Magic Realism
Who? Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel
Allende, Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison
When? 1960’s - onwards
What?
In the west we often think of the idea of magic and the idea
of reality as complete opposites, Binary Opposites in fact. We often
tell people who have got their head in the clouds, are daydreaming or otherwise
a little woolly to ‘get real’. As with all binary opposites one of the pairs is
always looked on as better or more important than the other and, again in the
west, it is reality that is seen as more important whereas magic is just fantasy and is less important.
However, Magic Realism is a style of writing that denies
that ‘the real’ is more important than ‘the magical’ and it attempts to combine
these two opposite things. It combines the idea of a world that is rational,
logical, chronological, orderly and controlled with the idea of a world that
has supernatural, mythical, magical or inexplicable elements in it.
Magic Realism differs from pure fantasy, e.g. Lord of the
Rings or Harry Potter, because it is set in the normal modern world; there are
no orcs, dragons or wizards. Instead of a completely unrealistic world we are
given a gentle fusion of magic and reality that cannot be reduced to a simply
logical account of things. Examples of magic realism in writing would be ‘the
most beautiful girl in the world’, ‘a rain of flowers’, or the idea that ‘it
rained for four years’.
Magic Realism was primarily developed in Latin America. This
may be because Latin American cultures have been influenced both by the logical
western culture of the conquistadors and the more supernatural, magical culture
of the native Mayan, Aztec or Incan Indians. As such both of these elements
appear in their writing. We also find examples of magic realist writing in
other countries where European culture has come into contact with other,
native, cultures, e.g.
Some common characteristics of magic realist texts are:
·
The
mixing of opposites - e.g. inside & out, rural & urban, Western &
local, different races
·
A
use of multiple perspectives – and therefore a lack of clarity about accuracy
of events and the credibility of views expressed by the characters
·
Time
being represented as cyclical and / or disrupted
·
Carnivals
/ celebrations affirming the beauty and vibrancy of life
So why do it? Partly it may be just an attempt to write in a new style or
it might be another post modern expression of how it is impossible to really be
certain about anything. However, I like to think that a magical realist is
trying to show that the world cannot be adequately captured in a plain, dull,
boring set of scientific and logical relations; that there is more to life than
the rational and sensible; that things cannot be reduced to a simple case of
cause and effect. In a sense the magical realist does not try to capture or
understand reality but instead awaken within us an appreciation of ‘the mystery
that breathes behind things’ (Luis Leal).