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

Examples of magical realism

• Films:– Like Water for Chocolate, Alfonso Arau (1992)– Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson (1999)– Being John Malkovich, Jonze (1999)– Pleasantville ?

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, 1935-1944), especially).

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, 1935-1944), especially).

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 (reality-wise).

• 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 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.