Painting and Writing with Magical Realism
The term Magical Realism describes an artistic style of painting and writing. In these paintings and novels the composer "interweaves, in an ever-shifting pattern, a sharply etched Realism in representing ordinary events and descriptive details together with fantastic and dreamlike elements" (Abrams). Some of the Magical Realism writers are said to be Gabriel Garcia Marques in Columbia, Gunter Grass in Germany, and John Fowls in England. Understanding the history and theory of Magical Realism will help clarify the meaning of the term.
No one can really say who coined the phrase 'Magical Realism,' but some say that "in 1925 to champion a new direction in painting, Franz Roh originated the term Magical Realism to characterize this painting's return to Realism after Expressionism's more abstract style" (Zamora and Faris 15). This art style was also first used after World War I. Franz Roh at first called this new style of painting Post-Expressionism, but changed it later to Magical Realism because he knew that the work "had to have a name that meant something, and the word 'Post-Expressionism' only indicated ancestry and chronological relationship" (Roh). Roh says that he uses the word 'magic' instead of 'mystic' because "the mystery does not descend to the represented world, but rather hides and palpates behind it." At the same time that Roh came up with the term Magical Realism, a museum director named Gustav Hartlaub called this new art style New Objectivity. The word New Objectivity over took Roh's title for the art style until 1960 when it was used to describe the art style of that time in art history. Angel Flores might argue that he coined the term 'Magical Realism' in 1935 after he read Jorge Luis Borges' book A Universal History of Infamy, but he was actually the first one to give the name to books not just paintings.
It is hard to decide at times what is Magical Realism and what is not, but there are many characteristics inside Magical Realism that helps us to decide what is. One of the characteristics is that "we recognize this world, although now- not only because we have emerged from a dream- we look on it with new eyes" (Roh). The artist achieves this characteristic by "the amalgamation of reality and fantasy" (Leal). However, in Magical Realism both the reader and characters of the novel must accept the unreal as real.
July 21, 1969. American astronaut Neil Armstrong, radios to earth: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” The control room in Houston, Texas bursts with cheering and applause. Kennedy’s Project Apollo put America in the lead in the Space Race. The Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States was a very big deal. The Apollo Program worked towards establishing the technology to meet other national interests in space, develop man’s capability to work in the lunar environment, and to promote nationalism and achieve preeminence in space for the United States.
The table can be filled with many different types of foods, and it differs from family to family. However, there are some foods that are seen at almost every Thanksgiving table. First off, the turkey, it is the most important part of the celebration for most families in the United States. There are multiple reasons to why the turkey has become such a big part of Thanksgiving. For example, a colonist named William Bradford wrote in his journals that colonists hunted wild turkeys during autumn of 1621, which is named as the first Thanksgiving. Another reason to why the turkey is an important part of the holiday is because the birds are big and can feed a lot of people compared to other birds such as chickens (Trex, 2008). Although the turkey is the most important food on the table for most families, it is common for most families to also serve some sort of sweet potatoes, for example, a sweet potato casserole with marshmallows. As Thanksgiving is a feast holiday a dessert is usually also served, one of the most common desserts on Thanksgiving is a pumpkin pie. The pumpkin has been around for hundreds of years, and always been a part of thanksgiving, however, it is more likely that the pumpkin was served after being baked or stewed rather than a pie on the first years when Thanksgiving were celebrated (Trex, 2008). As it is a feast holiday the table has many more types of foods, but it varies from family to family what is put onto the table, however, the turkey, sweet potatoes, and the pumpkin pie is almost always found at every Thanksgiving
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..
In the year 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee, Sam Phillips opened Sun Recording Company. Their slogan was “We Record Anything, Anywhere, Anytime." They were the first recording studio to record African American musicians. African American musicians played black jazz and blues that inspired Ike Turner to write and record “Rocket ’88.” (A&E Biography Channel UK “SAM PHILLIPS The man who Invented Rock & Roll”. 1 Feb. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2013)
Rock ‘n’ Roll Rock ‘n’ roll was a controversial yet fashionable genre of popular music that emerged in the early 1950s (America in the World, 1776 to the Present : A Supplement to the Dictionary of American History: Mâ€'Z, Index. 2016, p896-899.). Its origin is also started from the revolution of bourgeois. The younger generation had gone through the Second World War, though, the older generation had treated kids. Two generations that had each world war had divided. A lot of the pain and anger felt by the younger generation made them to resist against the social establishment. As a result, the war had created a gulf between generations but further reduced the gap between blacks and whites. The youth of the 1950s felt unconnected to their society and began looking at the world more globally, and also began looking for new role models who reflected their ideas and beliefs. They knew that ideas of old generation would no longer work in a modern society. Thus several young leaders stood out and took center stage that setting the pace for the direction of society and its music form that point on. At this time, technical innovations had emerged such as electric guitar and electric bass. This is the impetus of creation of music including rock ‘n’
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).
Realism started in France in the 1830s. It was very popular there for a long time. A man named Friedrich Schiller came up with the word “realism.” Realism is based on contemporary life. There is a very accurate and honest representation of characters in this style of art. Realism tries to combine romanticism and the enlightenment. Life isn’t just about mind and not just about feelings either, it’s about both feelings and reason together. As said in the na...
Romanticism was a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature. It was a general exaltation of emotion over reason order and instinct. It was full of high passion. Romanticism was “a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities”, (Pioch). The art expressed passions and inner struggles. The artists of this time were supremely individual creators. To them the creative spirit was the most important thing of their art. They didn’t follow the strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures. They thought of the “imagination as the gateway to the transcendent experience and spiritual truth”, (Pioch). They had obsessive interests in folk culture, the medieval era, national and ethnic culture origins. Realism was and still is an accurately reproduction of reality or heroism of modern life. Realism came as a response to Romanticism. Realism struggled against the ‘over popularity’ of Romanticism. It consisted of many pieces of still life and domestic art. Courbet, Millet, and Zola were some more of the major artists doing Realism art. They aren’t as well known as many other artists because every one was doing this kind of art and it was hard to tell the differences between the artists that painted Realism paintings. Realism “became just one more style among others”, (Brown). They anticipated many of the concerns of the eighteen hundreds or of the century before. “Realism is a recurrent theme in art which becomes a coherent movement”, (Cruttenden 50) but only after 1850.
Magical Realism evolved only in the last century. Franz Roh was the first to use the term to describe paintings and the new style that had come about after the expressionistic era (7, p.15), however it was Alejo Carpentier who used it to describe Latin America's fanatastical writing styles (3, p.373). He felt that magical realism expounded upon reality and "was able to elude realism's insufficiency, in its inablility to describe an ex-centric experience"(3, p.373). Latin America, though perhaps the first to name the new writing phenomena, was not the only country to use it. In the course of this paper I will compare and contrast several different novels from female authors who evoked magical realism into their writing styles. These authors come from Latin America, Africa, and the Caribbean, showing the wide range of history and environments. Feeling that the Caribbean alone may prove to narrow a topic for a style that has taken the world by storm, I felt it only fitting that other countries should be included the theme of women in the paper. Also, I selected Africa and parts of Latin America to compare to Caribbean writings because these two continents play a pivotal role in shaping what the Caribbean has become today.
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.
Magical Realism is the way in which a person views the world through a type of art. Magical realism deals with emotions, and it also discovers what is mysterious and meaningful in life. According to Franz Roh, in painting, is the way a person views the world through art (18, 20). Magical Realism has many characteristics that include many other ideas. Magical Realism can be observed in other subject areas, too, such as the logotherapy of Victor Frankl.
The history of Rave Music is quite interesting. It has been around for decades. Some enjoy it, some don’t. There is some conflict as to where Rave Music actually started. Some people, non-ravers most likely, ask what is Rave Music?
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” It was July 20 1969, the day that reshaped our nation and gave us unparalleled dreams for the future. The impact of the day goes far beyond our pride and nationalism; that day would change space exploration and technology forever. Just like a shooting star, that day would give us a glimpse of hope. A chance to see an event so breathtaking and defying, it would be man’s greatest accomplishment in the 20th century. As millions of people watched from their TV sets, a rush of euphoria came over the nation as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the surface of the moon. It was the first time in the history of mankind that we would step on the surface of another celestial body. John F. Kennedy dared us to dream, he inspired the nation to reach for the moon, to set ourselves apart from the rest of the world. The Space Race was symbolic of many things. Our future as the technically dominate nation was secured in place; just as secure as Old Glory would be, when she was driven down into the soil of the moon. We not only reached the moon, we conquered it as a nation; united.
At first, German art critic Franz Roh used the term "Magical Realism" to describe a style of painting (Roh 15). Eventually, Arturo Uslar Pietri adapted the term in order to describe a type of literature (Leal 120). While the exact definition of Magical Realism is open to interpretation, it is certain that Magical Realism gives a deeper meaning to ordinary life by unearthing mysteries that hide behind the world (Roh 16-17). In order to uncover these mysteries, Magical Realism combines fantasy with reality (Flores 110-111). 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.
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.