Magic Realism in Art and Lit. (corrected version)
Eric Luong
Magic Realism is a very vague and, at times, misunderstood term
in art and literature. For me, it means a sort of twist in reality,
something which does not quite fit, something magical yet ordinary,
something extra-ordinary. I find myself extremely compelled by this genre
of writing and painting.
Alberto Manguel, in his wonderfully haunting anthologies,
BLACKWATER: TALES OF THE FANTASTIC parts 1 and 2, makes a crucial
distinction concerning Magic Realism in literature. Although Magic
REalism is known primarily as a movement from South America, this idea of
magic in the mundane is not new. Maguel believe M. Realism is part of a
greater genre, Fantastic literature. In his Blackwater anthologies, he
collects together haunting fantastic tales from over a century of
writing, from authors such as Edith Wharton to Gaberiel Garcia Marquez.
Fantastic Literature is comprised of many other genres, and no
where is it written that a piece of writing must belong solely to one
genre. It can be science fiction, horror, mystery, or even romance. What
is common in these seemingly opposing genres is a touch of magic, a sense
of something inexplicable. Fantastic literature, as Manguel points out,
"asks more questions" rather than gives answers, and one feels "the
impossible seeping into the possible".
In painting, I find an opposite trend. Magic Realism has been
clumsily defined, and it has been dilluted with social realism,
hyper-realism, and regionalism. It seems anything realistic is considered
magical in its realism. Not so, I believe. Wyeth, as realistic as he is,
is not synonymous with George Tooker. The Magic Realists, in America-
Paul Cadmus, Jared French,George Tooker, among others- stem directly from
the tradition of de Chirico, not Rousseau. Rousseau fathers Surrealism,
not Magic Realism.
Magic Realism adds something more to a landscape, gives another
dimension to a building, makes you try to find something that's not
there, and, quite often, leaves a shiver. The American Magic Realist,
generally of the fifties and early sixties, found, quite justifiably, the
modern city cold and inhumane. Citizens, to them, looked paranoid,
mechanical, generic. They reflected this loss of individuality in a
haunting way, and in so doing, documented a transition into
post-modernism. Indeed, Magic Realism is atmosphere rather than varism.
I'm sure everything is no less simpler, but I hope slightly
clearer. Magic Realism reinforces my idea that there are things in life
which will stubbornly remain unknown, and perhaps rightfully so. Seekers
of the fantastic are not scientists. We do not poke, chart, analyze
until content with results. The fun is in listening to faceless voices,
and asking questions which will never be disappointingly answered.
"There are no Ghosts, only people who are not real"
-G.G. Marquez.
-Eric Luong.
XGyrl
I must say that what you said gives food for thought. However, I
find your comment about magic realism belonging to the umbrella
genre of fantastic literature a bit reductionistic.
As I know it, contemporary writers have been struggling to firmly
establish their own category of magic realism and many upcoming
writers are helping to define more clearly that category. I am
not one to advocate stereotyped, rigid codes of literary
categories (being somewhat of an anarchist/iconoclast myself),
but the term "fantastic literature" somehow doesn't capture that
sense of the "extra-ordinary" that you yourself spoke of.
concerning aspects in art, i was wondering which artists would
you say best exemply the spirit of magic realism?
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