Magic Realism in Latin America

1
Magic Realism in Latin America

• By
• Sean Willson-Schafer

2
Magic Realism

• What is Magic Realism?
• What are its origins?
• How did it come to be so popular in Latin
  America?
• Key contributors to the movement in Latin
  America?
• Important works?

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Origins from European Art

• Term first used by German art critic Franz Roh
• Magical Realism Post-expressionism - 1925
• Needed a new term to describe this art
• Art Movement gained popularity in Europe
• Using the Post-Expressionist style, but borrowing
  from Expressionism
• Return to a more realistic style
• Integrates the exaggerated and surreal

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Jump to Latin America

• Ideas of magic realism were already in use
• Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, Existentialism
• Late 19th century- Latin American Literature
  changes
• Less historical focus
• More romantic and realistic stories
• Franz Rohs essay translated into Spanish -1927
• Influence from the Post-Expressionism movement in
  Europe

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Jump to Latin America

• Continuation of Romanticism, Realism, and
  Naturalism
• Horacio Quiroga, Antonio Argerich, Lucio V.
  López, Eugenio Cambaceres, Julian Martel
• Idea of combining reality with the fantastic or
  surreal
• Jorge Luis Borges
• Combined realism and fantasy
• Influenced by Franz Kafka and H.G. Wells
• Borges is the link to the Magic Realism movement-
  Not the beginning

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Magic Realism In Latin America

• Arturo Uslar Pietri- Letras y hombres de
  Venezuela - 1948
• What became prominent in the short story and
  left an indelible mark there was the
  consideration of man as a mystery surrounded by
  realistic facts. A poetic prediction or a poetic
  denial of reality. What for lack of a better name
  could be called a magical realism -Pietri (Leal
  120).
• Latin American authors embraced this idea and
  magic realism was born.

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Magic Realism In Latin America

• Authors begin to focus on the ideas of Magic
  Realism- Late 1940s, 50s, 60s
• Pietri, Miguel Angel Asturias, Alejo Carpentier,
  Lino Nová Calvo, Juan Rulfo, Julio Cortázar
• Confronted the mysteries of reality
• Gabriel García Márquez- One Hundred Years of
  Solitude - 1967
• Combined magic realism with what was also used
  before the movement
• Why so popular in Latin America?

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What does this all mean?Defining Magic Realism

• Realistic situations with a mysterious or
  unexplainable event accepted as a normal
  occurrence
• In Magic Realism, nothing is considered strange
• Some events are not logical
• What is truth is sometimes unclear
• Everything is left up to the reader
• Ending is not given- The pieces are presented and
  the reader must put them together
• The magical aspect has no explanation
• The principle thing is not the creation of
  imaginary beings or worlds but the discovery of
  the mysterious relationship between man and his
  circumstances (Leal 122).

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Works Cited

• Flores, Angel. "Magical Realism in Spanish
  American Fiction." Magical Realism Theory,
  History,Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora
  and Wendy B. Faris. Durham Duke UP, 1995.
  109-117.
• Jupp, James C. "The Necessity of the Literary
  Tradition Gabriel García Márquez's 'One-Hundred
  Years of Solitude.'" English Journal 89.3 (Jan.
  2000) 113-115. 26 Feb.2008
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• Leal, Luis. "Magical Realism in Spanish American
  Literature." Magical Realism Theory, History,
  Community. Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B.
  Faris. Trans. Wendy B. Faris. Durham Duke UP,
  1995. 119-124.
• Roh, Franz. "Magic Realism Post-Expressionism."
  Magical Realism Theory, History, Community.
  Ed. Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris.
  Trans. Wendy B. Faris. Durham Duke UP, 1995.
  15-31.
• Salgado, Maria A. "Trends of Spanish American
  Fiction since 1950." South Atlantic Bulletin 43.
  1 (Jan. 1978) 19-29. Jstor. 26 Feb. 2008
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