Magical Realism DUE WED. NOV. 28 @8:15 a.m.

[kda...@calvarydayschool.com]

**You do not need to respond to someone else's post for full credit this time.**

Search online for a definition of Magical Realism.  Post your definition and where you got it from (you may not to get the same definition as someone else!). Then, discuss what elements of Magical Realism you see in either “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or “The Falling Girl,” by Dino Buzzatti.

[rellenwood]

Magical-realism: Fiction that maintains a discourse appropriate to an objective and realistic narrative, while recounting fantastic or supernatural events alongside commonplace happenings. Magic realism provides much of the power in a number of South American writers, notably Gabriel Garcia Marquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude, 1967), but the technique has been used by Milan Kundera, Salman Rushdie, Robert Kroetsch, Jack Hodgins and Peter Carey, among others.(http://theliterarylink.com/definitions.html)

There are many elements of magical realism in "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." You see in the story the daily life of a real married couple, dealing with very real problems, including the infestation of crabs and  their babies sickness. Yet, the story mixes the real and the magical together when an angel-like man falls from the sky. We see that, when up close, he smells just like a man, looks just like a man, basically is a man, yet he has wings and can fly. While he may be a magical creature, he is definitely not treated like one. More like a circus animal to me. We also see the girl who has been turned into a spider because of sneaking out of the house. Yet, the author also makes her situation seem very real when the girl describes what happened and her feelings about the situation. These real and magical elements are brought together to invite the reader to try to make sense of the text in front of them. Marquez is clearly contrasting the supernatural with the natural day to day life. It is also very clear that the spider-girl and the old man-angel thingy are contrasts of each other. She is very simple to interpret, while the old man is difficult, if not impossible, to. Marquez is showing how people are quick to accept the simpleness of something supernatural in life, like the spider-girl, but turn down the complex, like the old man with wings. Marquez's ultimate message to his readers is that humans must learn to interpret things/events in life. Things in life may be more complex than you think, but people are too selfish to take the time to find them out. 

 

[mpaletta]

Magical realism is a "literary mode" that combines the real world with a magical world seamlessly. The real world often is an accurate representation of everyday life, and the magical world is added to it, but not questioned. It is represented as certainly as the real world. Magical realism uses elements such as hybridity and irony from the author's perspective to give a unique touch to the stories (http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/MagicalRealism.html). In "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," magical realism is used to combine the everyday life of a married couple with the discovery of an old, decrepit angel near their home. The real world is represented by Pelayo and his wife, their village lifestyle, and their plight with the illness of their child. The magical world is represented by the discovery of the angel. Marquez uses hybridity to show change the magical world brought them in terms of wealth. Pelayo's family goes from being poor and suffering to being extremely rich by taking advantage of the weakened angel. It is also very easy to accept the blending of the supernatural and the natural in the story because the author does not support or condemn one point of view or the other. In fact, he writes as if the magical world and the real world are not separate at all. The magical world is represented as something undeniably in the story. One can see that magical realism is the literary mode used in this story because it blends the natural and the supernatural, shows a piece of normal life combined with something technically absurd, shows change (in this case, from poor to rich), represents the magical as part of this world, and represents the magical world as something undeniable. 

[cpetrea]

Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction^[1] in which magical elements blend with the real world. 
i got this from wikipedia. A very old man with enormous wings embodies this by having the people have normal problems, like the baby sickness, but entails magi when the angel guy falls from the sky.  

[mwatford]

The term magic realism, originally applied in the 1920s to a school of painters, is used to describe the prose fiction of Jorge Luis Borges in Argentina, as well as the work of writers such as Gabriel García Márquez in Colombia, Gunter Grass in Germany, and John Fowles in England.  These writers interweave, in an ever-shifting pattern, a sharply etched realism in representing ordinary events and descriptive details together with fantastic and dreamlike elements, as well as with materials derived from myth and fairy tales.  Robert Scholes has popularized metafiction as an overall term for the large and growing class of novels which depart drastically from the traditional categories either of realism or romance, and also the term fabulation for the current mode of free-wheeling narrative invention.  These novels violate, in various ways, standard novelistic expectations by drastic -- and sometimes highly effective -- experiments with subject matter, form, style, temporal sequence, and fusions of the everyday, the fantastic, the mythical, and the nightmarish, in renderings that blur traditional distinctions between what is serious or trivial, horrible or ludicrous, tragic or comic. from http://www.themodernword.com/gabo/gabo_mr.html

 Some elements of Magical Realism in "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" are the old man who is just an old man, except that he has wings and he can fly. The family is just an ordinary family with the babies sickness and the crabs. This is mixed  realism and magical with the angel man and the family. Then there is the girl who is part spider, but is just treated as a freak. The old man and the girl are contrasts of each other with the girl easier to understand with the old man really hard to understand

[ashattuck]

Magic realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements are blended into a realistic atmosphere in order to access a deeper understanding of reality. ... Google Definitions 

I think magical realism is used best is the Falling Girl. The "magical elements" in the Falling Girl are the event of her falling and the way she changes. Obviously, the girl is not actually falling, at least not in the way that people fall in the real world. Buzzatti uses this act of falling to portray the ending to the reader before the character knows. The reader knows when the girl jumps off the roof that she must eventually hit the ground below. The girl does not seem to realize this though and is excited to take the leap. Buzzatti compares life to the fall from the tower. Many great things happen along the beginning of the fall, parties, friends and handsome men. The girl rushes past all these things without even stopping to experience them. She keeps trying to get further and further ahead and misses all that the fall had to offer. She looks back and sees more falling girls with clothes better than hers. She realizes that she is not as special as she thought she was and starts to regret jumping. By then it is too late. The writer uses magical realism to teach a lesson. Life is like a fall. There are so many things to experience and enjoy. Taking the time to stop is worth it, and dashing ahead only leads to a quicker end. It also briefly touches on the subject of jealousy. It warns readers to live life fully because soon you will be old and very close to the inevitable "thud."

[areid]

Magical Realism- a literary or artistic genre in which realistic narrative or meticulously realistic painting are combined with surreal elements of fantasy or dreams. The angel itself is a major element that fits this definition. Angels are not real but in the story he is very surreal. All of the "circus" characters are elements of this. They are all obviously not existent, but the author uses magical realism to portray them as real to the reader. The spider lady is also a good example because the author makes it seem like she is legitimate and real.

On Monday, November 26, 2012 2:37:09 PM UTC-5, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[phealy]

magic realism

a style of painting and literature in which fantastic or imaginary andoften unsettling images or events are depicted in a sharply detailed,realistic manner.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/magic+realism

On Monday, November 26, 2012 2:37:09 PM UTC-5, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[cburnsed]

magical realism is a literary genre or style associated especially with Latin America that incorporates fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction found from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/magic%20realism

In "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings", Pelayo and his wife are living a normal life which is the realism part of the magical realism. As for the magical part, the fact that the man has wings and is called an angel. 

[grogers]

In The Falling Girl, an old woman is described as a butterfly.  She maybe feels like a butterfly, but we find out that she is an awful looking woman.  She feels free like a butterfly but is not actually or butterfly....OR IS SHE!!!!

1.painting in a meticulously realistic style of imaginary or fantastic scenes or images

      2.a literary genre or style associated especially with Latin America that incorporates fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction —called also magical realism

 On Monday, November 26, 2012 2:37:09 PM UTC-5, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[dmagwood]

Magical realism is a genre of art, literature, and performance in which elements of the fantastic are presented within the context of very real scenes and events, typically without comment. This artistic genre emerged in Latin America, although examples of magical realism can be drawn from other regions of the world as well.( http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-magical-realism.htm)

Throughout "A Very Old Man with enormous Wings," many elements of magical realism was displayed. The most obvious, though, was the man with the enormous wings. Another elements was when the lady is turned into a spider for disobeying her parents. Yes, there are consequences for disobeying your parents, but getting turned into a spider? 

[bseckinger]

Magic Realism is a type of realism using contemporary subjects, often in cool detachment and sometimes injecting an eerie atmosphere.

"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is a great example for magical realism. Combining the calm life of Pelayo and Elisenda’s with the magical elements with the flying man and the spider lady. There is a type of combining between fantastic and ordinary in the way the story is described like the swarms of crab that invade Pelayo and Elisenda's home.

[mtarsitano]

Magical realism refers to the occurrence of supernatural, or anything that is contrary to our conventional view of reality [it is] not divorced from reality either, [and] the presence of the supernatural is often attributed to the primitive or 'magical' Indian mentality, which coexists with European rationality. Floyd Merrel explains that 'magical realism stems from the conflict between two pictures of the world'. Magical realism is thus based on reality, or a world with which the author is familiar, while expressing the myths and superstitions of the American Indians, [and it] allows us to see dimensions of reality of which we are not normally aware. (Amaryll Beatrice Chanady.  Magical Realism and the Fantastic Resolved versus Unresolved Antinomy. New York: Garland Publishing, 1985.  16-31).  (121)

In "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" the people have their regular lives interrupted by a man with wings. Through their beliefs they believe him to be a fallen angel and many people come far and wide to see him. In the myths of the people they believe the angel will heal all ills which he does not. Like with one man who was blind, instead of getting his sight, he grew three new teeth. It is the supernatural in the real world but eventually the "angel" will leave the normal world and reality will go back to normal.

[awardlaw]

Magical Realism--We recognize the world, although now--not only because we have emerged from a dream--we look on it with new eyes. We are offered a new style that is thoroughly of this world, that celebrates the mundane. This new world of objects is still alien to the current idea of Realism. It employs various techniques that endow all things with a deeper meaning and reveal mysteries that always threaten the secure tranquility of simple and ingenuous things. This [art offers a] calm admiration of the magic of being, of the discovery that things already have their own faces, [this] means that the ground in which the most diverse ideas in the world can take root has been reconquered--albeit in new ways. For the new art it is a question of representing before our eyes, in an intuitive way, the fact, the interior figure, of the exterior world.   In "The Falling Girl", we are unknown to what is really happening and "alien" to certain objects like falling from the sky but, never reading about the person hitting the ground or dying.  The story has a deeper meaning to it but can also have a technique that could reveal everything that needed to be seen to understand.  "The Falling Girl" seems to be a one those stories that has an meaning under the what is written down.  This is not simple but it is deep.  Maybe the ground has been "conquered" by the lights and fantasy or this unknown world or place that is just steps away.

On Monday, November 26, 2012 2:37:09 PM UTC-5, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[alambeth]

 a literary genre or style associated especially with Latin America that incorporates fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction 

"A very old man with enormous wings" 

a seemingly normal family, normal house, normal life in all aspects, except for the fact that an old man with enormous wings washed up on their back lawn. Finding a man washed up on the shore is not common but not unrealistic, but a man with enormous wings in something from a fantasy, along with the fact that they got rich from showing off a man with wings, who they believed to be an angel. then they meet a lady who was turned into a spider! if this could happen in real life no one would run away. other then these few major details the story seems real and a possible story until the making money and getting famous from an angel.

[bdavis]

magic realism, chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/356736/magic-realism

In "A Very Old Man With Wings" normal life is disturbed by what some of the people thought was a fallen angel. Despite his title given by the onlookers, he looked extremely human except his wings. From his smell to the parasites in his wings. He didn't look heavenly. This made him seem more realistic than the typical type of angel. This would be considered "magic realism" because he is a supernatural being, but he still relates to humans.

On Monday, November 26, 2012 2:37:09 PM UTC-5, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[amartinez]

Magical realism is, more than anything else, an attitude toward reality that can be expressed in popular or cultured forms, in elaborate or rustic styles in closed or open structures¼.In magical realism the writer confronts reality and tries to untangle it, to discover what is mysterious in things, in life, in human acts. The principle thing is not the creation of imaginary beings or worlds but the discovery of the mysterious relationship between man and his circumstances. In magical realism key events have no logical or psychological explanation. The magical realist does not try to copy the surrounding reality or to wound it but to seize the mystery that breathes behind things. (Luis Leal, Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature.  Magical Realism. Ed. Zamora and Faris, p. 119-123). http://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/resourcebank/definitions/

The magical realism that I found in "The Falling Girl" by Dino Buzzatti was the whole falling sequence. As she falls people look out and see her. The rich people see her as a beauty and are offering things to her. She’s giving them something new to look at and to “admire”. The girl enjoys the attention she is getting; she loves it in fact. People are actually looking at her, noticing her, and thinking that she is pretty. As she starts to descend and so does the sun she comes upon a new group who are more older and not as lively as the first group. This group is different as instead of asking her to stay and admiring her, they instead ask her questions about who she is, why is she falling so fast, and where is she going. Soon girls who are more prettier than her start falling as well. They are dressed and look better than her and she starts to feel insecure. These new “pretty girls” as well fall faster to the ground and the self assurance the girl felt when she lept off started to disappear. The girl continues to fall at such a slow rate and soon she reaches the bottom where a new group of people are. These people are much older and soon we find out that the girl is now older as well. It seems to me like the descent is almost a life-line. These girls who are trying to grow up too quickly, who dress up in rich clothing and such. It also seems like it’s talking about how humans perceive each other. The top level all they think about is beauty and just because the girl is something new a new entertainment they want her. The next group they want to know the girl and ask her questions to find why she is where she is and how did she get there. The final group they don’t care at all seeing her is nothing new as they have seen girls like her before, those who are now old and crippled.

On Monday, November 26, 2012 2:37:09 PM UTC-5, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[kduong]

Magical Realism - A chiefly literary style or genre originating in Latin America that combines fantastic or dreamlike elements with realism. - thefreedictionary.com

There were many elements of magical realism evident in "The Falling Girl" by Gabriel Garcia. The whole part where she is "falling" and the people look out the window and converse with her is a good example. The people who are having a party, their natural reaction is to look outside and see what's happening, but Garcia adds a touch of magical realism by portraying them talking to the girl that is "falling" down. Another example would be how the girl said that the fall from the top to the bottom of the skyscraper is very long. In the last paragraph though it depicts an old lady falling from above, which exaggerates the falling rate, making it seem like years before she finally gets to the ground.

On Monday, November 26, 2012 2:37:09 PM UTC-5, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[ataylor]

Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction^[1] in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of thought. Although it is most commonly used as a literary genre, magic realism also applies to film and the visual arts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism)

In "The Falling Girl" there are a few different examples of Magical Realism that stand out. One aspect of the story that shows the idea of this is when they say that there is something, a girl, falling from the sky. The story goes on to the point of view of the girl falling and it says that as she falls farther and farther she starts to notice other girls falling faster than she is. It then changes to the voice of an older couple and they say how that the farther they fall, the older they are. In the end of the story it doesn't tell about her hitting the ground, but it hints towards it when it says that she saw the doors closing. I think that is shows magical realism through the way that it changes throughout the story in a way that most wouldn't think of, but also in the way that it ties the story into the way that it may be portraying the everyday life of a person. Saying that the older one gets, the farther they fall, and the more they doors are closing. 

[tkilgore]

On Monday, November 26, 2012 2:37:09 PM UTC-5, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

**You do not need to respond to someone else's post for full credit this time.**

A literary mode rather than a distinguishable genre,
magical realism aims to seize the paradox of the union of opposites.  For
instance, it challenges polar opposites like life and death and the pre-colonial
past versus the post-industrial present.  Magical realism is characterized by
two conflicting perspectives, one based on a rational view of reality and the
other on the acceptance of the supernatural as prosaic reality.  Magical realism
differs from pure fantasy primarily because it is set in a normal, modern world
with authentic descriptions of humans and society.  According to Angel Flores,
magical realism involves the fusion of the real and the fantastic, or as he
claims, "an amalgamation of realism and fantasy".  The presence of the
supernatural in magical realism is often connected to the primeval or "magical’
Indian mentality, which exists in conjunction with European rationality. 
According to Ray Verzasconi, as well as other critics, magical realism is "an
expression of the New World reality which at once combines the rational elements
of the European super-civilization, and the irrational elements of a primitive
America."  Gonzalez Echchevarria believes that magical realism offers a world
view that is not based on natural or physical laws nor objective reality. 
However, the fictional world is not separated from reality either. http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/MagicalRealism.html

The angle is the main use of magical realism in the  “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." This is because the angle is not a literal character that is there in the story but rather an idea or imagination of the writer so he can get his point ot their without using literal people and characters. He does this because asides from the fact of having a giant spider lady and an angle this is a very real story so using maggical realsism he was able to throw very far fetched characters which would not usually be used in a fictional type kind of story, and take it to another level and enhance the story with whatever wild character he is able to think of or use. Magical realism allows writer to throw an idea out there and use whatever and whoever is necessary to prove the point wether or not they are real, made up, dead, etc.

[phealy]

[eknoche]

[jchilders]

magic realism, chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. (britannica)

In "A Very Old Man with Enormous wings", there are many aspects of magical realism. For example, the old man seems normal and human, except for the wings. He drops in on a normal family. He isn't really treated like he's a magical foreign creature, though. He is treated like a freak and is not accepted, same for the half spider girl. 

[amayes]

Magical-realism: Fiction that maintains a discourse appropriate to an objective and realistic narrative, while recounting fantastic or supernatural events alongside commonplace happenings. Magic realism provides much of the power in a number of South American writers, notably Gabriel Garcia Marquez (One Hundred Years of Solitude, 1967), but the technique has been used by Milan Kundera, Salman Rushdie, Robert Kroetsch, Jack Hodgins and Peter Carey, among others.

In "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" the people are intrigued by a man that they believe is an angel. Also, a girl is part spider. This is pretty freaky, but it is also magical. It is abnormal and can bring questions to if what they are seeing is reality or not.

[phealy]

"The Falling Girl" included many imaginary images. Buzzatti wrote this in a way that the images were clearly visible to the mind. One scene, in particular was of these women falling. It seems like this story was centered somewhat around social class. The rich had their apartments nearer the skyscaper, while the less wealthy had theirs nearer the ground. The rich had the advantage of seeing the women as young and beautiful, while the less wealthy saw the women at an older stage, and, as the wife observed, had the advantage of hearing the thud when they hit the ground. It is unknown, however, if Martha hit the ground or not. Overall though, this story included many dramatic scenes, as with magical realism, which I can not picture happening in real life.

[cdraucker]

Magical realism is, more than anything else, an attitude toward reality that can be expressed in popular or cultured forms, in elaborate or rustic styles in closed or open structures.  In magical realism the writer confronts reality and tries to untangle it, to discover what is mysterious in things, in life, in human acts.  The principle thing is not the creation of imaginary beings or worlds but the discovery of the mysterious relationship between man and his circumstances.  In magical realism, key events have no logical or psychological explanation.  The magical realist does not try to copy the surrounding reality or to wound it but to seize the mystery that breathes behind things.

"A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" does a superb job in defining the term "magical-realism."  Gabriel Marcia Marquez does an excellent job with mixing together what is real and what is fantasy.  Pelayo and Elisenda both deal with hardships.  Their newborn child is sick with a fever.  They are plagued with a crab infestation.  These are all real problems that they are faced with.  Marquez throws a curve ball so to speak by adding the man with wings into the story.  He looks, walks, and talks like a normal human being, but he is far from it.  Pelayo thinks he is ship wrecked, while the neighbor woman thinks he is an angel.  It mixes magic with reality.  Marquez untangle the man's humanity by giving him wings and the ability to fly.

[blang]

Magical Realism is a literary mode it also brings polar opposites together. It will even pit the opposites against one another. Magical realism is not just fantasy, it is set in a more modern time. It can be the combination of something completely real with something of a fantasy. 

[melton]

The term magic realism describes contemporary fiction, usually associated with Latin America, whose narrative blends magical or fantastical elements with reality. (http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/glossary/g/magicalrealism.htm).

I think that "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" is the story that best exemplifies magical realism. There are a couple of examples from the story that are tied in to make the story fall under the category of magical fiction. The first example is the very old man that falls out of the sky. He has wings and is supposedly an angel. The second example is the woman who is transformed into a tarantula after disobeying her parents. The fantastic creatures, the old man and the spider woman, are put into a realistic fiction setting, which ultimately makes the story fall under the genre of magical fiction.  

[msalter]

"Magical realism" has become a debased term. When it first came into use to describe the work of certain Latin American writers, and then a small number of writers from many places in the world, it had a specific meaning that made it useful for critics. If someone made a list of recent magical realist works, there were certain characteristics that works on the list would share. The term also pointed to a particular array of techniques that writers could put to specialized use. Now the words have been applied so haphazardly that to call a work "magical realism" doesn't convey a very clear sense of what the work will be like.

Magical realism is used a lot in "a very old man with enormous wings" like it is realistic about the married couple that have problems and the baby being sick. But when the guy falls down who looks like a man and smells like a man but has wings and the girl turning into a spider for sneaking out are the magical parts of the story. The man is treated like a freak by everyone even though he looks like a man but can fly. Marquez does a great job of combining the supernatural and regular things in life in a story.

[hmcmahon]

The term magic realism describes contemporary fiction, usually associated with Latin America, whose narrative blends magical or fantastical elements with reality. http://fictionwriting.about.com

In Falling Girl, Marta is excited to begin her fall. In the beginning of her fall she sees carefree, happy people enjoying life and telling Marta to slow down and join in on the fun. As she continues her fall  she sees people looking weary at work. Marta's main goal is to go to the ball. As she looks around she sees girls prettier and better dressed than she. She is jealous and concerned she is not the prettiest. A man and his wife at the low floor see Marta come by. The woman says there is an advantage of being on the low floors, you hear the thud when they land on the ground. 

I think the fall represents growing up and finding what truly matters in life. During the fall Marta seems to be in a hurry. She doesn't stop to enjoy the parties and see people. She seems to miss out on the fun when she's young and beautiful. Marta concerns herself with the senselessness of being the prettiest. It seems to be a major concern of hers. I think he thud they hear when they touch the ground represents the realization of what matters in life. The thud means they have left their flight and are ready to join in on the real world. Marta is described as being an old woman so maybe she got stuck in her youth because she was trying to get through it so fast when she actually was young and could have enjoyed it. Instead of enjoying her youth she concerned herself with petty things. 

[sdavis]

Magical realism is a style of writing that mixes realistic events with fantasy.

Pelayo and his wife are living realistically and then all of a sudden this "angel" falls from the sky and lands in their backyard. They did not know what to do with him they had never seen anything like the "angel" before they had seen the legit spider-woman who lived around the town.

On Monday, November 26, 2012 2:37:09 PM UTC-5, kda...@calvarydayschool.com wrote:

[mstrickland]

Magical Realism is a literary movement which is chiefly found in Latin America during the 1960's onward to the present. It is characterized with the use of paranormal activity that the majority of the population believes in or is at least curious about. 

The Falling Girl demonstrates magical realism by blending common aspects of city social culture with warped, "magical" perspectives on falling. Marta views her fall as a chance to be seen as a novelty, something fascinating and beautiful. The almost poetic descriptions give the sense that Marta is gently floating through the air to the earth below. The full reality of gravity doesn't seem to exist. When the sun goes down and Marta is exposed to the working class, her fall no longer seems as glamours or amusing. She sees other girls and her fall turns into a competition. I'm assuming there is some deeper meaning to this that I'm not understanding, because who the heck writes about a group of girls making suicide jumps a competition? Anyway, at the end we are exposed to the reality of the situation, that Marta will in fact "thud" on the ground, but we are also told that Marta is now an old woman. In the course of one day and while she was falling, Marta went from a young girl to an elderly woman. Maybe this story is using magical realism to help us understand the stark realities of growing up and the truths we learn while we are "falling." 

[jmock]

magical realism: A literary mode rather than a distinguishable genre, magical realism aims to seize the paradox of the union of opposites.  For instance, it challenges polar opposites like life and death and the pre-colonial past versus the post-industrial present.  Magical realism is characterized by two conflicting perspectives, one based on a rational view of reality and the other on the acceptance of the supernatural as prosaic reality.  Magical realism differs from pure fantasy primarily because it is set in a normal, modern world with authentic descriptions of humans and society.  According to Angel Flores, magical realism involves the fusion of the real and the fantastic, or as he claims, "an amalgamation of realism and fantasy".  The presence of the supernatural in magical realism is often connected to the primeval or "magical’ Indian mentality, which exists in conjunction with European rationality.  According to Ray Verzasconi, as well as other critics, magical realism is "an expression of the New World reality which at once combines the rational elements of the European super-civilization, and the irrational elements of a primitive America."  Gonzalez Echchevarria believes that magical realism offers a world view that is not based on natural or physical laws nor objective reality.  However, the fictional world is not separated from reality either. http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/MagicalRealism.html 

           In "Old Man With Enormous Wings" there are many elements of magical realism. The family is your typical, normal, human family. they are going through some tough times like their baby being sick and the stench of the crabs because of the rain. but there are magical or supernatural elements mixed in with the normal. An angel falls from heaven onto earth and gets involved in a normal family's life. Now, the family has some changes in their life. People start wanting to see the angel and they do not know what to do with it. This brings some unusual events into the family's life. Eventually, they supernatural and not normal angel is around for so long, that the people is it as a normal thing. It is not "magical" anymore, it is just a part of all their lives. When the angel flies away, the wife sees it as a huge relief because she viewed it as annoying instead of fascinating anymore. 

[kgrant]

Magic Realism developed as an art movement in the years after World War I . For many decades thereafter numerous artists throughout Europe and subsequently in the Americas crafted a representational art, mixed with elements of fantasy. This art was often typified by remarkable detail and sharp focus. Yet more importantly Magic Realism taps into emotional reservoirs within all of us. It tricks us by hiding unexpected or suggestive content in what at first might seem to be a common or ordinary scene.

In A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings",  magical realism in shown through the old man with the wings. The world is normal and has normal people, except for the man. The old man appears to be supernatural because of his wings and his weird language. He does not have the appetite that human beings have. Nor does he need to live like them. Towards the end of the story, it says that he flew off with the strong wind using his wings until he was seen no more. That, I must say is not something you see everyday.

[zduke]

Magical Realism- is literature that explores the encounter of different cultures, world views, and perceptions of reality.  What is absolutely ordinary and "real" to one culture, is "magical" to the other culture.  From a "Western" viewpoint, the other culture's reality is often described as superstition, witchcraft or nonsense; from another culture's viewpoint (Native American, African American, Eastern, African, etc.) western logic and science are viewed as "magic" or disconnected from the spiritual world.

I think there are many examples of magical realism in "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings." There are many different views in this story, all of which come fro different cultures or world views. The story starts off about an ordinary family with problems. Their house is full of crabs and their child is sick because of it. Then an angel-like man falls from the sky. He is not seen as an angel, but more as a poor old man who is about to die. He stinks, doesn't eat, and rarely moves or talks. Many people see him as a "magical" creature and pay to see him. He is treated poorly and has rocks thrown at him so they can see him "perform." He is treated more like a zoo animal. At the end of the story he grows his new wings and tries to fly. He is heard on the shed making noise and the wife of the family feels a wind come through the house. She looks out the window and sees him flying. She is said to have thought he was no longer an annoyance in her life, but now an imaginary dot on the horizon. I feel like he is now looked as a "real" person, although it is only by one person it still shows an example of magical realism.

[emaier]

Magical realism is a term used in literature to describe a literary mode, rather than a specific genre. Magical realism is distinguished by a paradox of a union of opposites and conflicting perspectives. http://www.questia.com/library/literature/literary-styles-and-movements/magical-realism

In Dion Buzzati's short story, "The Falling Girl", I found an example of magical realism. When Marta fell off of the balcony, she was a young girl with much time ahead of her. She was very anxious to get to the bottom of the skyscraper, because she thought there would be something extraordinary there. Everyone she passed asked her why she was in such a rush, but she never had a reasonable answer. She tried so hard to be the first one to the bottom but by the time she got there, she was old and had waisted her life trying to be first. Marta went from being an adventurous, ambitious, young girl to an old lady who had waisted her life trying to be the first one to the bottom of the skyscraper.

[gkreivyte]

Magical realism is not speculative and does not conduct thought experiments. Instead, it tells its stories from the perspective of people who live in our world and experience a different reality from the one we call objective. If there is a ghost in a story of magical realism, the ghost is not a fantasy element but a manifestation of the reality of people who believe in and have "real" experiences of ghosts. Magical realist fiction depicts the real world of people whose reality is different from ours. It's not a thought experiment. It's not speculation. Magical realism endeavors to show us the world When starting to read of the story " A Very Old Man with Enormous Wing" the reader might not have suspected something strange and out of the ordinary to happen. The  family is worried for their baby and for the plague. Everyday people face problems, so this is a real aspect of life. Magic is mixed in when the mall falls from the sky. Although he looks very normal, we find out that he has wings and and has the ability to fly. The family also uses the angel to become rich, which today in society is seem a lot (people taking advantage of other people).

[bstokes]

Magical Realism: is a genre of fiction literature that invokes a wide array of opinions from different readers. 

The story "the falling girl" is true to this definition. While one may think he girl is committing suicide another would think that the falling was a symbol for a persons life, which the girl was rushing through. It is obviously fiction because people don't just jump off roofs in nice dresses all the time.

 

 

[anease]

Magical Realism is, "A literary genre in which magical features and storylines appear and are accepted as everyday reality."http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/magical%20realism.html.

In the story, "The Falling Girl", "Marta was nineteen. She looked out over the roof of the skyscraper, and seeing the city below shining in the dusk, she was overcome with dizziness." This event is common enough and could actually happen in one's existence but what's unusual and is the magical realism part is that the character is all alone on the top of a skyscraper in a twilight.  

 

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[cbrown]

Magical Realism:

A literary mode rather than a distinguishable genre, magical realism aims to seize the paradox of the union of opposites.  For instance, it challenges polar opposites like life and death and the pre-colonial past versus the post-industrial present.  Magical realism is characterized by two conflicting perspectives, one based on a rational view of reality and the other on the acceptance of the supernatural as prosaic reality.  Magical realism differs from pure fantasy primarily because it is set in a normal, modern world with authentic descriptions of humans and society.  According to Angel Flores, magical realism involves the fusion of the real and the fantastic, or as he claims, "an amalgamation of realism and fantasy".  The presence of the supernatural in magical realism is often connected to the primeval or "magical’ Indian mentality, which exists in conjunction with European rationality.  According to Ray Verzasconi, as well as other critics, magical realism is "an expression of the New World reality which at once combines the rational elements of the European super-civilization, and the irrational elements of a primitive America."  Gonzalez Echchevarria believes that magical realism offers a world view that is not based on natural or physical laws nor objective reality.  However, the fictional world is not separated from reality either. (http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/MagicalRealism.html). In "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings", The magical world is represented by the discovery of an angel. The real world is represented by Pelayo and his, and what they go through in life. It is basically their regular interactions with the world. The way it seems in the story is that there are two worlds put together, like a real and a magical world. The story contains magical beings within a real world. One could say that Magical Realism is exactly what it says magical things or people within a real world or doing real world-like things!

[dsharpe]

Magical Realism is literature that explores the encounter of different cultures, world views, and perceptions of reality.

In the old man with enormous wings, everyone believed he had angel wings. This has a lot to do with magical realism because he could potentially have  been normal or magical.