magical realism and relative clauses
TRANSCRIPT
Magical Realism…and Relative Clauses
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
by the Colombian author
Gabriel García Márquez is the novel that made magical realism popular
around the world.
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
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 DomingoEnglish 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.
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
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.Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
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.Romina Domingo
English Teacher
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?
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
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 whichperson, thing, place, etc. thespeaker is talking about(essential information).
add extra non-essential information.
or
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
The relative clauses in green…tell you whichperson, thing, place, etc. thespeaker 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.
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
The relative clauses in orange…
…add extra non-essential information.
They are called…
NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
They are put in commas.Romina Domingo
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
therelative
pronoun?
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
WHO
WHOM
THAT
refer to people
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
which
THATrefer to things
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
whoseshows possession/
relationship
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
When
thatrefer to a time
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
whererefer to a place
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
whygives reason
Romina DomingoEnglish Teacher
TO SUM UP:
- Relative clauses describe or provide information aboutsomething 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 informationessential 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 todecide whether it refers to a person, a thing, a place, a time, etc.