Magical Realism: Theory and History

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. I thought that Franz Roh's selection was brief on magical realism. I see where Roh compared Magical Realism to Expressionism. He came up with different theories about how to look at certain things in the world. This essay was definitely deep and way out there.

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.... ... middle of paper ... ...etropolitan Paradigms.” Ed.

Therefore, Sarah Orne Jewett's "The Foreigner," Kate Chopin's "An Egyptian Cigarette" and Willa Cather's "The Enchanted Bluff" are all stories that can and should be discussed in the context of Magic Realism-- do they or do they not fit within this style of re-writing reality? Each of these writers depicts "magic" differently. Their degree of acceptance for these unorthodox events in realistic fiction reflects their willingness to "bend the rules" of traditional fiction. Sarah Orne Jewett's "The Foreigner" is a story which features some very interesting magic elements that place her firmly "outside" of straightforward fiction with this story. Her characters, Mrs. Todd and Mrs. Tolland, are incredible images of witchiness in the midst of Protestant propriety, and in this short story ... ... middle of paper ... ... her story describes a supernatural place, cannot be defined as "Magic Realist."

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.

The writer should strongly respect the magic or else the magic would go into folk belief or complete fantasy and split from the term of magic that relates it to Angel Flores (111). Authorial reticence another feature of magical realism, refers to the lack of clear opinions of the accuracy of events of the worldviews expressed by the characters in the stories. This technique promotes acceptance in magical realism. The simple fact of explaining the supernatural worldview can be part of reality (Wendy Faris, 165). Magical Realism can be art, poetry, and literature.

Magic realism as an efficient tool to resolve the problems of post colonialism: A study of the select novel Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie Abhibunnisha Begum, Assistant Professor, Department of English & Humanities, Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technology and Sciences, Sangivalasa, Bheemili Mandal, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA. “Magical realism combines realism and the fantastic in such a way that the magical elements grow organically out of the reality portrayed”. (Faris. 169) The form of magic realism offers an ingenious and effective means of screening the “real” living experiences. Literary works are drawn ahead the conventions of both realism and fantasy or myth.

This interplay and interrelationship between the “self” and the otherness must be considered as the symbiotic and necessary themes within fantasy literature. The questioning of the “self” and the otherness within Simmons’ novel Song of Kali aids in defining the reality that has been set out for the beginning and thus in the fanciful world it does so by clinging to a general lack of social conventions or taboos. Nor does it accept or reject the impending process that is modernity, instead it leaves room for the magical and the mysterious to inhabit. Thereby allowing the accepted “self” to be questioned deconstructed and rebuilt in a new fashion by the “other.”

This short story was included in the 1984 book Magical Realist Fiction: An Anthology. By identifying the characteristics that seem inconsistent with the characteristics most critics ascribe to Magical Realist literature, a more concise understanding of Magical Realism can be obtained. "The text [magical realist text] contains an 'irreducible element' of magic, something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as we know them" (Faris 167). In addition to these "magical" elements, Magical Realist fiction, by name, includes "realistic" elements that serve to counterbalance the "magical" elements. The plots are logically conceived (Leal 120).

Although Magical Realism is now well-known as a genre of literature, Magical Realism extends into "real life" through a treatment in psychology known as Traumatic Incident Reduction. 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).

There is magical realism in everything we do. Literature and art are two main topics magical realism occurs in often. If studied thoroughly, we realize that there is magical realism in our lives everyday. Many articles have the main definition of magical realism stated in them. These articles are by Franz Roh, Angel Flores, Luis Leal, Amaryll Chanady, and Scott Simpkins.