Magical Realism
Larisa Migachyov
Can someone suggest an author (other than Borges or Calvino or Buzzati)
that writes in this style? I can't find anything interesting to read.
Larisa
Jeffrey A. Del Col
Probably the best magical realist ever was Miguel Angel Asturias.
His novels --Men of Corn--, --Mulata--, and --Strong Wind--. are worth
a look.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez' --One Hundred Years of Solitude-- is OK, but
Marquez and later so-called magical realists are already too
self-consciously employing MR as a literary stunt, IMHO.
Calvino, Borges and Buzzati may be fabulists, but not magical realists.
By sheer co-incidence, I was re-reading some of Buzzati's stories today;
he's much undervalued.
J. Del Col
--
Jeff Del Col * "Sleeplessness is like metaphysics.
A-B College * Be there."
Philippi, WV *
* ----Charles Simic----
T.T. Manninen
Jeffrey A. Del Col <br...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> kirjoitti artikkelissa
<5f7tug$9...@alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu>...
snip
Holding back my opinions about magic realism vs. fabulism,
I'll just suggest some of my own favourites.
When there's talk of magic realism, one has to mention
Milan Kundera, whom I have always thought of as the master
of this "genre". I just read his _La Lenteur_ ( original French name ),
a magnificient little book about "unhurriedness". He is always
a joy, light and easy, yet he manages to reach, with the slightest
of gestures, right into the heart of our culture and time.
_The Book of Laughter and Forgetting_ is a modern classic,
and everyone should read it.
Also:
Angela Carter: _Nights at the Circus_
Jeanette Winterson: _Sexing the Cherry_
Günter Grass: _Die Rättin_
and other books by these authors.
Someone claimed once that Salman Rushdie's
_Satanic Verses_ would qualify as magic realism,
taking into account the "magical" opening of the book.
( I haven't read it, this is just hearsay... )
--
TTM
" I speak and you hear me, therefore we are. "
- Francis Ponge
Erin Fitch
T.T. Manninen (t.man...@pp.inet.fi) wrote:
: Jeffrey A. Del Col <br...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> kirjoitti artikkelissa
: <5f7tug$9...@alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu>...
Hi there.
On the subject of magic realism you might want to check out Isabelle
Allende's stuff. _Eva Luna_ is pretty neat. I haven't read _House of the
Spirits_ but have heard wonderful things about it (by the way, i don't
recommend seeing the movie--i heard it was pretty horrible).
--Erin
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Erin Fitch
fit...@stu.beloit.edu
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Pita Enriquez Harris
On 1 Mar 1997, Jeffrey A. Del Col wrote:
>
> In a previous article, miga...@maroon.tc.umn.edu (Larisa Migachyov) says:
>
> > Can someone suggest an author (other than Borges or Calvino or Buzzati)
> >that writes in this style? I can't find anything interesting to read.
> >
> >Larisa
> >
>
> Probably the best magical realist ever was Miguel Angel Asturias.
That is very interesting to know...I have a book of his, waiting to be
read, not one of the ones you recommended but anyway, I should get around
to it, maybe.
> Gabriel Garcia Marquez' --One Hundred Years of Solitude-- is OK, but
> Marquez and later so-called magical realists are already too
> self-consciously employing MR as a literary stunt, IMHO.
I didn't get this impression too much but I have heard that "One Hundred
Years.." is itself a pastiche of The Great Latin American Novel as
written by Asturias and others (does anyone know which?).
How about "Love In The Time Of Cholera" by Marquez? I've heard that
described as the best 20th Century novel. Imo its as good as "Cien Anos"
at least.
> Calvino, Borges and Buzzati may be fabulists, but not magical realists.>
I'd go along with that...for the first two anyway, haven't read Buzzati.
> By sheer co-incidence, I was re-reading some of Buzzati's stories today;
> he's much undervalued.
Recommend me something to read by him pleeze! Borges and Calvino are my
favourite authors.
Pita
****************************************************************************
Dr. Pita Enriquez Harris "Ou est le singe?
Nuffield Department of Medicine Le singe est dans l'arbre"
Oxford Radcliffe Hospital Eddie Izzard
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~enriquez
****************************************************************************
Rebecca L. Newton
On 1 Mar 1997, Jeffrey A. Del Col wrote:
> Gabriel Garcia Marquez' --One Hundred Years of Solitude-- is OK, but
> Marquez and later so-called magical realists are already too
> self-consciously employing MR as a literary stunt, IMHO.
I prefer _Love in the Time of Cholera_ to _One Hundred Years of Solitude_.
_Love in the Time of Cholera_ is less epic, has better individual
characters, and IMHO, is a little less self-conscious. I agree that his
stuff can be contrived, but I do think all of the works I've read have
some really good moments.
~Rebecca
Rebecca L. Newton http://grove.ufl.edu/~javagirl
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Futile--the Winds--to a Heart in port--
Done with the Compass--Done with the Chart!" --Emily Dickinson
Jeffrey A. Del Col
In a previous article, t.man...@pp.inet.fi (T.T. Manninen) says:
>
>
>Jeffrey A. Del Col <br...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> kirjoitti artikkelissa
><5f7tug$9...@alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu>...
>
>snip
>
>Holding back my opinions about magic realism vs. fabulism,
>I'll just suggest some of my own favourites.
>
>When there's talk of magic realism, one has to mention
>Milan Kundera,
Why? Kundera is essentially a Philosophe with a Czech accent. His two
big influences are, by his own admission, Diderot and
Janacek. He greatly admires Diderot's --Jacques the
Fatalist--, and the influence of this work on Kundera's is pretty
obvious. He also praises Janacek for "smashing the computer",
i.e. breaking the sonata form machine that had dominated
western music since Scarlatti's day. Music and literature are nearly
inseparable for Kundera, and he deliberately employs the digressive,
self-awareness of Diderot and Janacek's non-traditional lyricism
in his books. There is nothing in his work that suggests
a plausible mythic or magical realm such as is central to Asturias'
work. Kundera may be a lyrical realist and self-conscious artificer, but
I don't think he's a magical realist. The people in his books
may have fantasies, but there is nothing to suggest
they are anything other than that, certainly not a plausible spiritual
realm.
e...@acsu.buffalo.edu
Pita Enriquez Harris <enri...@immsvr.jr2.ox.ac.uk> wrote:
>> Calvino, Borges and Buzzati may be fabulists, but not magical realists.>
>
>I'd go along with that...for the first two anyway, haven't read Buzzati.
>
>> By sheer co-incidence, I was re-reading some of Buzzati's stories today;
>> he's much undervalued.
>
>Recommend me something to read by him pleeze! Borges and Calvino are my
>favourite authors.
>
I am new to this newsgroup, so please forgive me for treading
on unfamiliar territory. But I feel that I really should place a
small mention here of a web page which I maintain, which holds (in
addition to many other authors' works) two short stories by Dino
Buzzati. I would not have spoken up about this, except that Mr.
Buzzati is widely out of print in English as far as I know. The only
work of his that I am aware of currently availabe is "The Tartar
Steppe," which is a wonderful novel, often compared to Kafka's "The
Castle" I believe.
Our web page is at http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~eds
As an aside, many of the stories which appear there are,
regrettably, reprinted without permission. We are currently trying to
gain permission for all of them, but it is a slopw process. I was in
contact with Mr. Buzzati's translator for a while, but he seems to
have dissappeared. (If anyone knows what has happened to Lawrence
Venuti, please let me know) We are also currently waiting a response
from Mr. Vonnegut's literary agent. Proudly, we have attained
permission for the Donald Barthelme story which is present.
I apologize for taking up so much space here, unsure of how
this will be received.
T.T. Manninen
Jeffrey A. Del Col <br...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> kirjoitti artikkelissa
<5fnv23$3...@alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu>...
>
> In a previous article, t.man...@pp.inet.fi (T.T. Manninen) says:
> >
I said:
> >When there's talk of magic realism, one has to mention
> >Milan Kundera
And Jeffrey replied:
> Why? (...) There is nothing in his work that suggests
> a plausible mythic or magical realm such as is central to Asturias'
> work. Kundera may be a lyrical realist and self-conscious artificer, but
> I don't think he's a magical realist. The people in his books
> may have fantasies, but there is nothing to suggest
> they are anything other than that, certainly not a plausible spiritual
> realm. [ and so on... ]
Dear Jeffrey
This may be a way too long and tedious post, but bear with me.
Being the uninformed newbie that I am, and what more, only
a lowly first-year student of English Filology, I wanted not to venture
any farther with my first posting to this newsgroup than
the quite innocent recommendations I thought were approriate.
Maybe I should have said more. But since I don't particularly
enjoy the "game of genres" that's a mainstay in literary theory
( at least over here, in the textbooks I've been handed ) and have
had quite enough of it, thank you, I wasn't about to define *my*
opinion of what MR is, and only then proceed to mention my
favourite authors of that "genre".
You see, I don't usually push myself into taking part in debates
about what author's style is or isn't a typical example of a typical
"genre", since I don't believe in the Law of the Genre and have as
yet only a minimal amount of theoretical studies behind me to back
up my opinion. This opinion of mine doesn't mean that I don't believe
the words "magic realism" do not have an actual use, because they
certainly do, and my post would have been utter nonsense if they didn't.
How could I otherwise say things like: " when there's talk of .. one
has to mention .. "?
Now, about your question Why and the hoopla attached to it:
1. " Magic realism - when marvellous and impossible events occur in
what otherwise purports to be a realistic narrative .. "
- David Lodge, _The Art of Fiction_, p.114
That's why. This is the pragmatic use of the name MR I have adopted
for my "secular" life outside the academic circle. Obviously we have
different uses for this name.
2. * I like Kundera! * I have a firm belief that almost anyone who enjoys
MR
will enjoy at least some aspects of his work. This may be pathetically
subjective ( and it is ), but still.
3. I don't know what Kundera's influences have to do with my
suggesting one should read him, considering my use of the MR
category. But OK, I guess you weren't really talking to me, just
educating the masses. My mistake.
4. You say that: " Kundera may be a lyrical realist and self-conscious
artificer, but I don't think he's a magical realist." Precisely so, if one
adopts your stance ( I'm not saying I know exactly where you stand
on this ). But I, on the other hand, do think he's a magical realist,
and that his lyrical realism, or style, is only a facet, an extension
of his magical realism - it is his "style" of magical realism.
The Latin-American magical realists should, I think, not be too much
compared to the continental ones: it seems the mythic qualities and the
presence of the supernatural is taken differently in each cultural context,
so that if one takes, say, Marquez as an archetypal magical realist,
it's expectable that the continental writers don't match up. The context
is not the same, therefore the style will be different. This does not
entail the notion of excluding the continentals from a generalised
literary category, such as MR, in favour of more marquezian writers.
Any "genre" is a generalisation that can be and is defined in a number
of ways outside the academic circle, according to each persons' preferred
view. Which type of genre are you referring to?
5. How on earth could you describe Kundera as being a "self-conscious
artificer"? Aren't all writers, in general, self-conscious artificers? And
why
not take it to the obvious extreme: aren't all human beings self-conscious
artificers? Who isn't self-conscious? What I don't understand is what this
has to do with magical realists, and Kundera's being or not being one
( in your's or my interpretations ). Please help.
6. " There is nothing in his work that suggests a plausible mythic or
magical realm .. "
Isn't there? Have you read _La Lenteur_? Have you read _The Book of
Laughter
and Forgetting_? What do you consider " a plausible mythic or magical realm
"
if not the realm where Vincent and the young knight meet? Or the realm
where the
narrator invents the story that seeps into his wife's dreams ( " You're
thinking too
loud! ")? Maybe you think it is the quantity of supernatural or fantastic
elements that decide? If so, what separates a certain style of science
fiction or
even plain and simple fantasy from a certain style of magical realism?
You see, the boundaries are shifting all the while, because that's what
writing is,
by definition. At least in my mind.
This is already taking too much precious space. I want you to know that I
respect your definitions and opinions as much as I value mine. We can
trade these and perhaps even educate each other about varying positions,
but please, let's not get into a theoretical discussion that would
only lead away from the real subject: the enjoyment that reading brings
and the fruitful discussion thereof. ( At least, that's what I want to
pursue. )
Then again, if you really want to, we *can* begin the conversation on the
Law of the Genre, just somewhere else, OK? But do you? And are there
perhaps better opponents to pick than me?
The name of Asturias was new to me, and I shall certainly quickly
rush to the nearest library to fill this gaping hole in my literary
knowledge.
Thanks for the tip.
Larisa Migachyov
Pita Enriquez Harris (enri...@immsvr.jr2.ox.ac.uk) wrote:
: Recommend me something to read by him pleeze! Borges and Calvino are my
: favourite authors.
I think "The Walls of Anagoor" is one of his best stories.
Larisa
Carrie A Schutrick
I'm not sure if he counts, but try Peter S. Beagle.
"The Last Unicorn" and "The Folk of the Air" are the only ones I can
think of off the top of my head.
--Carrie S.
*****Carrie Schutri...@andrew.cmu.edu--Pittsburgh PA--CMU*****
<http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~caos>
Unsolicited commercial email sent to this address will be subject to a $1500
processing fee. Sending mail to this address, maunally or automatically,
implies consent to these terms.
Jeffrey A. Del Col
Lodge is overly broad. His defintion would include
visions, delusions, altered psychological states, dreams, etc.
He probably thinks Kafka is an MR'ist
Kundera uses events such as the levitation of the dancers in
--Laughter and Forgetting-- as metaphors, not literal
events.
>That's why. This is the pragmatic use of the name MR I have adopted
>for my "secular" life outside the academic circle. Obviously we have
>different uses for this name.
Yes.
>2. * I like Kundera! * I have a firm belief that almost anyone who enjoys
>MR
>will enjoy at least some aspects of his work. This may be pathetically
>subjective ( and it is ), but still.
I like him too, but I read him in light of his influences and what he
himself has said about his work in such things as --The Art of The Novel--.
>3. I don't know what Kundera's influences have to do with my
>suggesting one should read him, considering my use of the MR
>category. But OK, I guess you weren't really talking to me, just
>educating the masses. My mistake.
>
>4. You say that: " Kundera may be a lyrical realist and self-conscious
>artificer, but I don't think he's a magical realist." Precisely so, if one
>adopts your stance ( I'm not saying I know exactly where you stand
>on this ). But I, on the other hand, do think he's a magical realist,
>and that his lyrical realism, or style, is only a facet, an extension
>of his magical realism - it is his "style" of magical realism.
>The Latin-American magical realists should, I think, not be too much
>compared to the continental ones: it seems the mythic qualities and the
>presence of the supernatural is taken differently in each cultural context,
The only continental MR'ist I can think of who even comes close
to what the Latins are up to is Leo Perutz, particularly in--At Night
Under the Stone Bridge-- in which Jewish Kabbalism functions in a
plausible way.
>5. How on earth could you describe Kundera as being a "self-conscious
>artificer"? Aren't all writers, in general, self-conscious artificers? And
Obviously, but some such as Kundera make their illusive intention plain to
their audience.
He is an artificer in the sense that Diderot becomes one in --Jacques
the Fatalist-- (Kundera tried to turn --Jacques-- into
a play, not very successfully) Reading --Jacques-- will tell you
a lot about Kundera's work.
>The name of Asturias was new to me, and I shall certainly quickly
>rush to the nearest library to fill this gaping hole in my literary
>knowledge.
>Thanks for the tip.
Asturias is far and away the most successful MR'ist. Everybody else, including
Marquez, is a pale imitation. In Asturias work, the magic is absolutely
integral to the world the people inhabit.
A good background work for Asturias is a book called --People of the
Bat--, an account of the mythic world of contemporary Central American
Indians.
Robert Teeter
Jeffrey A. Del Col (br...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu) wrote:
: The only continental MR'ist I can think of who even comes close
: to what the Latins are up to is Leo Perutz, particularly in--At Night
: Under the Stone Bridge-- in which Jewish Kabbalism functions in a
: plausible way.
What would you say about I. B. Singer's short stories
featuring dybbuks and their ilk?
--
Bob Teeter (rte...@netcom.com) | "Write me a few of your lines"
http://www.wco.com/~rteeter/ | -- Mississippi Fred McDowell
"You might say that, but I couldn't possibly comment." -- Francis Urquhart
"Only connect" -- E. M. Forster
T.T. Manninen
>Jeffrey A. Del Col <br...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> wrote in article
<5g3nub$s...@alexander.INS.CWRU.Edu>...
> In a previous article, t.man...@pp.inet.fi (T.T. Manninen) says:
Thank you for a carefully written article. But there are still some
points I'd like to clarify. Don't worry, I'll be as brief as possible.
Concerning Lodge's definition of MR:
> Lodge is overly broad (...)
His view is that MR is something "imported into [ British ]
fiction from outside rather than springing up spontaneously",
and I quite agree. There's an implicit notion of MR being
different on the continent, because of different culture/history.
From this one could argue that 1. European MR is not
to be considered real MR at all, 2. EMR is not to be
compared to Latin MR, 3. continentals "just don't get it".
I would go with #2. How about you?
Some snip-bits:
> Kundera uses [ magical events ] as metaphors, not literal
> events. (...) I read him in light of his influences (...)The only
>continental MR'ist I can think of who even comes close
> to what the Latins are up to is Leo Perutz
The name of Leo Perutz is graciously accepted with a courtious smile,
a bend of the old knees and so forth...kabbalism is one of my pet peeves...
I've decided to read Kundera without reading _Art of the Novel_ and other
such things ( I'll hold my fort as long as I can, for someday I may be
forced
to plough through those titles ). With most authors, I really couldn't
bother myself less as to what they have to say about their work. That's
usually just trivia, yet sometimes decent writing on it's own behalf.
I think of reading like good food: often times it's better not to know
how the feast was prepared, as long as it tastes right...
And about artificers:
> (...) some such as Kundera make their illusive intention plain to
> their audience. (...) He is an artificer in the sense that Diderot
becomes
>one in --Jacques the Fatalist-- (... ) Reading --Jacques-- will tell you
> a lot about Kundera's work.
>
I still think that _La lenteur_, for one, exhibits "a plausible spiritual
realm".
Of course not nearly in the sense that can be attributed to Latin MRists,
but if you consider my proposition above, the issue becomes more trivial.
But Point Diderot taken; I know him rather as a radical enlightenment
philosopher, a despisable Deist; I've never been able to consider him,
or Rousseau, or Holbach, or any of them ( darn romantics ) as anything
else. L'homme est né pour penser de lui-même, and all that...But it
might be worthwhile to check out _Jacques_, just to keep in contact
with the intertextual qualities of K's work, this much is acknowledged.
Finally Asturias:
>(...) --People of the Bat--
>
Darn, there was a Latin author, I think it was a woman,
whose novel I read a while ago, but I just can't remember the name
right now...it had something to do with vampires...and I can't shake
off this feeling that the name was, actually, something like Asturias.
The library's too far right now. It was about a group of vampires.
I have totally forgotten. Must go library - must find book -
use spidersense...: - )
Jeffrey A. Del Col
In a previous article, rte...@netcom.com (Robert Teeter) says:
>Jeffrey A. Del Col (br...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu) wrote:
>
>: The only continental MR'ist I can think of who even comes close
>: to what the Latins are up to is Leo Perutz, particularly in--At Night
>: Under the Stone Bridge-- in which Jewish Kabbalism functions in a
>: plausible way.
>
> What would you say about I. B. Singer's short stories
>featuring dybbuks and their ilk?
>
>--
After I read some of them, I'll let you know. (he said, clearing his
throat somewhat shamefacedly)
I suppose Venedikt (Benny) Erofeev's --Moscow to the End of the Line--
might qualify as MR. Afterall, the narrator hears angels.
Of course he is also totally drunk throughout the narrative, and, or
so it would seem, dead as well.
I won't mention --The Master and Margarita--.
Then there is Machado de Assis's --Epitaph of a Small Winner-- the
posthumous memoirs of its narrator Braz Cubas.
the Robot Vegetable
Larisa Migachyov <miga...@maroon.tc.umn.edu> wrote:
: Can someone suggest an author (other than Borges or Calvino or Buzzati)
Might give Angela Carter a try, in particular _Nights Of The Circus_.
I read this first and quite enjoyed it. There are a number of MR
elements in th book, and it's a great romp. _Heroes and Villians_
is very much a fable, though not too 'fabulous.' I enjoyed it, but
it's a bit of a minor piece. I finished _The Magic Toyshop_ a couple
days ago, and though it's a fine novel, it hasn't the elements of MR
that made _NOTC_ so attractive to me. Actualy, I can't think of a
single event that wasn' quite real, quite believeable.
I enjoy her wilder side, I will probably try _The Infernal Desire
Machines of Doctor Hoffman_ next, and then _Wise Children_.
veg
Alison Chaiken
My view of "magical realism" has changed after having recently visited
South America. There really are *hundreds* of butterflies per square
meter in some places. Hell, there were enough beautiful butterflies
trying to drink your sweat in some places that you were tempted to
swat them like mosquitoes. And I thought the butterfly descriptions
(in _The Autumn of the Dictator_?? can't remember) were pure
imagination!
I vote for Isaac B.S.'s inclusion in the MR canon. How about Julian
Barnes? Or Martin Amis for that matter?
--
Alison Chaiken ali...@wsrcc.com
(510) 422-7129 [daytime] http://www.wsrcc.com/alison/
I will refuse to be reincarnated if I can't come back as Aretha Franklin.
Jeffrey A. Del Col
In a previous article, ali...@dailyplanet.wsrcc.com (Alison Chaiken) says:
>My view of "magical realism" has changed after having recently visited
>South America. There really are *hundreds* of butterflies per square
>meter in some places. Hell, there were enough beautiful butterflies
>trying to drink your sweat in some places that you were tempted to
>swat them like mosquitoes. And I thought the butterfly descriptions
>(in _The Autumn of the Dictator_?? can't remember) were pure
>imagination!
>
Wait until we get Inuit MR complete with vast swarms of mosquitos.
Many buildings around here are crawling with ladybugs these days;
could it be the stuff from which appalachian MR might arise?
What abundant insect life has to do with MR is a bit of a mystery.
But then there was that plague of locusts down in Egypt.
Ted Samsel
:
: >My view of "magical realism" has changed after having recently visited
: >South America. There really are *hundreds* of butterflies per square
: >meter in some places. Hell, there were enough beautiful butterflies
: >trying to drink your sweat in some places that you were tempted to
: >swat them like mosquitoes. And I thought the butterfly descriptions
: >(in _The Autumn of the Dictator_?? can't remember) were pure
: >imagination!
: >
:
:
:
: Wait until we get Inuit MR complete with vast swarms of mosquitos.
Or Upper Peninsula MR... doncha know?
:
: Many buildings around here are crawling with ladybugs these days;
: could it be the stuff from which appalachian MR might arise?
Or ramps or 'sang hunters...
ObBook/Movie: THE VIRGIN SPRING was on BRAVO last night and
the vagrants (?) assault and murther of the "goldilocks"
resonated quite well with Cormac McCarthy's CHILD OF GOD.
: What abundant insect life has to do with MR is a bit of a mystery.
: But then there was that plague of locusts down in Egypt.
ObUnderground comic: INSECT FEAR.....
--
Ted Samsel....tejas@infi.net
"do the boogie woogie in the South American way"
Rhumba Boogie- Hank Snow (1955)
David Christopher Swanson
When Quinn the Eskimo gets here the pigeon's gonna run to him.
DCS