Understanding Magical Realism Four Works Cited Perhaps Magical Realism may best be described as literature and art combined. It has a vast amount of characteristics that most, if not all, Magical realist fiction shares. Magical Realism has a lot of content to be studied in order to fully understand it. The term magical realism was first introduced by Franz Roh in 1925. He was a German art critic who started the idea of magical realism when he saw a new direction in painting. He used the term to characterize his paintings. Franz Roh states, "We look on it with new eyes"(17). To me, this statement is saying that we look on the world with a different approach. There is magical realism in everything we do. Literature and art are two main topics magical realism occurs in often. If studied thoroughly, we realize that there is magical realism in our lives everyday. Many articles have the main definition of magical realism stated in them. These articles are by Franz Roh, Angel Flores, Luis Leal, Amaryll Chanady, and Scott Simpkins. Most of the information in these articles is repetition from the articles however, they still include important information and feedback about each authors' views on the term. One of my favorite texts that we read was the article by Luis Leal. Leal which states, that magical realism is to express emotions, not to evoke them(121). Leal disagrees with many authors. Leal says that he does not believe magical realism was started by Borges in 1935(120). There are many added characteristics of magical realism. Some of these characteristics are to express emotions, do not use dream motifs, innocence has no logical or physiological explanation, and feelings are unexplainable. Magical Realism differs from fantasy because it is set in a normal world with descriptions of humans and society. Luis Leal states, "Strange how people are under the impression that making a bed is exactly the same as making bed, that to shake hands is always the same as shaking hands, that opening a can of sardines is to open the same can of sardines"(121). Everything is an exception. In Franz Roh's discusses many characteristics of magical realism in paintings.. "Both kinds of miniaturist paintings, the one that reconciles is to the world and the one that tries to horrify us"(qtd.in Roh 29). The way I view the world through art is a big characteristic to magical realism myself. To me you have to look at the world at certain angels to get the real definition of magical realism. Reality is also viewed with a touch of non-reality. Reality and fantasy are combined not through weaknesses but through strengths. Issues in Flores' article on writing are literary criticism. Stylistic trends, naturalistic,Characters accept non-reality as being completely normal. Each story in magical realism has its own personality. The purpose of magical realism is to let the world know that there are different views of art and literature. Not everyone has the same view, so the world needs to combine all views and understand each others' opinion. " Cling to reality as if to prevent literature from getting in the way, as if to prevent myth from flying off, as in fairy tales to supernatural realms"(qtd. in Leal 120).It never appeared to me that practitioners pay more attention to reality and not so much on literature. Leal defines magical realism as an "attitude toward reality" that contains "the discovery of mysterious relations between man and his circumstances"(122). The text by Amaryll Chanady has a quote that says,"Everyone's reason is everyone's things"(134). This brought a lot of confusion upon myself however I did learn a lot from this text. It discussed many good points about the definition of magical realism. Some of these were,"fantasy, the supreme faculty" and "constant inspiration" of the new race to the "rule, norm and tyranny" of the age of reason (qtd. in Chanady 135). Leal states that magical realism, which he calls an "attitude," problematizes What Niklas Luhmann calls the "functionally differentiated society"(132). Critics have many disagreements on the definition of magical realism, and I feel that some of the articles that were read were just a constant battle between who was right and who was wrong. Many critics' arguments were about whether or not magical realism is in art and literature. This course has helped me out tremendously already. It has a lot of basic information everyone needs to know about magical realism and the reason we have magical realism. When first seeing the word magical realism, my thoughts were that it would not interest me. After learning the information, the theory, and the history on it, it has helped me out tremendously. Magical realism is used in painting, writing, and in everyday life. We just don't take enough time to concentrate on what we do to realize that there is magical realism around us. It has many characteristics that apply to most works of magical realism. The history of magical realism isn't that far back but it is something that comes natural to us. People have just never realized it. Works Cited Chanady, Amaryll. "The Territorialization of the Imaginary in Latin America: Self-Affirmation and Resistance to Metropolitian Paradigms." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Wendy Faris and Zamora. Durham and London: Duke University, 1995.125-144. Flores, Angel. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Wendy Faris and Zamora. Durham and London: Duke University, 1995.108-177. Roh Franz. "Magical Realism: Post Expressionism." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Wendy Faris and Zamora. Durham and London: Duke University, 1995.15-31. Simpkins, Scott. "Sources of Magic Realism/Supplements to Realism in Contemporary Latin American Literature." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Wendy Faris and Zamora. Durham and London: Duke University, 1995.145-159.
Chanady, Amaryll. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature." Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed.Louis Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C: UP, 1995: 125-144.
An essential difference, then, between realism and magical realism involves the intentionality implicit in the conventions of the two modes…realism intends its version of the world as a singular version, as an objective (hence ...
Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1995. Roh, Franz. " Magical Realism in Spanish Literature" Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Louis Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris, Ph.D. Durham, N.C: Duke UP, 1995: 15-31.
„h As Encyclopedia.com says, ¡§Works of magic realism mingle realistic portrayals of ordinary events and characters with elements of fantasy and myth, creating a rich, frequently disquieting world that is at once familiar and dreamlike.¡¨
Magic realism is a style where magical happenings intrude a realistic surrounding. It’s what occurs when an extremely detailed, realistic plot is being interfered by something too unusual to believe. Mythology is a source of magical realism. It’s more like illusion, bordering the absurd. It always has a well-rounded down-to-earth base, where the author fuses her imaginable symbolism. Magical realism is a perspective towards reality that can be expressed in famous or cultured form, in perfected or natural styles, in open or closed structures. Magical realism is a paradox: it is the unity of contrast – life and death, the rational and supernatural, the precolonial past where magic plays an important role and the rational postcolonial present,
One of my favorite texts that we read was the article by Luis Leal. Leal which states, that magical realism is to express emotions, not to evoke them(121). Leal disagrees with many authors. Leal says that he does not believe magical realism was started by Borges in 1935(120).
Your imagination has no limits. What exactly is magic realism, you might be asking yourself. Well, if you have ever seen Godzilla you have seen magic realism. Magic Realism is a type of dream or fantasy that is mixed into the real world. How does magic realism make you feel? Why does magic realism occur? How does magic realism affect the world? These are just a few of the fascinating questions we will uncover using the short stories we have just read. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Light is Like Water by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and My Life with the Wave by Octavio Paz. Magic realism used in these short stories paints a vivid image into someone elses imaginary life, where the real world and the fantasy world meet in a meticulously realistic style. (Webster, 2013)
Roh, Franz. "Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 15-30.
"Magic Realism" is a term used by critics to describe a mingling of the mundane with the fantastic. This may seem a straightforward enough approach unless one happens to be a student of postcolonial studies - or at least, a student of postcolonialism should smell a rat. A brief history of the term is required for us to see why the term should be deemed problematical. In 1925 Franz Roh, a German art critic, used the term to describe a new post-expressionistic form that was emerging. Essentially the art described as "magic realism" was realist but was simultaneously possessed of a strange or dreamlike quality. If one were to seek a literary analog - although it is probably better if one did not - the paintings were a non-verbal equivalent of defamiliarization. Essentially, the magic was derived from the painting technique employed by the associated artists rather than the actual content (ultimately it came to be viewed as a kind of down-market surrealism).
The finding would also serve as a guide or insight for future studies on magic realism in contemporary novels. Magic realism interwoven both physical realities and psychological as one. It is “real” because it takes place in the real world and “magic” because it incorporates dreams, fantasies, and emotions as part of the real world. Time exists in a variety of timeless variability and the unreal happens as part of reality.
Faris, Wendy B. "Magical Realism : Post Expressionism. "Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community." Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 163-190.
In order to see how Magical Realism is found in this treatment, one must first consider at least one of the identifying marks of Magical Realism. Among the characteristics that identify Magical Realism is the feeling of transcendence that the reader has while reading a Magical Realist text (Simpkins 150). During transcendence, a reader senses something that is beyond the real world. At the same time, however, the reader still feels as if he or she were rooted in the world (Sandner 52). After the reader undergoes transcendence, then he or she should have a different outlook on life.
Magical realism is a term that describes contempory fiction. Magical realism blends magical or fantastical elements with reality this means that they put something that’s real, and is meant to be fake to be used as reality. It tells its story from the perspective of people who live in our world and experience a different reality from the one we call objective. Magical realism is used in a lot of stories, but it takes a role in one of the stories we read in class which was “The Handsomest Drowned Man”.
"What came to dominate the story and to leave a lasting impression was the view of man as a mystery surrounded by realistic data. A poetic divination or denial of reality. Something that for lack of a better word could be called magical realism." -Uslar Pietri
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