Observations on Magical Realism

Observations on Magical Realism

What is magical realism? Many people have conflicting ideas about when and who first used the term. It is likely that most people are completely confused when confronted with this subject, but after they read a few papers on magical realism, it becomes a little clearer. The papers that Amaryll Chanady, Luis Leal, Angle Flores, Franz Roh, and Scott Simpkins wrote have been helpful in studying the history and theory of magical realism. Each paper has many good points in it, but the authors argue so much over who is right or wrong that it is hard to decide who to agree with.

Angel Flores has several good points in his essay on magical realism. He says that it “has been studied mostly through the thematic or biographical approach. The thematic approach has dwelt on geographical settings....The biographical approach on the other hand, has surveyed the literary production chronologically” (109). Flores believes that Jorge Luis Borges’ 1935 book A Universal History of Infamy was the first use of magical realism. He describes magical realism as transforming “the common and the everyday into the awesome and the unreal.” He says the writers “cling to reality as if to prevent ‘literature’ from getting in their way, as if to prevent their myth from flying off, as in fairy tales, to supernatural realms. The narrative proceeds in well-prepared, increasingly intense steps, which ultimately may lead to one great ambiguity or confusion....All magical realists have this in common” (qtd. in Leal 119-120). Flores states that “magical realists do not cater to a popular taste, rather they address themselves to the sophisticated, those not merely initiated in aesthetic mysteries but versed in subtleties” (qtd....

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...etropolitan Paradigms.” Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 125-144.

Flores, Angel. “Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction.” Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 109-117.

Leal, Luis. “Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature.” Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 119-124.

O’Reilly, Breen. Magical Realism. 1994. 1 January 2001 .

Roh, Franz. “Magical Realism: Post-Expressionism.” Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 15-31.

Simpkins, Scott. “Sources of Magical Realism/Supplements to Realism in Contemporary Latin American Literature.” Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham; N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 145-159.