Magical RealismMagical RealismIn application to Toni Morrison’s In application to Toni Morrison’s BelovedBeloved

Spectrum of modern genres

FantasyFantasy RealismRealism

EscapismEscapism

MagicMagicScience FictionScience Fiction

SupernaturalSupernatural

ExpressionismExpressionism

SurrealismSurrealism

Magical RealismMagical Realism

RealismRealism

Focus on showing life Focus on showing life as it really is. They try as it really is. They try not to romanticize or not to romanticize or idolize or hyperbolize.idolize or hyperbolize.

Mark Twain, Stephen Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Dostoyevsky Crane, Dostoyevsky

19th-20th century19th-20th century

Early realists focused Early realists focused on representing lives on representing lives not previously seen in not previously seen in fine arts (women, the fine arts (women, the poor, workers, street poor, workers, street life, ethnicities) .life, ethnicities) .

Gustave Courbet, Stone-Breakers

ExpressionismExpressionism

• MaMa

Presents the world in Presents the world in a subjective a subjective perspective, distorting perspective, distorting it for emotional effect, it for emotional effect, to evoke moods or to evoke moods or ideas.ideas.

Seeks emotional Seeks emotional experience and experience and represents that over represents that over physical realism.physical realism.

Hemingway, Hemingway, Faulkner, JoyceFaulkner, Joyce

Beginning of 20th Beginning of 20th centurycentury

SurrealismSurrealism Salvador Dali, “Persistence of Salvador Dali, “Persistence of Memory”Memory”

Inserts irrational Inserts irrational and dreamlike and dreamlike images or elements images or elements into realistic style or into realistic style or setting.setting.

Surprising and Surprising and unexpected unexpected juxtapositionsjuxtapositions

Seeks to engage Seeks to engage the unconscious the unconscious mind in creating mind in creating works of works of imagination.imagination.

1920’s -40’s1920’s -40’s

Magical RealismMagical Realism• “ It is predominantly an

art of surprises. Time exists in a kind of timeless fluidity and the unreal happens as part of reality.”

• ““Magic becomes art Magic becomes art when it has nothing to when it has nothing to hide.”hide.”

• “a world view that is not based on natural or physical laws nor objective reality”

• ““make the unseen or make the unseen or hidden elements of hidden elements of society visible.”society visible.”

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are needed to see this picture.

Michael Parkes “Gargoyles”Michael Parkes “Gargoyles”

Elements included in Magical Elements included in Magical RealismRealism

• Hybridity - is illustrated in the inharmonious arenas of such opposites as urban and rural, and Western and indigenous. The plots of magical realist works involve issues of borders, mixing, and change… often Latin American, Native American, Middle Eastern

• Irony Regarding Author’s Perspective—The writer must have ironic distance from the magical world view for the realism not to be compromised. Authorial reticence refers to the lack of clear opinions about the accuracy of events and the credibility of the world views expressed by the characters in the text.

• Unusual sequence of events and POV – fragmented time sequences, flashbacks, stream of consciousness, frequently switching point of view

• The Supernatural and Natural—In magical realism, the supernatural is not displayed as questionable.

• Realistic setting and conflict Realistic setting and conflict (often points out or protests social or political concerns)(often points out or protests social or political concerns)

• Elements patterned on fairytales, tall tales, mythology, the mystic/spiritual, Elements patterned on fairytales, tall tales, mythology, the mystic/spiritual, folklorefolklore, and a bond with the traditions or faith of a community. Events presented as , and a bond with the traditions or faith of a community. Events presented as absolutely real and often go unquestioned but have dreamlike or fairy-tale like qualities.absolutely real and often go unquestioned but have dreamlike or fairy-tale like qualities.

Well-known magical realist worksWell-known magical realist works

• Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of SolitudeOne Hundred Years of Solitude

• Laura Esquivel, Laura Esquivel, Like Water for ChocolateLike Water for Chocolate

• Ben Okri, Ben Okri, The Famished RoadThe Famished Road

• Toni Morrison, Toni Morrison, BelovedBeloved

• WP Kinsella, WP Kinsella, Shoeless Joe Shoeless Joe (made into the film, (made into the film, Field of DreamsField of Dreams))

• Salman Rushdie, Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s ChildrenMidnight’s Children

• These novels violate, in various ways, standard novelistic expectations by drastic experiments with subject matter, form, style, temporal sequence, and fusions of the everyday, the fantastic, the mythical, and the nightmarish, in renderings that blur traditional distinctions between what is serious or trivial, horrible or ludicrous, tragic or comic.

Problems with the term - Problems with the term - Magical RealismMagical Realism• Some claim that it is a postcolonial hangover, a

category used by "whites" to marginalize the fiction of the "other."

• Others claim that it is a passé literary trend, or just a way to cash in on the Latin American "boom."

• Still others feel the term is simply too limiting, and acts to remove the fiction in question from the world of serious literature.

Application to Application to BelovedBeloved

• Hybridity – morphing from the living to the dead and the “living Hybridity – morphing from the living to the dead and the “living dead” (not zombies). Also morphing from African to American, dead” (not zombies). Also morphing from African to American, from slave to free…from slave to free…

• Supernatural – a ghost haunts the house quite literally but also Supernatural – a ghost haunts the house quite literally but also metaphorically. The ghost materializes into a girl (this is metaphorically. The ghost materializes into a girl (this is questionable but there are subtle hints)questionable but there are subtle hints)

• Realistic Setting: Realistic Setting: Set in 1873 just after the American Civil War (1861–1865), it is based on the true story of the African-American slave, Margaret Garner, who escaped slavery in 1856 in Kentucky by fleeing to Ohio

• Experimental structure: non-linear, flashbacks, fragmentation in stories, multiple POV switching frequently, stream of consciousness

• Incorporation of African folklore and beliefs about death

What we need to look What we need to look for…for…

• How does Morrison’s techniques (elements of How does Morrison’s techniques (elements of magical realism) affect our interpretation and magical realism) affect our interpretation and experience of this story? experience of this story?

• How does magical realism and the structure of How does magical realism and the structure of the story reinforce the themes and meaning of the story reinforce the themes and meaning of the work as a whole?the work as a whole?