Magic Realism: A Problem "Magic Realism" is a term used by critics to describe a mingling of the mundane with the fantastic. This may seem a straightforward enough approach unless one happens to be a student of postcolonial studies - or at least, a student of postcolonialism should smell a rat. A brief history of the term is required for us to see why the term should be deemed problematical. In 1925 Franz Roh, a German art critic, used the term to describe a new post-expressionistic form that was emerging. Essentially the art described as "magic realism" was realist but was simultaneously possessed of a strange or dreamlike quality. If one were to seek a literary analog - although it is probably better if one did not - the paintings were a non-verbal equivalent of defamiliarization. Essentially, the magic was derived from the painting technique employed by the associated artists rather than the actual content (ultimately it came to be viewed as a kind of down-market surrealism). Later, in 1955, Angel Flores applied the term (with some modification - he referred to it as "magical realism") to Spanish-American writing. Flores put forward Borges as the master of this form and suggested Kafka as a Eurpoean equivalent. In this caase magic realism was distinguished by the fact that its practitioners treated the fantastic as normal, without any sense of surprise or amazement. In summary one could say - somewhat tritely - that Flores' version of magic realism was Dickens with weirdness: 19th century realism dotted with fantastical moments beyond spontaneous human combustion. Gradually Flores' definition was expanded, yet simultaneously narrowed to include folkloric elements. However, this is an over-simplification of the case - these elements came to be regarded as essential. With folklore being considered an integral part of the genre, Borges could no longer be considered a magic realist (instead he could only be considered as part of fantastic literature - although he is now regarded as an essential if early cog in postmodernism's wheel). Perhaps the novel most commonly described as magic realist is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Yet, if one takes the definition as being strictly one which must include folklore, this novel too is shifted into the realms of fantastic literature. Instead, a critic adhering to the term in this way would say that a Garcia Marquez novel such as Chronicle of a Death Foretold, or Love in the Time of Cholera, is a magic realist novel.
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.
Leal, Luis. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature." Magical Realism. Theory, History, Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. Durham, N.C.: Duke UP, 1995. 119-123.
I will also be showing how fairytales can sometimes have extended meanings and how they can teach quit a lot. I will have also shown how Fairytales can serve cultural functions to explain a society to itself, revealing its own mechanisms and taboos in highly symbolic language, images.
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:
Trites, Roberta. "Disney's Sub / Version of Andersen's The Little Mermaid." Journal of Popular Film and Television 18.4 (1991): 145-52. Print.
According to Abraham Maslow, individuals are motivated to fulfill specific needs (Winston, 2016). To outline these needs he created a hierarchy of needs that proceeds upward in order of what human beings require to live a full life (Winston, 2016). The first of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs being physiological needs, or the most basic, including bodily functions such as eating, drinking and reproducing (Harrigan & Commons, 2015).
Angel Flores wrote about magical realism in a way that was hard for me to understand.
Guenther, Irene. "Magical Realism in SpanishAmerican Literature" Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Wendy Faris and Zamora. Duke University Press, Durham and London,1995.33-73.
Magical realism, by definition, is a literary style that addresses social concerns, but masks the...
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs arranges basic human needs in the order in which people strive to fulfill them. Physiological needs, basic human needs, are the first necessity on Maslow’s hierarchy that people attempt to fulfill. Thankfully, I am able to say that all my physiological needs are met, for I am blessed with an abundant supply of food, water, shelter, and clothing. I cannot imagine what it must be like for people to live without having their physiological needs met, but I do understand that it has to be extremely difficult for people to focus on any other needs when they are living without the essentials of survival.
Interestingly, the term "Magical Realism" was first used in 1925 by a German art critic, Franz Roh. In his essay, "Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism," Roh used the term "Magical Realism" to actually characterize a style of painting instead of a style of literature (15). However, there are still at least two different viewpoints as to where and when Magical Realism truly had its start. In Angel Flores' essay, "Magical Realism in Spanish America," he claims that Magical Realism had its basis in the works of Franz Kafka. Furthermore, Flores thinks that the year 1935 was the year that Magical Realism had its beginning in Latin America because this was the year that Jorge Luis Borges' work, A Universal History of Infamy, appeared in Buenos Aires. After the appearance of Borges' works, several other writers began to follow his style, giving Magical Realism its rise in popularity in the years of 1940 to 1950 (Flores 113).
Magical realism was first coined by Franz Roh when he was writing about paintings. Artaro Ulsar Pietri was the first to use the term when talking about literature. Magical realism is also related to other academic fields such as philosophy, psychology, mathmatics, physics, and theology. Im magical realism, "the writer confronts reality and tries to untangle it, to discover what is mysterious in things, in life, in human acts" (Leal 121). Viktor E. Frankl uses this concept in his book Man's Search For Meaning.
While there may be some debate as to whether the Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges was technically a Magical Realist, some may feel that his works definitely do have some of the characteristics of what is considered Magical Realistic literature. Among his various types of works are poetry, essays, fantasies, and short fictions. Often referred to in essays that discuss the history and theory of Magical Realism, "The Garden of Forking Paths" is probably Borges' most popular short story. Published in 1964 in a collection of Borges works entitled Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings, his short story "The Garden of Forking Paths" appears to have several of the elements of Magical Realism.
..., Maria. “An Introduction to Fairy Tales.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Ed. Laurence Behrens, Leonard J. Rosen. Toronto: Longman, 2013. 230-235. Print.
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.