What next for a magic realism devotee?
Nicole Matthews
I know it's passe, but I just adore those magic realist books. The
hyperbole, the absurdities, the carnivalesque atmosphere, the sense of the
wacky contingency of history, the black humour (oh know, I feel some asinine
contradictory pairs of adjectives coming on!)... But there's only so far a
girl can go in this direction - I have started exploring literary surrealism
and portmanteau novels (a la Perec's "Life: A User's Manual"). Where to
now? Am I to be trapped in South America indefinitely?
BTW, if at all possible, I prefer my novels to be penned by a female hand...
I guess it must be a women's culture thing...
Nicole Matthews
Victoria Smallman
I don't think you have to restrict yourself to South America. There are
plenty of novelists in other locales that explore the same types of
themes and use similar techniques.
Have you read any Jeanette Winterson? I'd say there's definitely some
magic realist elements in her novels--esp. _Sexing the Cherry_ and _The
Passion_.
On the male side of things, maybe Flann O'Brien or Italo Calvino?
(BTW, I'd also like to hear more about female authors writing in this
vein, so if anyone has any suggestions, please post 'em.)
Vicky
--
____________
Victoria Smallman, Department of English, McMaster University
e-mail: g912...@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca
Deborah J. Amori
didn't list what you had already read.
-deborah taking the bait amori
Robert Cody Clark,282-3709,Unisys
>
> I know it's passe, but I just adore those magic realist books....
> I guess it must be a women's culture thing...
>
> Nicole Matthews
>
>
Hey, I really liked Alice Hoffman's stuff. Especially "Seventh Heaven" and
"Turtle Moon". Check it out if you like touches of magical realism.
Paul Aster's "In the Country of Last Things" was awesome IMHO but pretty dark.
Cody
university press of virginia
rather than South American. Booker Prize winner, I believe.
Amos Tutuola (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts; The Witch
Herbalist of the Remote Town) is another possibility.
Boyd Zenner
Charlottesville, VA
Heikki Raudaskoski
: BTW, if at all possible, I prefer my novels to be penned by a female hand...
: I guess it must be a women's culture thing...
Ever tried Angela Carter? "The Magic Toyshop", "Nights at the Circus"...
She was a living paradox: a British magic realist...
: Nicole Matthews
:
Heikki
Richard N Kitchen
Apologies. I missed the beginning of this thread. Have you tried "Like
Water For Chocolate"?
--
Rick Kitchen da...@cleveland.freenet.edu
You couldn't put off the inevitable. Because sooner or later, you
reached the place when the inevitable just went and waited.
--Terry Pratchett, "Small Gods"
Rita M. Rouvalis
Don't be so sexist. Try Mark Leyner.
--
Rita Rouvalis
ri...@cc.ysu.edu
"Every poem breaks a silence that had to be overcome" - Adrienne Rich
Francis Muir
I am going to suggest something quite different, Peter Ackroyd's THE GREAT
FIRE OF LONDON (The University of Chicago Press, Bless their little hearts).
Victoria Glendinning (and you all know who she is, right?) found this novel
grotesquely entertaining, and our own Joyce Carol Oates found the prose a
continuous pleasure (whatever that means). I say that Peter Ackroyd is the
most stylish novelist in England today, and a master of structure. Perhaps
more than any other writer he can dance around in time in a way that defies
all reason, and that is his magic.
Fido
I have always been myself even when I was ill.
Only now I seem to be myself.
That's the important thing.
I have remembered how I seem.
"George III" by Alan Bennett.
Annette Bergmann
by women, and Robert Clark recommended Alice Hoffman, especially
_Seventh Heaven_ and _Turtle Moon_. I want to plug yet another
Hoffman book, _Fortune's Daughter_.
(Btw, I'm just noticing that I don't know if there is something
more to "magic realist" than "weird stuff happens in an otherwise
non-weird setting" -- so is "Hamlet" magic realism? Are Iris
Murdoch's novels, e.g. _The Good Apprentice_ or _The Sea, the
Sea_, or _The Green Knight_?)
Anyway, I was excited to find _Fortune's Daughter_ at a bookstore
the other day -- it had been mentioned as one of the three best
novels on motherhood in a Wash Post review once (I can't find the
review, and I can't for the life of me remember the other two).
It is wonderful, very sad (not something you necessarily want to
read when you have a small baby): she writes wonderfully and
very movingly about terrible grief, and the magic elements fit
right in -- they seem almost necessary. Highly recommended.
Annette
Mark Taranto
I've always found magical realism to be very similar to the stories
that the nuns told us. Might I suggest 60 SAINTS FOR GIRLS?
Mark
Jeffrey A. Del Col
Despite the original poster's feminist prejudice, I recommend:
Costantini's THE GODS, THE LITTLE GUYS, AND THE POLICE.
The short stories of Robert Walser.
Felisberto Hernandez' PIANO STORIES.
Adan's THE CARDBOARD HOUSE.
J. Del Col
--
Jeff Del Col * "Sleeplessness is like metaphysics.
A-B College * Be there."
Philippi, WV *
* ----Charles Simic----
Nicole Matthews
groaning under the paperbacks.
Foolishly, I neglected to mention the women writers of magic realist(ish)
stuff I had already encountered when I originally posted. A couple of my
faves who haven't already been mentioned:
Luisa Valenzuela - her short stories are fantastic. She also has a novel
"The Lizard's Tale" published in English. The rap from Carlos Fuentes on
the back cover of my copy: "Luisa Valenzuela is the heiress of Latin
American fiction. She wears an opulent, baroque crown, but her feet are
naked".
Leonora Carrington. Not you average magic realist - she hails from England
originally, hung out with Max Ernst and the rest of the surrealist crowd in
France between the wars, but has spent quite a bit of her life in Mexico,
earning the right continental credentials. Her novel "The Hearing Trumpet"
is truly extraordinary - she's also got a couple of collections of short
stories about, not to mention her many paintings.
Toni Morrison's name has also been mentioned by someone e-mailing me
directly - in particular "The Song of Solomon". Thoughts on Morrison as a
magic realist, anyone?
Nicole
university press of virginia
Marguerite Young, whose massive _Miss MacIntosh, My Darling_
the Dalkey Archive has recently brought back into print in two
volumes;
The brilliant Jane Bowles--a much better writer than her
husband Paul.
Boyd Zenner
Ted B Samsel
>Nicole Matthews <humm...@kraken.itc.gu.edu.au> writes:
>
>> I know it's passe, but I just adore those magic realist books. The
>> hyperbole, the absurdities, the carnivalesque atmosphere, the sense of the
>> wacky contingency of history, the black humour (oh know, I feel some asinine
>> contradictory pairs of adjectives coming on!)... But there's only so far a
>> girl can go in this direction - I have started exploring literary surrealism
>> and portmanteau novels (a la Perec's "Life: A User's Manual"). Where to
>> now? Am I to be trapped in South America indefinitely?
>
>> BTW, if at all possible, I prefer my novels to be penned by a female hand...
>> I guess it must be a women's culture thing...
Why not hit THE GOLDEN BOUGH and other folklore sources. Write a book
about a "jilleroo" who herds bunyips (or somesuch).
--
Ted Samsel ....."driving a Hudson Hornet on the information
superhighway. Now all we need is a JC Whitney
catalog to order leopardskin terrycloth seat
covers."
Andrew Dinn
: Ever tried Angela Carter? "The Magic Toyshop", "Nights at the Circus"...
: She was a living paradox: a British magic realist...
Wherein lie the roots of this supposed paradox? Now if you had said
`English magic realist' you might have a case.
Andrew Dinn
-----------
there is no map / and a compass / wouldn't help at all
Rita M. Rouvalis
Ted B Samsel <bh...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> wrote:
>>Nicole Matthews <humm...@kraken.itc.gu.edu.au> writes:
>>
>>> I know it's passe, but I just adore those magic realist books. The
>>> hyperbole, the absurdities, the carnivalesque atmosphere, the sense of the
>>> wacky contingency of history, the black humour (oh know, I feel some asinine
>>> contradictory pairs of adjectives coming on!)... But there's only so far a
>>> girl can go in this direction - I have started exploring literary surrealism
>>> and portmanteau novels (a la Perec's "Life: A User's Manual"). Where to
>>> now? Am I to be trapped in South America indefinitely?
>>
>>> BTW, if at all possible, I prefer my novels to be penned by a female hand...
>>> I guess it must be a women's culture thing...
>
>Why not hit THE GOLDEN BOUGH and other folklore sources. Write a book
>about a "jilleroo" who herds bunyips (or somesuch).
I think the crucial difference between Magical Realism and
plain old Fantasy (and there must be a difference or else the term
"MR" would not have evolved) is the quality of the magic in the story.
It can't be any old magic, but rather an extension of the reality of
the culture within which the story is told. South American MR has lots
of miracles and blood, and this is plausible for that culture because
it is so catholic and because revolution and massacre is something
they know first hand. If the setting were in the U.S., it would be
pure fantasy.
The second thing I think MR does is play games with time
and the narrator, flipping back and forth in the narrative. Garcia
Marquez does this quite a bit, but anyone else I've looked at do it
to some degree (announce the outcome of something, then tell how
the story got there).
I haven't read any true American (U.S.) MR yet -- probably
just a gap in my education, but I think _Et Tu, Babe_ by Mark
Leyner comes *very* close, with the exception that it doesn't play
with time. The fantasy is wonderfully, twistedly believable.
MR has a lot more to it than three paragraphs, though.
Ann Griffith
>
>I know it's passe, but I just adore those magic realist books. The
>hyperbole, the absurdities, the carnivalesque atmosphere, the sense of
the
Try E.T.A. Hoffman, Edgar Allen Poe, Dylan Thomas, Herman
Hesse, Nickolai Gogol, Italo Calvino, Gunter Grass, John Updike
(The Centaur), John Barth, Kurt Vonnegut, Vladimir Nabokov,
Peter Carey, Virginia Woolf (Orlando), Wm. Burroughs,
Alasdair Gray, E.L. Doctorow, Petronius...
Ann
Matthew P Wiener
> I think the crucial difference between Magical Realism and
>plain old Fantasy (and there must be a difference or else the term
>"MR" would not have evolved) is the quality of the magic in the story.
>It can't be any old magic, but rather an extension of the reality of
> I haven't read any true American (U.S.) MR yet [...]
The problem is, there is no "magic" per se in our culture. Any direct
hit on it, in parallel to the South Americans, is obviously fake.
Our reality is bigness, loudness, TV, Sports, Politics, Science, etc.
Check out Don DeLillo WHITE NOISE or Robert Coover THE PUBLIC BURNING.
And also William Kinsella SHOELESS JOE and THE IOWA BASEBALL CONFEDERACY,
although these are not at the same high level.
--
-Matthew P Wiener (wee...@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)
Richard N Kitchen
In a previous article, wee...@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) says:
>In article <344i33$q...@news.ysu.edu>, f0200830@cc (Rita M. Rouvalis) writes:
>> I think the crucial difference between Magical Realism and
>>plain old Fantasy (and there must be a difference or else the term
>>"MR" would not have evolved) is the quality of the magic in the story.
>>It can't be any old magic, but rather an extension of the reality of
>>the culture within which the story is told. [...]
>
>> I haven't read any true American (U.S.) MR yet [...]
>
>The problem is, there is no "magic" per se in our culture. Any direct
>hit on it, in parallel to the South Americans, is obviously fake.
What about "Sholess Joe," the novel that the movie "Field of Dreams" was
based on? or Mark Helprin's "A Winter's Story."
--
Rick Kitchen da...@cleveland.freenet.edu
"Time is a drug. Too much of it kills you."
--Terry Pratchett, "Small Gods"
Beth Fowler
>>The problem is, there is no "magic" per se in our culture. Any direct
>>hit on it, in parallel to the South Americans, is obviously fake.
>
Recently on this group, someone mentioned the book "Little Big" by John
Crowley. I have always thought that this is the closest thing that I've
read to an American rendering of magical realism, in the same way that "One
Hundred Years of Solitude" renders the culture of South America. Little Big
has the
same inclusion of history, time, cultural events, as told through the history
of one family. American politics seen through the filter of mythology (a la
Ronald Reagan??). Where we've come from and where we're headed as a
culture. The characters are so compelling, the scope of the story so
big, but the telling
full of the intimacy of everyday life - falling in love, raising children,
growing old. It's a wonderful book.
Beth
michael l. medlin
[deletia]
> I haven't read any true American (U.S.) MR yet -- probably
>just a gap in my education, but I think _Et Tu, Babe_ by Mark
>Leyner comes *very* close, with the exception that it doesn't play
>with time. The fantasy is wonderfully, twistedly believable.
> MR has a lot more to it than three paragraphs, though.
You didn't exactly ask, but I have some North American magic realist
recommendations:
_Little, Big_ by John Crowley
_Winter's Tale_ by Mark Helprin
These two have many similarities, mainly because they were both heavily
inspired (at least in the basic structure, i.e. magic-realist family
chronicle) by _One Hundred Years of Solitude_. Both are beautifully
written, and have well drawn characters. Both receive my highest
recommendation (_Little, Big_ is my favorite book).
Most of Jonathan Carroll's work. (Cheating a bit, as he is only a part
time North American). This fits well into Ms. Rouvalis' definition of
MR, as Carroll's magic is firmly rooted in North American Culture
(Hollywood and NYC culture, mostly; although much of his work is set in
Vienna, it is a Vienna seen through the eyes of Americans). Also highly
recommended, especially _Bones of the Moon_, _Sleeping in Flame_, and
the latest, _From the Teeth of Angels_.
--
m i c h a e l m e d l i n a l @ i r i s . c l a r e m o n t . e d u
reading: _love & sleep_ by john crowley
listening: _glum_ by giant sand
Diane Carlson
I disagree with the person who said we have no U.S. MR & I agree with
the person who mentioned Toni Morrison. She is one of the best American
writers. Check out _Beloved_ or _Jazz_. The latter especially is a
peculiarly American type of magic.
Also...
_Dictionary of the Khazars_ (Milorad Pavic) - Sly Balkan absudities and
poetry
_The Master & Margarita_ (Bulgakov)
I suppose these are not 'truly' MR, but beautiful language and surreal
imagery.
Also, Italo Calvino's _Invisible Cities_
Heikki Raudaskoski
: Heikki Raudaskoski (hrau...@phoenix.oulu.fi) wrote:
: : Ever tried Angela Carter? "The Magic Toyshop", "Nights at the Circus"...
: : She was a living paradox: a British magic realist...
: Wherein lie the roots of this supposed paradox? Now if you had said
: `English magic realist' you might have a case.
You're right, definitely. (I quess you refer to Scots like Alasdair
Gray, Asian-Britons like Salman Rushdie, etc. etc.) I meant roughly
"English" when I wrote "British", which might be unforgivable, but
let me tell you two things: 1) I'm not a native English speaker.
2) I was in a maddening hurry when I
wrote those words.
But of course one shouldn't make slips like this when one is writing
the Ph.D. dissertation on _Gravity's Rainbow_ (BTW, is *Pynchon* a
magic realist? at least _Vineland_ belongs to that category, I suppose)
in English.... This is to all Celts, and to all Brits who have their
cultural and ethnic origins outside England: no hard feelings!
: Andrew Dinn
: -----------
: there is no map / and a compass / wouldn't help at all
Heikki
Loaf Du Fish
>Also...
>perhaps i risk flaming but what is magic realism???
> a sincere question from a sincerely perplexed fishloaf.
Michael Totty
American and European varieties. Faulkner comes to mind; remember he was
one of the main influences on Gabriel Garcia Marquez. For a recent
norteamericano example, I think the most heartfelt is John Nichols
Milagro Beanfield War. It's clearly an attempt to transplant One Hundred
Years of Solitude, but largely a successful one.
Peter Johannes
Lampo (e.g De komst van Joachim Stiller)
Peter
--
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
(joha...@imec.be)
SubGenius
: Magic realism in the U.S. just takes a different form from the South
+--------------------------------------SubG--------------------------------+
I'm afraid I haven't been following this, or any other, magical realism
thread. Candour insists that I futher point out that this is due in
no small part to my general belief that magical realism not a
particularly good or useful as a category (although it may if one
chooses, as some apparently do, to be drawn to books featuring certain
subject matters, or employing certain narrative gimmicks; I've always
prefered the much more satisfying, to my mind, and more difficult prospect
of choosing books for the skill with which they were executed).
That being said, it seems to me that Ray Bradbury might qualify as a
magical realist writer, based on _Something Wicked This Way Comes_ and,
even more so, _Dandelion Wine_.
A bit more controversially, I would suggest that Hunter S. Thompson
also qualifies (most people that would accept the reminiscing air
of _Dandelion Wine_ as fitting the magical realism mold would, I
suspect, object to, say, _Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas_ as
possessing any of the same qualities).
I would also suggest that Borges (and Alasdair Gray) are quite the
opposite of magical realist writers; perhaps they are magical unrealism
writers. That is, they might confide to the reader that, well, this
might seem implausible, but it is only fiction---in fact, one of the
characters was just daydreaming that it happened. The thing is what
it is.
Yours etc.,
SubGenius
]
Rita M. Rouvalis
>A bit more controversially, I would suggest that Hunter S. Thompson
>also qualifies (most people that would accept the reminiscing air
>of _Dandelion Wine_ as fitting the magical realism mold would, I
>suspect, object to, say, _Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas_ as
>possessing any of the same qualities).
Hunter is not magical realism, unless you buy the proposition
that all magic in American culture stems from excessive drug use.
His reality is a little strange, but there's nothing fantastic about it.
>I would also suggest that Borges (and Alasdair Gray) are quite the
>opposite of magical realist writers; perhaps they are magical unrealism
>writers. That is, they might confide to the reader that, well, this
>might seem implausible, but it is only fiction---in fact, one of the
>characters was just daydreaming that it happened. The thing is what
>it is.
Borges is mostly writing in the Fantastic genre (ala Washington
Irving, etc.). He is generally categorized as a magical realist due
to his ethnic credentials, but there is a difference between the fantastic
the magical realist, and it isn't based on culture.
SubGenius
: >A bit more controversially, I would suggest that Hunter S. Thompson
: >also qualifies (most people that would accept the reminiscing air
: >of _Dandelion Wine_ as fitting the magical realism mold would, I
: >suspect, object to, say, _Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas_ as
: >possessing any of the same qualities).
: Hunter is not magical realism, unless you buy the proposition
: that all magic in American culture stems from excessive drug use.
+---------------------------------------SubG-----------------------------+
I'd both buy that this belief is necessary to consider Hunter a
magical realist (to some extent), and do not buy the belief itself,
although it is worth noting that there is substantial drug-magic in
the fokelore of the Americas in general, North America in particular
and Amurrrica specifically.
+---------------------------------------SubG-----------------------------+
: His reality is a little strange, but there's nothing fantastic about it.
+---------------------------------------SubG-----------------------------+
Hum. It strikes me that there is both the presence of lurking fantasia
under the mundanity of almost everything in Hunter's prose, and the
casual acceptance of it that constitutes magical realism.
Take, say:
[...] The onl man is inside brewing up one of his fantastic
drug-stews, and here we see his woman out in the garden,
pruning carrots, or whatever...humming while she works,
some tune I failed to recognise.
Humming. Yes...but it would be nearly ten years before I
would recognize that sound for what it was: Like Ginsberg
far gone in the Om, _____ was trying to _humm me off_.
That was no old lady out there in that garden; it was the
good doctor _himself_---and his humming was a frantic attempt
to block me out of his higher consciousness.
I made several attempts to make myself clear: Just a
neighbor come to call and ask the doctor's advice about
gobbling some LSD in my shack just down the hill from his
house. I did, after all, have weapons. And I liked to
shoot them---expecially at night, when the great blue flame
would leap out, along with all that noise...and, yes, the
bullets, too. We couldn't ignore that. Big balls of lead/
alloy flying around the valley at speeds up to 3700 feet
per second....
But I always fired into the nearest hill, or, failing that,
into blackness. I meant no harm; I just liked the
explosions. And I was careful never to kill more than I
could eat.
"Kill?" I realized I could never properly explain that word
to this creature toiling here in its garden. Had it ever
eaten meat? Could it conjugate the verb "hunt?" Did it
understand hunger? Or grasp the awful fact that my income
averaged around $32 a week that year?
No...no hope of communication in this place. I recognized
that---but not soon enough to keep the drug doctor from
humming me all the way down his driveway and into my car
and down the mountain road. Forget LSD, I thought. Look
what it's done to _that_ poor bastard.
Yours etc.,
SubGenius
: >I would also suggest that Borges (and Alasdair Gray) are quite the
SubGenius
: I'd both buy that this belief is necessary to consider Hunter a
: magical realist (to some extent), and do not buy the belief itself,
+---------------------------------------SubG-----------------------------+
Er, that should be I `don't buy' rather than `both buy'.
Yours etc.,
SubGenius
Rita Rouvalis
>Rita M. Rouvalis (f020...@cc.ysu.edu) wrote:
>: Hunter is not magical realism, unless you buy the proposition
>: that all magic in American culture stems from excessive drug use.
>
>+---------------------------------------SubG-----------------------------+
>I'd both buy that this belief is necessary to consider Hunter a
>magical realist (to some extent), and do not buy the belief itself,
>although it is worth noting that there is substantial drug-magic in
>the fokelore of the Americas in general, North America in particular
>and Amurrrica specifically.
Circular reasoning, but I see your point.
First off, let me state that the reason I like Thompson is
probably similar to the reason I like magical realism -- a sense
of unabashed revelation in the absurd, and if I ever drop acid, it
will be in the presence of the good Doctor. That said, I don't
think he has much else in common with the magical realists.
>+---------------------------------------SubG-----------------------------+
>Hum. It strikes me that there is both the presence of lurking fantasia
>under the mundanity of almost everything in Hunter's prose, and the
>casual acceptance of it that constitutes magical realism.
What is lurking under his prose is his personal mania and
world view. Who else would share it? See my previous post on the
definition of magical realism.
Sean Scott
Is it live, or is it metafiction?
: >: Hunter is not magical realism, unless you buy the proposition
: >: that all magic in American culture stems from excessive drug use.
I don't think it's necessary to say that _all_ American magic comes in
chemicals to buy this. Would you admit that _some_ magic (or simulation
thereof) stems from drug use?
__________________________________________________
From the desk of...
Sean Scott
Skulking Critic, Man of Letters
Dept. of Insemantics and Comparative 'Pataphysics, University of Tlon.
->scs...@ucdavis.edu<-
__________________________________________________
Rita Rouvalis
Sean Scott <ez04...@bullwinkle.ucdavis.edu> wrote:
>Rita Rouvalis (s020...@cc.ysu.edu) wrote:
>Is it live, or is it metafiction?
You need professional help for this.
>: >: Hunter is not magical realism, unless you buy the proposition
>: >: that all magic in American culture stems from excessive drug use.
>
>I don't think it's necessary to say that _all_ American magic comes in
>chemicals to buy this. Would you admit that _some_ magic (or simulation
>thereof) stems from drug use?
I have a hard time excluding Hunter. Really, I do. But
I don't think gonzo journalism is American magical realism. Magical
realism is fiction. I'm not sure what gonzo jouranlism is, but it
is at least sorta reality.
I think *all kinds* of things stem from drug use.
SubGenius
: I have a hard time excluding Hunter. Really, I do. But
: I don't think gonzo journalism is American magical realism. Magical
: realism is fiction. I'm not sure what gonzo jouranlism is, but it
: is at least sorta reality.
+---------------------------------------SubG-----------------------------+
Well, in this sense the distinction would then be that in magical realism
the elements of the fantastic are intermixed with elements of plausible
but ficticious origin, whereas in Gonzo we find the Completely Bugfuck
Shit (magic) jumbled, or mumbled, or shrieked, in with the Bad
Craziness, which is all more or less real, but probably improbable
(or at least sounding like it ought to be).
Yours etc.,
SubGenius
Sean Scott
: In article <3588jl$9...@mark.ucdavis.edu>,
: >Is it live, or is it metafiction?
: You need professional help for this.
I can stop anytime I want to, really...
: I have a hard time excluding Hunter. Really, I do. But
: I don't think gonzo journalism is American magical realism. Magical
: realism is fiction. I'm not sure what gonzo jouranlism is, but it
: is at least sorta reality.
How about "magic journalism"? or "fantastic journalism"?
Rita Rouvalis
Sean Scott <ez04...@bullwinkle.ucdavis.edu> wrote:
>How about "magic journalism"? or "fantastic journalism"?
But "gonzo" is so much more accurate a descriptor...
Sean Scott
: In article <35itiq$2...@mark.ucdavis.edu>,
: Sean Scott <ez04...@bullwinkle.ucdavis.edu> wrote:
: >How about "magic journalism"? or "fantastic journalism"?
: But "gonzo" is so much more accurate a descriptor...
What is the role of "accuracy" in magic or gonzo? Are we in the midst of
an oxymoron, or the heart of the matter?
--
Ted Samsel
Look at visual art pieces by Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keefe, Edward Weston,
Ansel Adams, Fernando Botero, Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood.....
--
Ted Samsel....tejas@infi.net.com/bh...@freenet-in-a.cwru.edu...
Rita Rouvalis
>: But "gonzo" is so much more accurate a descriptor...
>What is the role of "accuracy" in magic or gonzo? Are we in the midst of
>an oxymoron, or the heart of the matter?
Ah, but "accuracy" is everything in both magic realism and
gonzo journalism!
Sean Scott
: >: But "gonzo" is so much more accurate a descriptor...
: >What is the role of "accuracy" in magic or gonzo? Are we in the midst of
: >an oxymoron, or the heart of the matter?
: Ah, but "accuracy" is everything in both magic realism and
: gonzo journalism!
Who said "Be inexact yet precise"? I can't remember where it's from
(Valery? some surrealist?), but it says more than I can about this kind of
thing. Comments? Rita?
--
__________________________________________________________________________
From the desk of...
Sean Scott
Skulking Critic, Man of Letters
Dept. of Insemantics and Comparative 'Pataphysics, University of Tlon.
->scs...@ucdavis.edu<-
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"And living at night isn't helping my complexion." - Pere Ubu (the band)
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Peter Johannes
: In article <36005l$k...@mark.ucdavis.edu>,
: >: But "gonzo" is so much more accurate a descriptor...
: >What is the role of "accuracy" in magic or gonzo? Are we in the midst of
: >an oxymoron, or the heart of the matter?
: Ah, but "accuracy" is everything in both magic realism and
: gonzo journalism!
Would The Bridge, by Iain Banks qualify as magic realism?
Peter
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(joha...@imec.be)