Magical Realism
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What is ‘magical realism’?
‘magical realism’ the
‘transgressive and
subversive’ fictional
genre , whereby the
magical, the mythical
and the ‘impossible’
blend seamlessly and
unapologetically with
the actual and the real
(Bowers, 2004:67)
Two separate (oppositional?)
juxtaposed narrative modalities..
A situation which creates
disjunction within each of the
separate discursive systems,
rending them with gaps,
absences and silences
Two separate narrative modes
never manage to arrange
themselves into any kind of
hierarchy
(Slemon, in Zamora and Faris,
pp409-410)
‘Magical realist’ fiction and film
Allende, I (1985) The House of the Spirits, New York, Knopf
Carter, A (19840 Nights at the circus, London: Vintage books
Okri, B (1991) The famished road, London: Vintage books
Marquez, G (1970) One Hundred Years of Solitude, London:
Cape
Morrison, T (1987) Beloved, New York: Knopf
Rushdie, S (1981) Midnight’s Children , London: Cape
Roy, A (1998) The God of Small Things, London: Flamingo
Walker, A (1990) The Temple of my Familiar, New York: Pocket
books
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) Guillermo del Toro, Esperanto films
Magic in Literature
The light was so grey and weak at noon
that when Pelayo was coming back to the
house after throwing away the crabs, it was
hard for him to see what it was that was
moving and groaning in the rear of the
courtyard. He had to go very close to see
that it was an old man, lying face down in
the mud, who, in spite of his tremendous
efforts, couldn’t get up, impeded by his
Origin of the term…
A term introduced in the 1940s referring
to narrative art that presents
extraordinary occurrences as an
ordinary part of everyday life, but has
since become associated with the writing
of Alejo Carpentier, Gabriel Garcia
Marquez, and Salman Rushdie. In the
work of these writers, ordinary events
are sometimes given extraordinary
Chapter 12
Read chapter 12 (excerpt posted in
Blackboard) and identify aspects of magical
realism in the narration
Is it always possible to tell the real from the
magical / or the marvelous from the uncanny?
Give examples
What details in the chapter mark it out as
being magic realist, as opposed to simply
being a supernatural story / fantasy novel?
Some reactions…
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