Magic(al) Realism
•
•
•
•
•
Definition
Origin
Functions
Reading Agreement
Possibilty vs plausibility
Magic(al) Realism - Definition
• The introduction of magical devices or
magic in general within a believable
(realist) story, without any disruption of the
logic of the story.
Magic(al) Realism - Definition
• Magic has to be presented as a normal
aspect of this somewhat « normal »
universe, not a phenomenon but an integral
part of it.
Magic(al) Realism - Definition
• Characters of the story consider magic as
some usual possibility of their world. Its
occurrences might be rare or even almost
forgotten, but magic is nonetheless as
serious a topic in these fictions as chemistry
or quantum physics in our world.
Magic(al) Realism - Definition
• Characters of the story consider magic as
some usual possibility of their world. Its
occurrences might be rare or even almost
forgotten, but magic is nonetheless as
serious a topic in these fictions as chemistry
or quantum physics in our world.
Magical Realism vs Fantasy
• In fantastic literature, a new universe is
introduced to the reader, with its laws
(natural as well as artificial), its regularities,
its objects, its people, its forces, etc.
This world is completely different from
ours, or has enough differences so that we
(readers) need explanations to understand it
correctly.
Magic Realism vs Fantasy
• In magic realist literature, the world
depicted is ours, with one major new
component: magic is a possibility (and an
actuality) within it.
There shouldn’t be any need to explain what
is going on in this world, its laws, its
people, etc. We already know that since it is
a fictional reproduction of our world.
Examples of fantastic worlds
• Star Trek: Far future, new worlds, new
races, new laws that have to be explained.
– Spock (Vulcans)
– Data
– Numerous amazones wearing miniature latex
skirts capable of mind control, ...
Examples of fantastic worlds
• Myst
• Lord of the Rings
–
–
–
–
Different world
Different species (elves, etc.)
Different technologies.
Etc.
Examples of magical realism
• Short stories:
–
–
–
–
« The Nose », Gogol
« The Metamorphosis », Kafka
« The Enormous Radio », Cheever
Fictions, Borges
• Novels:
– One Hundred Years of Solitude, Marquez
– The Alchemist, Coehlo
Gogol’s “The Nose”
HOC=
NOS
COH=
SON
(dream)
John Cheever’s “The Enormous
Radio” 1957
Marquez’s
100 Hundred Years of Solitude
Magical Realism Imagery In
Everyday Objects….
100 Years of Solitude -the ice, the magnets--are described as magical, and
are endowed with inner lives. The ice mentioned in the justly famous first
sentence of the novel is later described as ". . . an enormous, transparent
block with infinite internal needles in which the light of the sunset was
broken up into colored stars" (18). And when José Aracadio becomes
overly enthusiastic about the magical capacity of Melquíades' magnets,
with which he hopes ". . . to extract gold from the bowels of the earth,"
Melquíades calms him down by assuring him that "Things have a life of
their own. . . . It's simply a matter of waking up their souls" (11).
Examples of magical realism
• Films:
– Like Water for Chocolate, Alfonso Arau (1992)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb2QJvmETL4
– Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson (1999)
– Being John Malkovich, Jonze (1999)
– Pleasantville (1998)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_RfD-xTnV8
Origin of magical realism
• 1925: Franz Roh, German Art critic. New
form of painting. New way to look at the
paintings, new techniques as well, not the
content of the painting per se.
• 1949: Alejo Carpentier, South American
author: term « marvelous reality » to
describe the type of fiction produced by
new authors (Borges (Ficciones, 19351944), especially).
Franz Radziwill "Strike," 1931
American Magical Realism
Michael Parkes
Origin of magical realism
• Proliferation of magic realist texts from the
40s onward
– Cortazar, Marquez, Fuentes, Llosa, Allende.
– Rushdie, Suskind, etc.
Function of magical realism
• Response to colonialism (post-colonialism)
In reaction to the dominant, European
culture, which imposed on South America
its laws, its rules, its ways and customs, its
logic and its discourses, South American
writers began subverting « scientific » and
« logical » literature by letting minor voices
compete with the major ones.
Function of magical realism
• Response to colonialism (post-colonialism)
These minor voices could be:
–
–
–
–
–
folklore
myths
Indian tales
urban legends
etc.
Function of magical realism
• South America has always been fractured
by wars, by conflicts, by changing frontiers,
by miscegenation, by political uncertainties,
…
Magical realism was a way to grasp more
adequately the complexity of South
American oppositions while using local
discourses.
Function of magical realism
• South America has always been fractured
by wars, by conflicts, by changing frontiers,
by miscegenation, by political uncertainties,
by a multitude of spiritual and religious
beliefs, …
Magical realism was a way to grasp more
adequately the complexity of South
American oppositions while using local
discourses.
Function of magical realism
• Giving a forum where their pagan gods,
cleansed by the European conquerors, can
« express themselves ».
• A way to show South America’s unicity, its
major differences with the « Mother
Country », i.e. Spain (or Portugal).
Function of magical realism
• Primarily, a way to displace the Power of
the voice (or of the discourse) away from
the primary authority.
• A way to become a voice of its own.
• Normally done in conjunction with political
and economical nationalism.
Reading Agreement
• For magical realism to function, there needs
to be some implicit agreement, between the
author and the reader, stating that the reader
has to accept some incongruities (realitywise).
• Reading Agreement: Status of the text, how
it is supposed to be read.
Reading Agreement
• Examples:
– In Maus, you have to accept the use of animals
to represent humans. It will determine the way
you will be looking at the text. If you don’t
« sign » the agreement, there will be a space of
friction between the fiction and yourself as
reader.
– In Magnolia, a new element arises and you
have to incorporate it. How do you do so?
(Magnolia clip).
Possibility vs Plausibility
• Possibility:
– Everything that can happen according to the
laws of a universe of reference.
• Plausibility:
– within the bounds of credibility and of
probability.
Ex: Ex: students in class (Girlfriend, son,
daughter).
Possibility vs Plausibility
• Trust you put in the narrator (reasons for
lying, for playing games, etc.)
• Amount of knowledge you acquired about
the world of reference.
• Reading agreement.
Possibility vs Plausibility
• Examples:
–
–
–
–
Arlington Road
Alien
James Bond movies
« The Metamorphosis », by Kafka.
Workshop question
• Are the books read for the « Magic » section magical
realist works of fiction ? Would they rather be fantastic
or science-fiction novels? Use examples from the
books/films to support your argumentation.
–
–
–
–
How is magic (or supernatural) introduced in the novel?
Is there a gap between users and non-users of magic ?
How are users of magic considered by the non-users?
How does someone become a user of magic (genealogy,
genetics, random, part of a species, …)?
– What can you say about the possibility/plausibility status of
the novel?
– What kind of reading agreement has to be established
between the author and the reader?
The House of the Spirits
• Analyze text for possibility vs plausability
and magical realism elements,
• Be prepared to discuss and add’l work
and/or film that represents these concepts.