Magical realism is a kind of narrative literature that incorporates a variety of subtly diverse notions that incorporate magical elements into real-world occurrences (López-Calvo 12). Fables, myths, and allegory that combine supernatural characteristics portrayed in a real-world setting are also included in magical realism. South America was the birthplace of magical realism (López-Calvo 14). ). South American writers frequently traveled between their own country and European intellectual centers such as Berlin and Paris, and they were affected by the Timbuktu art movement. One of the writers who was significantly affected by the European artistic movement such as surrealism was Alejo Carpentier from Cuba. Alejo stayed in Paris between 1920 and 1930 (Bowers 25). The cultural interchange that took place led to the acceptance of magical realism and consequently, its application in the literary works done by the different authors.
The translation and publication of Franz Roh’s book into Spanish by Spain’s Revista de Occidente in 1927 was also another major event that linked painterly and literary magic realism (López-Calvo 25). The translation made South American authors apply magical realism into their works. The authors began to view magical realism as an aspect of art that introduces the readers of their works to new mythical and magical perspectives in their real-world experiences. The authors began to emphasize that magical realism touched on the mystery of the lives of human beings since individuals do not understand all the aspects regarding their life. Moreover, Latin American authors believed that magical realism was a continuation of the Vanguardia experimental writings that were prominent in their culture. As such, nearly all the authors’ incorporated magical realism aspects into their works with the aim of protecting their culture.
Influence of Jorge Borges, Garcia Marquez and Pre-Columbian Literature to Magical Realism
Garcia Marquez is one of the authors of Latin American Culture who led to the development of magical realism. He contributed significantly to making magical realism a global phenomenon when he published the novel ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude.’ In 1982, Marquez won a Nobel Prize because of his notable contribution to the development of magical realism (Bell 180). In his works, Marquez incorporates everyday occurrences with magical events which makes them appear like normal events. For instance, he shows that people fly when they drink hot chocolate, a baby is born with a pig’s tail and an old man with huge wings lands in somebody’s backyard. Marquez has adequately integrated his narrative voice with his bunch of fantastic events with a dose of regular everyday life which presents magical realism well. As such, other Latin American authors began to incorporate magical realism aspects into their works just like Marquez had done.
It would have been impossible for Marquez to make such significant moves in magical realism if he had not received mentorship from the works done by Jorge Luis Borges. Borges was an author long before Marquez, and he rehabilitated the fantastic tale of high-art fiction almost single-handedly (Bell 183). It was Borges who removed religion and the supernatural from any fixed ideologies that were employed in the mythologies of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Confucianism in Latin American literature primarily in the form of metaphysical figures. Borges works such as ‘The Fable, The Gaucho Legend, The Supernatural Tale and The Defective Story’ brought out sophisticated fictions which laid the foundation for incorporation of magical realism into the future works done by Latin American authors. Borges was the first significant post-modernist storyteller, and he influenced the works of other people such as Garcia Marquez who developed his books into more expansive and different forms.
Pre-Columbian literature refers to the artwork done in the history and pre-history of the Americans before the influence of the Europeans (Gray 25). The pre-Columbian literature was used to denote the history and the culture of the indigenous American people before the Europeans extensively altered their practices. Some of the subjects in the literature included religion, power, time, astronomy, myths and fictive genres and everyday literature. Therefore, magical realism aimed at preserving some of the cultures of the Latin Americans especially by incorporating myths and fiction with the daily practices of the people. The use of Magical Realism spread quickly especially with the influence of the Europeans on American culture as the Latin Americans were trying to save some aspects of their culture (Gray 65).
Popular Works of Fiction that dealt with Magical Realism
Practical Magic written by Alice Hoffman is a famous work of fiction that deals with magical realism (López-Calvo 93). The novel includes elements of magic and irony which fall into the genre of magical realism. For instance, in the book, she talks about elderly aunts who encouraged whispers of witchery in their darkened house, love concoctions and crowds of black cats. She says that the sisters and the children who were forever outsiders, would only escape this magic by getting married yet they still came back to each other since the family bonds were powerful. Moreover, the magic of the land was so strong that they could not escape. It is clear that Hoffman was just trying to preserve the Latin American culture by incorporating magical realism into her works. She was trying to prove that even though the Europeans were disrupting their culture, it was just as powerful as magic and it kept holding the Latin Americans together.
Magical Realism and the Perception of Latin Americans
Magical realism influenced the perception of Latin American worldwide. The history of colonization, importation of slaves, political turmoil after the independence of South America, its economic dependency and influx of immigrants had positioned Latin America as inferior to countries such as Europe and the United States. The Latin Americans had been despised globally as is brought out in some novels such as ‘The Kingdom of this World’ by Carpentiers (Bowers 85). The story is narrated by a slave who had witnessed many catastrophic and traumatic events in Haiti during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Magical realism was included in contemporary fiction works after Latin American authors had successfully incorporated it in their works. Therefore, the Latin Americans stopped being viewed as inferior and their position as one of the most influential countries was reinstated albeit progressively.
Magical realism made the Latin American culture appear as one that held magic and myths in high regard. Latin American authors incorporated magical elements into what other people across the world perceived as typical life events. As such, the Latin Americans were viewed as people who do not value reality. In this respect, the Latin American culture is not seen as objective as it is dependent on fragile concepts of magic that are not necessarily true in other cultures.
Works Cited
Bell, Michael. "Garcia Marquez, Magical Realism and World Literature." The Cambridge Companion to Gabriel Garcia Marquez (2010): 179-195. Web.
Bowers, Maggie. Magical (al) Realism. New York: Routledge Publications, 2013. E-book.
Gray, Richard. A History of American Literature. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell Publications, 2012. E-Book.
López-Calvo, Ignacio. Magical Realism. Ipswich: Grey House Publishing, 2014. E-book.
