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Rushdie, Postmodernism & Postcolonialism
Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, published in 1980, was perhaps the seminal text in conceiving opinions as to interplay of post-modern and post-colonial theory. The title of the novel refers to the birth of Saleem Sinai, the novel’s principal narrator, who is born at midnight August 15th 1947, the precise date of Indian independence. From this remarkable coincidence we are immediately drawn to the conclusion that the novel’s concerns are of the new India, and how someone born into this new state of the ‘Midnight’s child’, if you will, interacts with this post-colonial state. To characterise the novel as one merely concerned with post-colonial India, and its various machinations, is however a reductive
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Yet as Linda Hutcheon points out in her essay ‘Circling the Downspout of Empire’, ‘post-modernism is politically ambivalent’ (biography available at http://www.athabascau.ca/cll/writers/hutcheon_biblio.html). The practice of magic realism with its challenge to conventionally accepted distinctions of genre and its questioning of reality is applicable to both movements. The element of regionalism in magic realist work contests the centrality of the metropolitan text, that is, often texts which are associated with magic realism are on the periphery binary, as opposed to the centrality of what are regarded as more conventional metropolitan texts. Another definition of magic realism can be found at http://www.qub.ac.uk/english/imperial/india/Magic.htm. and http://artcon.rutgers.edu/artists/magicrealism/magic.html also contains a definition. This genre is often interchangeable with that of surrealism, here are some examples of surrealist and magic realist …show more content…
Seleem encounters the very real events of Nehru’s first Five-year plan in 1956, the Indo Pakistan war of 1965 and the conviction of Indira Gandhi in 1975 for election malpractice in the Indian ‘Emergency’. Although he is not adverse to giving the Midnight’s child in Saleem Sinai supernatural powers simply due to the fortuitousness of his birthright. Perhaps the best reason given as to this rejection of convention on the part of Rushdie was given by the author himself on a documentary on channel four entitled the Bandung file aired on February 14th 1989 where he
Faris, Wendy B. "Scherazade'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.
...story telling traditions. All storytellers are children of the ones, which came before them and stand on the shoulders of those who have told the tales in the past. Marquez and Anaya did not hesitate to make liberal use of magical realism, both as a way to create tension in their stories and to contact the deeper hearing of their audience. Magical realism was just another tool in their literary boxes, to be used with skill and discretion for the greater benefit of the tale being told. It worked well for the cantadora, sitting in the doorway weaving her basket as she wove her tale and it works equally well today as we pause from our lives, quiet our souls, and prepare to listen as the story unfolds.
As mentioned previously, Leopold's Land Ethic is a very concise piece of work for what Callicott has shown to be an intricate, environmental, ethical theory. Callicott has dedicated a lot of time to, explaining the components which make up The Land Ethic as a moral theory and to providing a defence against possible criticisms extracted by other thinkers. High ...
Perhaps one of the most famous paintings Leonardo da Vinci painted is the Mona Lisa in which he painted in 1503. Many experts believe the portrait is of a very wealthy women who lived in Florence whose
The controversy surrounding Magical Realism makes the classification of what is and what is not Magical Realism very difficult. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a famous Latin American author, has written many pieces of what is generally conceived to be Magical Realism. Marqez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" fulfills every characteristic of Magical Realism..
Leonardo da Vinci is perhaps the most famous artist of all time. Leonardo da Vinci was born April 15, 1452 in Florence, Italy. He was born out-of-wedlock to the wealthy father, Piero da Vinci, and peasant mother, Caterina. Little is known about Leonardo da Vinci’s early life, but he did receive an informal education where he mastered the subjects of Latin, mathematics, and geometry. As the years, progressed Leonardo became a master of his craft. Leonardo da Vinci pottered in the fields of sculpting, geology, engineering, music, architect, anatomy, cartography, writing, painting, and plant biology. Leonardo da Vinci was the ultimate Italian Renaissance polymath. Some of Leonardo da Vinci most notable works include The Last Supper, The Vitruvian Man, Lady with an Ermine, and Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci worked on dozens of other projects, but with his broad expertise, he was only inclined to finish around six pieces. Arguably, one of Leonardo’s best pieces is the Mona Lisa painting. The Mona Lisa painting is not admired solely for its beauty, but its breakthrough technicality in the art world and its ability to keep the mind wondering what Leonardo da Vinci was trying to communicate to his viewers.
Marquez used Magical Realism elements to showcase supernatural beings, and to teach valuable lessons. Within the themes of both stories, a strong moral component is found. To get the point across, Marquez uses distinct writing techniques. He paints the picture of his setting through his descriptive language, but, not all of his stories are exactly the same! This is what makes them such a delight to read; the different workings that make up each individual story are beautiful on their own, but can be compared to each other.
Herbert has come to represent the West. Márquez relies heavily on magical realism, which is when a story has a realistic setting but incorporates fantastical elements and hyperbole, as well as symbolism to portray his themes. In “The Sea of Lost Time,” it is made evident that Márquez believes that his culture ought to be respected, but instead is being convoluted and abolished due to Western influence, as is exemplified by his use of magical realism, and symbolism, particularly the sea, the smell of roses, and the turtles.
Gioia, Dana. "Gabriel García Márquez and Magic Realism." Essays by Dana Gioia. Dana Gioia, 2009. Web. 05 Dec. 2013.
Style: The typical Magical- Realistic story of García Márquez placed in a familiar environment where supernatural things take place as if they were everyday occurrences. Main use of long and simple sentences with quite a lot of detail. "There were only a few faded hairs left on his bald skull and very few teeth in his mouth, and his pitiful condition of a drenched great-grandfather took away and sense of grandeur he might have had" (589).
Stated by Joel Hancock, “Originating in the oral tradition, the old folk stories--once the main staple of entertainment for adults -- are now published in sumptuous volumes with beautiful illustrations and directed to a younger public” (43). Usually, uneducated people believe in myths and they tell their own children these myths. The style he writes is called magical realism, which mainly describes Latin American writing and deals with the absurd being normal. In the perspective of South America, postcolonial, they accept the strange instead of question it - Magical realism is applied due to accepting the strange. Like children, they just accept things in life, and they just want to believe in everything.
When discussing the controversial authors of Indian literature, one name should come to mind before any other. Salman Rushdie, who is best known for writing the book “Midnights Children.” The first two chapters of “Midnights Children” are known as “The Perforated Sheet”. In “The Perforated Sheet” Rushdie utilizes magic realism as a literary device to link significant events and their effects on the lives of Saleem’s family to a changing India. In fact, it is in the beginning of the story that the reader is first exposed to Rushdie’s use of magic realism when being introduced to Saleem. “On the stroke of midnight/clocks joined palms” and “the instant of India’s arrival at independence. I tumbled forth into the world”(1711). Rushdie’s description of the clocks “joining palms” and explanation of India’s newfound independence is meant to make the reader understand the significance of Saleem’s birth. The supernatural action of the clocks joining palms is meant to instill wonder, while independence accentuates the significance of the beginning of a new era. Rushdie also utilizes magic realism as an unnatural narrative several times within the story to show the cultural significance of events that take place in the story in an abnormal way.
Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children employs strategies which engage in an exploration of History, Nationalism and Hybridity. This essay will examine three passages from the novel which demonstrate these issues. Furthermore, it will explore why each passage is a good demonstration of these issues, how these issues apply to India in the novel, and how the novel critiques these concepts.
Cien Anos de Soledad Style in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude is closely linked to myth. Marquez chooses magic realism over the literal, thereby placing the novel's emphasis on the surreal. To complement this style, time in One Hundred Years of Solitude is also mythical, simultaneously incorporating circular and linear structure (McMurray 76).
Magical realism is clearly present throughout Gabriel-Garcia Marquez's novel Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Magical realism is the juxtaposition of realism with fantastic, mythic, and magical elements. A secondary trait was the characteristic attitude of narrators toward the subject matter: they frequently appeared to accept events contrary to the usual operating laws of the universe as natural, even unremarkable. Though the tellers of astonishing tales, they themselves expressed little or no surprise.