Although it is a children's book, Ursula Le Guin's short story "Catwings Return" is a perfect example of the Fantastical genre. Published in 1989, "Catwings Return" has some elements similar to those found in Magical Realism, but the story mostly has elements of Fantasy in it. By examining the American story "Catwings Return," a reader will be able to see the similarities and differences between Magical Realism and Fantasy.
In order to have some characteristics similar to those in Magical Realism, a text must contain both realistic elements and magical elements (Flores 112). In "Catwings Return," one of the realistic elements could be the setting. Rather than taking place in some other fantastical world or realm, the main part of "Catwings Return" takes place in a city near the little country town called Overhill. Since it has a "street crowded with whizzing cars," the city seems familiar to the reader (Le Guin 32). Another realistic element in the story is that the cats have the normal names of Thelma, Roger, Harriet, James, and Jane. Even though they have wings, the cats are given the realistic description of being tabby cats. Furthermore, the cats appear to do normal cat activities such as eat kibbles, purr, and play with one another and with the children who take care of them (Le Guin 3-5). Because of the "extensive use of detail," Le Guin's story exhibits at least one of the characteristics that Wendy B. Faris gives Magical Realism (Faris 169).
In Le Guin's story, the most prominent magical element is the sets of wings on the cats. Because of the magical element of the wings, "Catwings Return" is similar to "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," written by the Magical Realist Gabriel Garcia Marquez....
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...the Fantastic.
Works Cited
Faris, Wendy B. "Scheherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 163-186.
Flores, Angel. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction." Magical Realsim. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 109-116.
Leal, Luis. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 119-123.
Le Guin, Ursula K. "Catwings Return." New York: Orchard Books, 1989.
Todorov, Tsvetan. The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Form. Cleveland: The Press of Case Western Reserve University, 1973. 168-174.
Gabriel García Márquez, 1982 Nobel Laureate, is well known for using el realismo magical, magical realism, in his novels and short stories. In García Márquez’s cuento “Un Señor Muy Viejo con Alas Enormes,” García Márquez tactfully conflates fairytale and folklore with el realismo magical. García Márquez couples his mastery of magical realism with satire to construct a comprehensive narrative that unites the supernatural with the mundane. García Márquez’s not only criticizes the Catholic Church and the fickleness of human nature, but he also subliminally relates his themes—suffering is impartial, religion is faulty by practice, and filial piety—through the third-person omniscient narration of “Un Señor Muy Viejo con Alas Enormes.” In addition to García Márquez’s narrative style, the author employs the use of literary devices such as irony, anthropomorphism, and a melancholic tone to condense his narrative into a common plane. García Márquez’s narrative style and techniques combine to create a linear plot that connects holy with homely.
Simpkins, Scott. "Sources of Magic Realism/Supplements to Realism in Contemporary Latin American Literature." Magical Realism. Theory, History,
Mary Warren is a girl who is faced with this inner turmoil throughout this play. At the outset of the play she is perceived to be a very shy girl who will never speak her mind as shown when Proctor sends her home and she responds with " I'm just going home" (21). As the play continues and as Abigail influences her, Mary begins to break this self-induced mold and does what she wants. Mary Warren, along with many other girls, gets caught up in the hype of getting all the attention and exercising power via initiating and adamantly continuing these "witch trials". Finally John Proctor, the rationalist, shows that when people like Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor who are the saintliest of people are accused of being witches, something must be wrong. Mary Warren has a difficult decision to make. She has realized that her whole way of life has been based on injustice. However, how can she extricate herself from Abigail and her friends, not to mention her new feelings of confidence? Mary decides to speak out against Abigail and the others for their false accusations and said that she " tried to kill me numerous times" (57). Yet as she does this heroic act of overcoming her old reality, Abigail...
The electoral college is a group of five hundred and thirty-eight people who, every four years, decide our countries president and vice president. This number is created by taking the House of Representatives (four hundred and thirty-eight members elected per stated based upon population), The Senate (Two representatives elected per state), and three representatives from the
When it comes to slavery, it in and of itself is negative. Cruelty is everywhere; either within the trade ships, the abuse from the owners and just ‘non-slaves’ in general. There is war and battles that took place that Olaudah was forced to fight in. He witnessed men being blown up in front of him as he himself was given one of the more dangerous jobs. Being on the ship, Olaudah met people from all different countries. He found that some were fairly nice including the British and Spanish crew men, however, men like that were very few. More often than not, the authority on the ship and in the cities that Olaudah visited were vicious. The stories he shares of the slaves begging on the ships for the scraps and suffering from illness. The horror of it all heightens Olaudah’s desire to aid the fight of abolishing slavery. Whether he was the one suffering for the abuse or he was witnessing it happen; his dream of men being equal to bring themselves closer to god was bright in his
Seney exists as the wasteland, having been ravaged and destroyed by fire to the point of complete desolation. The town is described by what it is lacking as a contrast to what Nick had remembered to have been there, yet Nick does not display any sensation of loss. He had merely “expected to find” the town as it was before the fire, but when he does not, he simply goes to the river to watch the trout. It the trout that s...
For the purposes of this paper, I would like to adopt the synthesized definition editors Zamora and Faris distill from several key writers and academics featured in the anthology/reader Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community:
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Beginning in America in 1787, the Electoral College was originally created during the Constitutional Convention to help make a fair way for the president to be elected without giving too much power to either the national government or individual states. Over the years, the Electoral College has undergone a few changes in attempt to make it more fair, but there is still much debate about whether or not the Electoral College is the most effective way to elect a president. Some people believe that the Electoral College does an excellent job of creating an equal distribution of votes across all ethnicities and social classes of America. In contrast, others think that the Electoral College does not give an accurate portrayal of the popular opinion of Americans, believing that the Electoral College is no longer necessary for the election process in our society. The issue of whether or not the Electoral College should be a part of our government is important to our society, because it has had a dramatic effect on who is elected as president. Several times in American history a potential presidential candidate has obtained the presidential office only because of the Electoral College, despite the fact that they lost the popular vote. Therefore, the Electoral College should be removed from the government and replaced with an election system based on the popular vote.
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Coming home from the grueling experience of being a soldier in World War I, he felt ecstatic when he saw a trout swimming in the stream. The perils of war took a devastating toll on Nick, as he suffered from a physical wound while in action. The camping trip here is like an oasis, which will let Nick to recover from all the distress. “Nick looked down into the pool from the bridge. It was a hot day. A kingfisher flew up from the stream. It was a long time since Nick had looked into a stream and seen trout. They were very satisfactory...Nick’s heart tightened as the trout moved. He felt all the old feeling.” (178) The healing process begins here with Nick re-acclimating himself with one of his favorite hobbies: fishing. “He started down to the stream, holding his rod...Nick felt awkward and professionally happy with all the equipment hanging from him...His mouth dry, his heart down...Holding the rod far out toward the uprooted tree and sloshing backward in the current, Nick worked the trout, plunging, the rod bending alive, out of the danger of the weeds into the open river. Holding the rod, pumping alive against the current, Nick brought the trout in...” (190,193,195) Nick finally reels in a trout after the big one got away, getting to the feeling of relaxation and washing away the horrors of war. By pitching his tent out in the forest and being able to function by himself so smoothly, Nick shows how he represents the trait of stoicism. He did not complain or stop living, coming back with the trauma of war. Going camping, he is able to relieve himself through using all the nature around him, showcasing his
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Faris, Wendy B. Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification of Narrative. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2004. 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. 21
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Magical Realism evolved only in the last century. Franz Roh was the first to use the term to describe paintings and the new style that had come about after the expressionistic era (7, p.15), however it was Alejo Carpentier who used it to describe Latin America's fanatastical writing styles (3, p.373). He felt that magical realism expounded upon reality and "was able to elude realism's insufficiency, in its inablility to describe an ex-centric experience"(3, p.373). Latin America, though perhaps the first to name the new writing phenomena, was not the only country to use it. In the course of this paper I will compare and contrast several different novels from female authors who evoked magical realism into their writing styles. These authors come from Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean, showing the wide range of history and environments. Feeling that the Caribbean alone may prove to narrow a topic for a style that has taken the world by storm, I felt it only fitting that other countries should be included the theme of women in the paper. Also, I selected Africa and parts of Latin America to compare to Caribbean writings because these two continents play a pivotal role in shaping what the Caribbean has become today.