from Magic, through marvellous, to magical Magical Realism from Magic, through marvellous, to magical

“For the new art, it is a question of representing before our eyes, in an intuitive way, the fact, the interior figure, of the exterior world.” -Franz Roh

Franz Roh German art critic Identified a number of artists working in a uniquely post-expressionist mode in Germany’s Weimar Republic of the 1920s Coined the term “magic realism” in order to classify these artists Ceded his term to G.F. Hartlaub’s “new objectivity.”

Alejo Carpentier French-Cuban writer heavily influenced by Roh’s writing and his own time spent in Europe Originated the term “marvellous realism” to describe the new perspective developing in Latin American ‘Boom’ writing First individual (in writing) to connect the mode to post-colonialism Championed a 1940s movement to establish a cultural identity apart from past European influences and dominance ‘Boom’ period in Latin American literature. Quest for identity, exploration of roots, acknowledgement of pre-colonial past and all the metaphysical aspects that such an exploration excavates.

“Because of the virginity of our land, our upbringing, our ontology [belief systems], the Faustian presence of the Indian and the black man, the revelation constituted by its recent discovery, its fecund racial mixing [mestizaje], America is far from using up its wealth of mythologies. After all, what is the entire history of America if not a chronicle of the marvellous real?” “Here the strange is commonplace, and always was commonplace.” -Alejo Carpentier Making an argument that Latin America is simply telling the true story of itself, that this form is a fictionalized one at all, but the actuality of existence in this vortex of cultures and mythologies.

Angel Flores Latin American literary critic Coined the term “magical realism” in a 1955 essay Adjusted Carpentier’s perspective by embracing the European influence of modernism Flores’ essay generated renewed interest in Carpentier’s marvellous realism, an interest that ultimately led to an explosion of magical realist works following the success of the Cuban revolution in 1955

Tenets of Magical Realist Texts Define “magic” as any extraordinary occurrence unaccountable by rational science Portray magical happenings as matter-of-fact parts of everyday (even prosaic) life Require an almost overwhelmingly realistic life tapestry within which threads of the magical are seamlessly woven Often disrupt linear narrative time and the notion of history Explore and transgress boundaries Do not judge or distinguish between the savage, primitive, or sophisticated Embrace modernism’s break from narrative tradition, its search for new forms of expression, and its desire to play with reader expectation Embrace the paradox of the real coexisting with the unreal Take place in rural or isolated settings Deal with the marginalized, those lacking political, social, sexual…power

Post Colonialism: The Global Studies Connection Colonists indelibly stamp their identities onto the colonized. The attempt to alter, reconcile, or remove this stamp is at the heart of magical realism. Exploration of the unreal within the real, temporal shifts, and other experimentations with narrative form provide a conscious dissociation from the stability that marks the Western world and its colonizing forces, and thus a means of rebellion for the disenfranchised. Magical realist authors create a world wherein the rules that govern the colonizers are compromised, and within which a new identity or reality may be forged.

Realism assumes that the external world is real, and that our senses support this fact. Modern realism largely asserts that truths are discovered through the senses.

“Realism is plausible not because it reflects the world, but because it is constructed out of what is familiar.” -Catherine Belsey