Magic Realism

[Irene Lea Tassie]

Can anyone give me a definition or description of "magic realism"?
I've read at least one novel and several short stories which were
described as magic realism, but did not achieve an analysis. A
science fiction publisher is asking for short stories in several
genres, including magic realism and "fantastique" (as well as fantasy)
and I'm not sure what either term means. And I have a short story
which just *might* fit.
Thanks.

[Leonardo Dasso]

just curiosity, what is it that you read and was described to you as
magic realism?

Leonardo

[Donald Phillipson]

Irene Lea Tassie (tas...@octonet.com) writes:
> Can anyone give me a definition or description of "magic realism"?
> I've read at least one novel and several short stories which were
> described as magic realism, but did not achieve an analysis. A

The phrase seems to have been used first for paintings, to label the
ultra-realistic figurative art of the 1960s onwards (e.g. Jack Chambers,
Alex Colville, Mary Pratt.) Its extension to literary works might be quite
fuzzy in meaning.

--
| Donald Phillipson, 4180 Boundary Road, Carlsbad Springs, |
| Ontario, Canada, K0A 1K0, tel. 613 822 0734 |

[Sandra Vigil]

> Irene Lea Tassie (tas...@octonet.com) writes:
> > Can anyone give me a definition or description of "magic realism"?
> > I've read at least one novel and several short stories which were
> > described as magic realism, but did not achieve an analysis.

I just happend to have typed this definition, from _The Oxford
Dictionary of Literary Terms_, for a friend who recently
discovered Magic Realism through _One Hundred Years of Solitude_
(All typos are mine):

Magic realism: A kind of modern fiction in which fabulous and
fantastical events are included in a narrative that otherwise
maintains the 'reliable' tone of objective realistic report.
The term was once applied to a trend in German fiction of the
early 1950's, but is now associatied chiefly with certain
leading novelists of Central and South America, notably Miguel
Angel Asturias, Alejo Carpentier, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
The later's Cein Anos De Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude,
1967) is often cited as a leading example, celebrated for the
moment at which one character unexpectedly ascends to heaven
while hanging her washing on a line. The term has also been
extended to works from very different cultures, designating a
tendency of the modern novel to reach beyond the confines of
realism and draw upon the energies of fable, folktale and myth
while retaining a strong contemporary social relevance. Thus
Gunter Grass's Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum, 1959), Milan
Kundera's The Book of Laugher and Forgetting (1979) and Salman
Rushdie's Midnight's Children (1981) have been described as
magic realist novels along with Angela Carter's Nights at the
Circus 91984) and Rushdie's The Satanic Verses (1988). The
fantastic attributes given to characters in such novels -
levitation, flight, telepath, telekinesis - are among the means
that magic realim adopts in order to encompass the often
phantasmagoric political realities of the 20th centruy.

--

/Sandra Vigil "Can you do the Macarena?"
vi...@nwlink.com

[Christopher Gross]

In article <4on03j$l...@freenet-news.carleton.ca>,

Donald Phillipson <ad...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote:
>
>Irene Lea Tassie (tas...@octonet.com) writes:
>> Can anyone give me a definition or description of "magic realism"?
>> I've read at least one novel and several short stories which were

>> described as magic realism, but did not achieve an analysis. A
>
>The phrase seems to have been used first for paintings, to label the
>ultra-realistic figurative art of the 1960s onwards (e.g. Jack Chambers,
>Alex Colville, Mary Pratt.) Its extension to literary works might be quite
>fuzzy in meaning.

I've always heard Borges's stories described as magical realism. He was
writing long before the 1960s, but I'm not entirely sure when the term
"magical realism" was applied to his work.

If you're interested, there's an excellent Borges web site at:

<http://www.microserve.net/~thequail/libyrinth/borges.garden.html>

I don't have time to look right now, but I'm sure there's a discussion of
magical realism somewhere on this site or one of its links.

Chris

--
______________________________________________________________________
Christopher Gross On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog.
chr...@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu

[Mark Taranto]

Sandra Vigil gives a definition of Magic Realism, which includes:

A kind of modern fiction in which fabulous and
fantastical events are included in a narrative
that otherwise maintains the 'reliable' tone of

objective realistic report. . . . (One Hundred

Years of Solitude, 1967) is often cited as a
leading example, celebrated for the moment at
which one character unexpectedly ascends to heaven
while hanging her washing on a line.

Much of Magic Realism seems, to me, to have sprung from a long
tradition of Catholic folk lore. The events that are often
associated with Magic Realism are exactly those which arise
in the tales told to us by nuns in grade school, and found
in books which describe the lives of the saints.

Mark

[Ron Anderson]

E.T.A. Hoffman would have to be the grand daddy of MR. Or how
about Bulgakov (Master & Margarita)? Or some of the other Russians,
like Leskov (The Steel Flea),Sinyavsky, etc. Or Leo Perutz (The Master
of the Day of Judgement)is a good example of MR.

RA

[Michelle Oh]

On 4 Jun 1996, Mark Taranto wrote:

>
> Sandra Vigil gives a definition of Magic Realism, which includes:
>
>
> A kind of modern fiction in which fabulous and
> fantastical events are included in a narrative
> that otherwise maintains the 'reliable' tone of
> objective realistic report. . . . (One Hundred
> Years of Solitude, 1967) is often cited as a
> leading example, celebrated for the moment at
> which one character unexpectedly ascends to heaven
> while hanging her washing on a line.

It has been a long time since I read these books, but.... Doesn't
beautiful Rosa float away to heaven in the House of the Spirits, and not
in One Hundered Years of Solitude. Just checking. Please correct me, if
I am wrong. At any event, both books fall into "Magical Realism" which
is what I have always heard referred to rather than "Magic Realism"

Mickey

[whatever]

In article
<Pine.A32.3.92a.960604...@homer06.u.washington.edu>,
o...@u.washington.edu says...

>
>
>
>On 4 Jun 1996, Mark Taranto wrote:
>

>It has been a long time since I read these books, but.... Doesn't
>beautiful Rosa float away to heaven in the House of the Spirits, and
not
>in One Hundered Years of Solitude. Just checking. Please correct
me, if
>I am wrong. At any event, both books fall into "Magical Realism"
which
>is what I have always heard referred to rather than "Magic Realism"
>
>Mickey
>

i can't remember the character's name (remedios comes to mind for some
reason) but it was definitely in 100 years that a character floats up
to heaven with the laundry. there may have been a character in house
of the spirits who floated away also but i can't remember that one as
well.

i used to have a cat named ursula buendia but she floated away
somewhere too.