History of the term
Magic realism is a special artistic and literary method in which reality is intertwined with unreality, a miracle.
This term was first used by art historian Franz Roo to describe avant-garde painting of the early 20th century. In his opinion, expressionists who break the perspective and deliberately distort the space in the paintings, in fact, so express their horror from the changing modern world – it is worth remembering the picture of E. Munch “Scream.”
Magicalists, on the contrary, are trying to overcome this horror by creating another, wonderful world that is closely connected with the real world. They’re going to the two world.
Duality is a concept of mutual penetration and coexistence of two worlds: the present and the invented. Unlike reality, the imaginary world is ideal and perfect for the artist, and the rules of this world can change depending on his desires.
The term magical realism was first applied to literature by Massimo Bontempelli. He published the magazine “Novecento” and developed the theory of Franz Roo on its pages. Bontempelli, like Roo, believed that the world is multidimensional for magical realists. It contains both imaginary and reality, and the person himself within this world can travel and choose the dimension where he is more comfortable. Bontempelli called this property of the world spiritual geometry. With the help of it, a person can find a “spiritual homeland”, find their place and harmony.
Miracle in magical realism: what is it?
Despite the fact that the term “magic realism” originated in Europe, it is firmly linked to Latin American literature.
It all started with the Spanish colonizers. In 1492, Columbus discovered Latin America. At that time, indigenous Indians live there with their own traditions, beliefs, legends and way of life. And the world that Europeans see when they dock at an unfamiliar shore is very different from the one they are used to. Conquistadors chronicle and record everything they see, comparing it to life at home.
From these records it is clear that for them this place becomes a place of miracles, something magical, while for the Indians it remains a reality.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a iconic magical realist for world literature, once said:
It always amuses me that imagination deserved the greatest praise in my work, although in fact I do not have a single line that does not rely on reality. The problem is that on this continent reality is like the fruit of the most violent imagination.
It turns out that magical realism (literally the magic of reality) is the basis of Latin American life. They see the world multidimensional, full of miracles and do not perceive it as something unusual. While Europeans were so struck by life in Latin America that they came up with a separate name for the literary direction that describes this life.
Magical realism and fantasy: what’s the difference
Fantasy and fantasy are separate genres of literature. They have unusual heroes and a magical, unrealistic world in which they exist. In magical realism, the characters are ordinary people, and the world around them is also quite real. Only a miracle is interwoven into it, which no one perceives as something unusual.
Signs of magical realism as a literary method
The flow of time is distorted. For example, the present repeats the past or changes places with it, heroes often see dreams that replace reality, enter a trance state. Time is perceived as a convention, so it can slow down and accelerate, split and distort.
There are folklore elements, motives of legends and talls. The myth in magical realism is not only a reference and creation of colorful images, but also a way of knowing the existing reality. Through myth, legends and beliefs, writers are trying to comprehend the world we live in now.
Open final. Such an ending is not unique in itself, but in magical realism there are always more questions than answers. The deliberately open ending makes the reader sum up and draw a conclusion from what he has read.
Topics of loneliness, unrepeny and rethinking of the existing reality. Despite the abundance of events, the heroes of magical realists are usually very lonely. They are trying to understand why they live and are endlessly looking for their place in this multifaceted world.