PERSPECTIVES SERIES
Magical Realism
When magic appears in the world we know.
Have you ever read a description of the real world embellished with magical, enchanted details? If the answer is yes, you’ve stumbled upon what writers call Magical realism.
It is this Magical realism that we talk about in this article of the Perspective Series.
What is Magical realism?
This perspective narration was born first in figurative language than written language. It was a device used as early as the 1920s to make real-world photographs magical.
Thus, urban backgrounds were depicted with a music box, a magic lamp, a magician’s wand, or any other detail that could distract the viewer’s gaze from everyday reality and make him focus on the magical element.
Some examples of Magical realism in narration
It seems that magical realism in literature began to spread later, particularly after the mid-1900s. One of the first to use it was Gabriel Garcia Marquez. His work, “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, described the vicissitudes of a well-to-do Colombian family by inserting magical elements such as local beliefs and tales of superstition.
Even in Italy, we had an author who extensively used this perspective technique, Dino Buzzati. In many of his stories, magical and enchanted objects appear.
When reading “The bewitched jacket”, the reader does not ask himself why there is a magical jacket but accepts its presence in everyday reality as if it could be his own and follows the story with attention. One forgets that the whole story revolves around elements that do not exist.
Magical realism: what is it all about?
Magical realism aims to bring the reader into a world other than the everyday.
The magical elements, intertwined with the real world, are described so carefully and naturally that the reader accepts them without asking too many questions.
The initial reaction is one of amazement and estrangement. What is a magic lamp doing in the desert? But as the story continues, these objects become an integral part of the narrative reality, so much so that they appear real and natural.
Characteristics of Magical realism
One of the first features of this perspective is that it distorts time. The author manipulates it, reverses it, and no longer has a timeline.
Similarly, the cause-and-effect binomial no longer exists. Some events can happen before their cause.
Then, of course, the presence of at least one magical element is crucial.
Legends, folk beliefs, spirits, and animate objects naturally become part of the narrative.
I couldn’t tell if I was living in a dream, if I was happy or if I was suffocating under the weight of a fatality that was too great. On the street, through the raincoat, I was constantly groping at the magical pocket. Each time I breathed with relief. Under the fabric, the comforting crunch of paper money answered.
Dino Buzzati- The bewitched jacket
Conclusions
Magic realism is a narrative perspective that the author can use to create a different narrative than usual, set in the real world but in which magical elements are present.
The reader is attracted to the magic of these elements but, at the same time, accepts their existence in the real world.
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