Yamashita's Tropic of Orange This paper studies Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange as a magical realist text and examines the implications for such a style on the notion of the urban. Specifically, I will explore how Yamashita uses magical realism to collapse boundaries and socially transform Los Angeles into an embattled utopia for the disenfranchised. First, however, magical realism is a loaded term and some definitions are in order. In addition to important recent innovations in the form and its purposes, magical realism is in dialogue with a longer history of writing, including the epic, chivalric traditions, Greek pastoral, medieval dream visions, romantic traditions and Gothic fictions, all of which contribute a fantastic strain to the form. In the twentieth century, magical realism was coined by German art critic Franz Roh in 1925 and is commonly-held as a literary movement championed and mastered by Latin American authors (Marquez, Llosa, Fuentes), resonating internationally with the earlier experiments of Gogol, James, Kafka, Flaubert and the Weimar Republic, and now recycled as a counter-hegemonic global commodity in postcolonial contexts (Rushdie, Okri). What defines this writing, then, and how does it function? Why does Yamashita use this form to tell her story? 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: An essential difference, then, between realism and magical realism involves the intentionality implicit in the conventions of the two modes…realism intends its version of the world as a singular version, as an objective (hence ... ... middle of paper ... ...lects "at one and the same time a certain thing to be said and the only way to say it fully" (qtd. in Zamora and Faris, 5). Yamashita employs magical realism to transform Los Angeles from the layered real to the textured magical, a disruptive decentering of hegemonic power and the nature of reality manifested as urban re-ordering and virtual proliferation. Los Angeles, formerly a postmodernist city of separation and alienation, is transformed by magical realist poetics into a modernist celebration of plurality marked by ontological uncertainties. Works Cited Davis, Mike. City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. London: Verso, 1990. Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy Faris. Durham & London: Duke University Press, 1995 Yamashita, Karen Tei. Tropic of Orange. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 1997.
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.
Delbaere-Garant, Jeannie. "Variations on Magical Realism". Magical Realism Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkison Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham" Duke U.P., 1995. 249-263.
Roh, Franz. "Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 15-30.
...h has expressed a discomfort with labeling her work, “magical realism” explaining that “the events people pick out as magical don’t seem unreal to me” (91). She has also been quoted to have said that “there is no quantifiable reality” (91). For her personally, multiple realities exist, and they are not limited by any cultural beliefs or practices. In these stories, Erdrich helps readers suspend their realities long enough to see that other realities exist. By doing this, she is expanding readers’ general perceptions of the world. The dual weaving of magical and literal language helps create a cross-cultural exchange between the author and reader that is truly unique. Erdrich’s stories, while wildly entertaining, also can teach readers about respecting differences, tolerance, and acceptance of other cultures—all lessons that are extremely relevant in today’s world.
For these reasons, based on the examination of these two works, one cannot assume that Sublime literature and Magical Realist literature are the same, nor can one assume that they are genres of one another. They seem to have many characteristics in common, and therefore one would assume that they maintain a close relationship, although independently. By comparing and contrasting another genre of literature with Magical Realism, the defining boundaries that make up Magical Realism are narrowed.
It is a long and unusual journey. I still wonder what it really is. I read the selections of four wonderful authors and I am still a little confused about the real history and theory of magical realism. I do know that before a person gets into this idea of magical realism, he or she really has to have a big imagination and willingness to learn about it. I guess what I am trying to say is that magical realism depends on who a person is and what a person is willing to believe.
The sense of magical realism is a natural product of literature. Letting aside literature, in reviewing the circumstances of nature of the world, it can be observed that there are a lot of elements that are expressing magical things which are also real. For instance, a sudden change in the weather at a same place from autumn to spring describes a phenomenon, a thunderstone or a sudden earth quick that demolished many long lasting things. A former grows a seed and it gives birth to a plant which becomes a tall tree or it brings many beautiful flowers onto its boughs. The appearance of Sun and Moon in a planned intervals all these happenings have a logic behind it.
Faris Wendy B.. "Scheherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction" Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Wendy Faris and Zamora. Duke University Press, Durham and London,1995.163-190.
Leal, Luis. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature". Magical Realism Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkison Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham Duke U.P., 1995. 119-124.
Magical realism, by definition, is a literary style that addresses social concerns, but masks the...
Roh, Franz. "Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995: 15-30.
Simpkins mentioned that "real life" is the "Real magic" (152). He also said that realism is heightened by magic (148-152). However, Leal felt that Magical Realism focuses on the marvelous in the real (122). Amaryll Chanady feels that Magical Realism is focused more toward reality (131).
“I don’t want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!” (Williams, 2009, p. 738).
In order to see how Magical Realism is found in this treatment, one must first consider at least one of the identifying marks of Magical Realism. Among the characteristics that identify Magical Realism is the feeling of transcendence that the reader has while reading a Magical Realist text (Simpkins 150). During transcendence, a reader senses something that is beyond the real world. At the same time, however, the reader still feels as if he or she were rooted in the world (Sandner 52). After the reader undergoes transcendence, then he or she should have a different outlook on life.
"What came to dominate the story and to leave a lasting impression was the view of man as a mystery surrounded by realistic data. A poetic divination or denial of reality. Something that for lack of a better word could be called magical realism." -Uslar Pietri