Magical Realism El Peluquero Zurdo (1949) by Emilio Baz Viaud Self Portrait with Monkey (1940) by Frida Kahlo

Magical Realism is: the blend of reality and fantasy so that the distinction between the two is erased Transformation of the common and everyday into the awesome and unreal Elements of dreams, fairy tales, or mythology combined with the everyday The frame or surface of the work may be conventionally realistic. Have a strong narrative drive.

The term magic realism, originally applied in the 1920s to a school of painters, is used to describe the prose fiction of Jorge Luis Borges in Argentina, as well as the work of writers such as Gabriel García Márquez in Colombia, Gunter Grass in Germany, and John Fowles in England. These writers interweave, in an ever- shifting pattern, a sharply etched realism in representing ordinary events and descriptive details together with fantastic and dreamlike elements, as well as with materials derived from myth and fairy tales.

These novels/stories violate, in various ways, standard novelistic expectations by drastic -- and sometimes highly effective -- experiments with subject matter, form, style, temporal sequence, and fusions of the everyday, the fantastic, the mythical, and the nightmarish, in renderings that blur traditional distinctions between what is serious or trivial, horrible or ludicrous, tragic or comic.

How is this different from the fables we encountered when we were children?

The Ant and the Grasshopper In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest. "Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?" "I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter "Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day, corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew... It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

ANCIENT FABLES Symbolic characters (flat caricatures of good and bad) Fantastic elements (talking animals) Clear, explicitly stated moral lesson Purpose: present allegory for real life MAGIC REALISM Realistic characters (round and complex) Realism and fantasy combined Ambiguous moral lesson; hidden in symbols or no definite lesson - raises questions/ issues Purpose: challenge realism - what is real?

WHO DICTATES WHAT IS REAL OR NOT?

Realism in literature = mostly Western perception of reality Something is real if we perceive it to be real Magic realism or modern day fables that question reality (by mixing fantastic elements) show us that Western Lit is just ONE WAY of perceiving the world. It is not the ONLY world.

"Magical realism expands the categorizes of the real so as to encompass myth, magic and other extraordinary phenomena in Nature or experience which European realism excluded" - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez He lived in Aracataca, Colombia, a banana town by the Caribbean. His grandparents were his most important relatives, and influenced him and his writing later on. His grandfather was a general, a hero and a great story teller. His grandmother was very superstitious. She filled the house with stories of ghosts and premonitions.

Elements of Magical Realism Transformation of the common and the everyday into the awesome and the unreal. Examples: An angel is found in a mud puddle of the courtyard. The angel’s wings have parasites.

Elements of Magical Realism Elements of dreams, fairy story, or mythology combine with the everyday. Examples: Some townspeople thought the angel should be named mayor of the world or at least a 5-star general. A man couldn’t sleep because the noise of the stars disturbed him.

Elements of Magical Realism The frame or surface of the work may be conventionally realistic. Example: Townspeople, village, flood, chicken coop.

Elements of Magical Realism Have a strong narrative drive. Example: Wings are not the most important difference between a hawk and an airplane. They are even less important in recognizing an angel.