One Hundred Years of Solitude - Magic Realism

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Magic Realism

One Hundred Years of Solitude Magic realism is a literary form in which odd, eerie, and dreamlike tales are related as if the events were commonplace. Magic realism is the opposite of the "once-upon-a-time" style of story telling in which the author emphasizes the fantastic quality of imaginary events. In the world of magic realism, the narrator speaks of the surreal so naturally it becomes real.

Magic realism can be traced back to Jorge Luis Borges, who wrote during the 1920s,according to noted critic Franco (309). In fact, Jean Franco notes that "the techniques utilized by García Márquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude are frequently compared to those of Jorge Luis Borges" Franco (309). However, it was not until the 1940s that Latin American writers began to experiment widely with new techniques and introduced stream of consciousness narration, unusual time sequences and other devices into the novel.

In the 1940s, a group of Latin American writers published works which incorporated new techniques. ...