Magical Realism
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Gabriel García Márquez
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What is magical realism?
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“Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon”
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“Artificial Roses”
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“Big Mama's Funeral”
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Magical realism in art
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The limits of magical realism
Gabriel García Márquez
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Born March 6th, 1928 in Aracataca, Colombia
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Nicknamed Gabo throughout Latin America
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Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982
(earliest winner still living)
Grandfather shaped his political and ideological
views - “umbilical cord with history and reality”
Grandmother was a source of “magical,
superstitious, and supernatural view of reality
Latin American Boom
What is magical realism?
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European influence, surrealism 1920s/30s
From the Western perspective, stems from a
separation of reality and mythology
Key characteristics include: fantastical
elements woven into reality, authorial reticence
(withholding information), mystery, political
critique and intentionally subversive
Jorge Luis Borges, Laura Esquivel, Isabel
Allende
Not to be confused with “lo real maravilloso”
(think fairy tales)
Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon
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The search for identity
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The importance of art
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Commentary on social status and wealth
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Dreaming
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Again, look at Márquez's Nobel Prize
acceptance speech!
Artificial Roses
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Confusion of characters
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Limited information
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Religion as illogical or logical? Trinidad,
three keys
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Guilt
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Sanity vs. insanity
Big Mama's Funeral
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Framed narrative establishes reality
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Political satire
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Exaggeration
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Ownership
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Humor – do we always see this in
Márquez's stories?
Magical realism in art
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Franz Roh in 1925 “magischer realismus” questioning the mundane for “interior” mystery
Small details are important
1930s-50s “everyday reality, but has overtones
of fantasy and wonder”
Bettina Shaw-Lawrence, Paul Cadmus, George
Tooker, Andrew Wyeth
Literary film genre – Like Water for Chocolate,
Edward Scissorhands, The Life Aquatic, Pan's
Labyrinth, O Brother Where Art Thou?, and
more...
Christina's World (1948)
The limits of magical realism
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Inherently political because it challenges
what is “real” to begin with”
Can stereotype Latin American authors,
who are closely associated with this
genre
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Postcolonial marginalization
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Intentionally confusing?