creates
“spatial
homogeneity
[that]
abolishes
older
forms
of
sacred
space;
likewise
the
newly
measuring
clock
and
measurable
routine
replace
‘older
forms
of
ritual,
sacred,
or
cyclical
time’”
(173-‐4).
[rise
of
industrialization
–
the
modern
world
of
work]
II.
Secondary
Characteristics
(common
but
not
defining)
1.
Metafictional
dimensions
are
common…the
texts
provide
commentaries
on
themselves….Thus
the
magical
power
of
fiction
itself,
the
capacities
of
mind
that
make
it
possible,
and
the
elements
out
of
which
it
is
made—signs,
images,
metaphors,
narrators,
narrates—may
be
foregrounded”
(175).
Includes
stories
where
“the
reader
follows
a
voice
as
it
articulates
fragments
of
a
potential
story
and
induces
us
to
participate
in
its
composition”
(176)
2.
“The
reader
may
experience
a
particular
kind
of
verbal
magic—a
closing
of
the
gap
between
words
and
the
world”
(176).
[remember
Nietzsche!]
Example:
Metaphor
made
real
“They
treat
me
like
an
insect”;
“I
feel
for
you”
“To
see
through
someone
else’s
eyes”
“I’ve
become
a
new
person”
“It
was
like
time
stood
still.”
3.
“The
narrative
appears….as
fresh,
childlike,
even
primitive.
Wonders
are
recounted
largely
without
comment,
in
a
matter-‐of-‐fact
way,
accepted…as
a
child
would
accept
them…they
thus
[appear]
natural”
(177).
4.
“Repetition
as
a
narrative
principle,
in
conjunction
with
mirrors
or
their
analogues…creates
a
magic
of
shifting
references”
(177)
“In
Cortazar’s
story
‘Axolotl’
the
aquarium…is
a
kind
of
magical
special
mirror.
Similarly,
the
place
of
Cortazar’s
narrator
in
‘Night
Face
Up,’
between
modern
and
Aztec
worlds,
is
a
temporal
double-‐sided
mirror”
(177).
5.
“Metamorphoses
are
a
relatively
common
event”
(178).
6.
“Many
of
these
texts
take
a
position
that
is
antibureaucratic,
and
so
they
often
use
their
magic
against
the
established
social
order”
(179).
7.
“Ancient
systems
of
belief
and
local
lore
often
underlie
the
text”
(182).
8.
“A
Jungian
rather
than
a
Freudian
perspective
is
common…that
is,
the
magic
may
be
attributed
to
a
mysterious
sense
of
collective
relatedness
rather
than
to
individual
memories
or
dreams
(183).
Work
Cited
Faris,
Wendy.
“Scheherazade’s
Children:
Magical
Realism
and
Postmodern
Fiction.”
Magical
Realism:
Theory,
History,
Community.
Ed.
L.
Parkinson
and
W.
Faris.
Durham:
Duke
UP,1995.
163-‐190.
Print.
