Magic Realism

English IV ● Pilgreen

Magic Realism

• An “art of surprises”• Popularized by Hispanic writers

Distinguishing Features

• Elements of the magical & the ordinary are interwoven seamlessly; hard to determine where one stops & the other ends

• Setting is an otherwise ordinary world• Objects & settings may take on lives of their

own in a way that is ordinary to the characters• Doesn’t always follow a traditional time

structure

Distinguishing Features

• Gives the reader a sense of being inside a puzzle or maze

• Contains contradictions, inconsistencies & ambiguities

• A metamorphosis takes place, but it’s treated as ordinary by the characters

• Similar to oral tradition: fables, myths, tall tales, urban legends

Distinguishing Features

• Magical elements may enhance a subversive message or personalized point of view; not mainstream perspectives

• Magic occurs without using devices typical to fantasy (ghosts, angels) unless these creatures are treated as common & ordinary

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

• “Father of Magic Realism”• Columbian writer, journalist & publicist• Won Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982• One Hundred Years of Solitude• Love in the Time of Cholera

Sources

References:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/magic+realismhttp://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/resourcebank/definitions/http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/ncw/marquez.htmhttp://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Magical-Realism-How-to-Read-Ithttp://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Magical-Realism-In-a-Nutshellhttp://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Magical-Realism-Distinguishing-Features

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