Magic Realism and Intertextual Examples of The Bible in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude, is a novel often associated with magic realism. Throughout the novel, the idea of magic realism is promoted through intertext examples of The Bible. Magic realism is defined as an artistic style in which magical elements or irrational scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or "normal" setting. The many intertextual examples throughout the work are alluded from outside sources such as the Bible and the tragedians of the Greeks and Romans. These allusions not only strengthen the novel, but further correlate them with the idea of magic realism.

Magic realism, as defined by Wendy Faris, contains five key elements which must be present for this component to ring true in a piece of literature. The first key element is the novel contains “…something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as we know them” (Faris 167). Throughout the novel, several examples which make this constituent true are present. For example, when Jose Arcadia Buendia’s murder occurs and his blood runs through the streets to Ursula’s home, Marquez writes, “A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed up curbs…” (Marquez 144). In reality, as readers, it is known that blood cannot travel long distances or climb objects. Remedios the Beauty’s accession to Heaven is another form in which a particular scene cannot be explained by particular laws as we know them. Marquez writes “Amaranta felt a mysterious trembling in the lace on her petticoats and she tried to grasp the sheet so that she would not fall down at the instant in which Remedios the Beauty...

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...magic realism is a common theme found throughout many fiction novels. According to Faris’ five key elements, this novel is indeed a tale of enchanting pragmatism. The novel’s intertextual examples developed by character similarities and actual events from the Bible and Greek mythology and tragedies are woven in the novel in such a way that the reader is oblivious to the fact that they truly exist. Magic realism will continue to flourish many novels to come in the coming years.

Works Cited

Access Bible, The. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Fitzgerald, Robert. Translator Homer. The Iliad. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 2007.

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel. One Hundred Years of Solitude. New York: Harper Perennial, 1998.

Zamora, Louis Parkinson and Wendy Faris. Magical Realism: Theory, History,Community. Durham: Duke University Press, 1995.