Examples of Magic Realism Literature

The magical realism literature It is a set of literary works that were produced mainly between 1940 and 1980 in Latin America and whose main characteristic is that an unreal event is conceived as normal and ordinary. For example: The Harp and the Shadow, by Alejo Carpentier.

Magical realism emerges differentiating itself from other genres and literary trends, such as the fantastic and realism, and of canonical scientific explanations, because themes and structures of history, superstitions, legends and the myths Latin Americans.

In addition, the narrative model of these beliefs affects the logic of magical realism stories and, therefore, the unusual, magical or supernatural events are integrated without generating any break in the normality of the plot.

However, this does not imply that magical realism does not represent reality, because it is not always directly, but it does reflect the way in which many people in this region perceive the world.

• See also: Latin American stories

Origin of the concept of magical realism

The concept of magical realism was coined in 1925 by Franz Roh, a German art critic, to define the characteristics of post-expressionist painting. In 1497 this term was taken up by Arturo Uslar Pietri, a Venezuelan writer, to designate that literature in which reality was represented including wonderful elements.

Some critics consider that magical realism is equivalent to the wonderful real (a term that was developed by Alejo Carpentier in 1949). However, others maintain that they are two different concepts, because in the first, magic occurs in fiction to represent reality; instead, in the second, the marvelous is already in reality and the writers only have to describe it.

Characteristics of magical realism literature

• Topics. The themes are very varied, for example, they can be fatalism, anguish and pessimism; but they are always related to the socioeconomic conditions, history, myths, legends, beliefs and superstitions of Latin America. In addition, it is common that themes of reality are used to transform them into something unusual and strange and that the works express social criticism.
• Characters. The characters generally represent social types that exist in reality and those who belong to popular or marginal sectors stand out. In addition, the characters can go through metamorphoses or unusual changes and are not surprised by unreal events, because they conceive them as normal.
• Places. The places are different Latin American scenarios that exist or could exist in reality, such as cities and the countryside; but that can be transformed into unusual sites.
• Structure. The structure of magical realist novels and stories often shows a break with linear, causal, or temporal logic. In relation to linearity, it is frequent to break with the traditional sequence of Introduction, knot and outcome. In relation to causality, there is no explanation of why unreal events happen, since it is believed that they belong to the everyday life of the story. In relation to temporality, a story can be narrated chronologically, but it is also very common for it to be fragmented or for there to be temporary jumps and combinations.
• Storyteller. The narrator can be first, second either third person and it is very common that different narrators are combined in the same work. In addition, the narrator conceives the unreal as part of normality, because he does not explain why something illogical happens.
• Rhetorical figures Y literary resources. The figures and literary devices that are most used are:

• sensory images. They are descriptions that evoke everything that can be perceived by the senses, such as colors, smells, sounds, tastes and textures.
• Juxtaposition. Two temporalities, places, events, characters or voices that cannot exist or occur at the same time in reality are combined.
• use of the grotesque. Elements are combined that naturally do not have a logical or aesthetic relationship or connection.
• Hyperbole. It is an exaggeration of the characteristics of a person, a place, an object or an event.

Examples of magical realism literature

1. The kingdom of this world, by Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980). In this novel the Haitian revolution is narrated making a critique of the situation in which the slaves find themselves and including myths and beliefs of this country. Also, in the introduction to this novel, the author describes the concept of the wonderful real.
2. The colored spears, by Arturo Uslar Pietri (1906-2001). This novel narrates fictitious events that take place at the beginning of the independence of Venezuela.
3. One hundred years of solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1947-2010). In this novel, the history of the Buendía family is narrated and a critique of different events in Latin American history is made.
4. Aura, by Carlos Fuentes (1954-2012). This novel tells the story of a young historian who is hired to edit the memoirs of a general and who will experience different unreal events.
5. Pedro Paramo, by Juan Rulfo (1917-1986). In this novel, the story of Juan Preciado, a young man who goes to the town of his father, Pedro Páramo, is narrated with a juxtaposition of scenes. In addition, the plot is set in the Cristero War, a civil war that occurred between 1926 and 1929 in Mexico.
6. Mr. President, by Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899-1974). This novel tells the stories of different characters who suffer from the repression of a dictator who has taken over the government.
7. memories of the future, by Elena Garro (1916-1998). This novel narrates various events that occurred in a town during the Cristero War, emphasizing the cruelty of a general with the inhabitants of this place and including unreal events and various myths of the people originating.
8. Like water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel (1950). This novel narrates different love stories and the frustration of Tita, her main character, who is not allowed to marry the man she loves. Furthermore, these events take place at the time of the Mexican Revolution.
9. "Continuity of Parks", by Julio Cortazar (1914-1984). This story tells the story of a man who is reading a novel in his house. The unreal event is that the plot of the novel transcends the reality of the story.
10. Seven moons and seven serpents, by Demetrio Aguilera Malta (1909-1981). This novel tells the stories of different characters who live in the same town and includes events unreal, such as people turning into animals, omens coming true, and animals helping others. townies.

Interactive test to practice

Follow with:

• Short stories with beginning, middle and end
• baroque literature
• types of stories
• modernist poems
• Poems of Romanticism
• mexican legends

References

• Iani, O. (1987). The real magic. Latin American Studies, 1(2), 69-75. Available in: dialnet
• Villate Rodriguez, C. Latin American Magical Realism, approaches to its influence on the journalism of Héctor Rojas Herazo and Gabriel García Márquez [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. Pontifical Javeriana University.