Magical Realism
Magic Realism from OED:
"Originally: a style of painting which depicts fantastic or bizarre
images in a precise representationalist manner (first used in German to
describe the work of members of the Neue
Sachlichkeit movement). In
extended use: any artistic or esp. literary style in which realistic
techniques such as naturalistic detail, narrative, etc., are similarly
combined with surreal or dreamlike elements."
- Characters and readers experience uncanny moments,
such the supernatural and ghosts.
- However, unlike fantasy, the world of magical
realism is bifocal;
the fantastical exists not on its own, but rather alongside the
seemingly mundane or real.
- "combines two different
worlds" (A. Nunez + K.
Franco, Mar. 08):
• magic/fantasy and the everyday/real
• magical vs. modern
• life and death
• childhood and adulthood
• sleeping and wakefulness
- Uses
personification and features generational repetition in
order to depict conflict between traditional/authoritative
politics and revolution/rebellion.
G. G. Marquez, "Very Old
Man with Enormous
Wings" (457)
Answer 2 of the following 4 questions in groups of 3 to 4,
and you
must all answer the final question.
1. Why are there crabs in
the house? Is it for the same
reason the old man with enormous wings falls in the
courtyard? What other associations does the story make
between the old man and the crabs?
2. How does the old man differ from
our usual conceptions
of angels? What is the essential difference?
3. Explain Father Gonzaga’s approach
to the angel. What implications—about the angel and about the
church—may
be derived from his failure to communicate with him effectively?
4. Who receives the benefit of the
angel’s success as a sideshow
freak? Why does he fall? Compare what he has to offer with
what the spider-woman has. What reasons might people have
to prefer her?
Final Question: What morals does this
story teach?
Haruki Murakami, "The
Dancing Dwarf"
1. In what ways does
Murakami clearly speak to a Western, and not a Japanese, audience?
(242, 244)
2. In what ways does “The Dancing Dwarf” utilize magical realism? (242,
245, 255)
3. What does the narrator’s profession symbolize? (245, 246)
4. What was the revolution that occurred in the past? What is the
current political landscape? (248, 249)
5. What does the dwarf symbolize? What’s the effect of the dwarf’s
dancing? What is the dwarf’s connection to the revolution? (250-52, 256)
6. What is the moral, if any, of “The Dancing Dwarf”?
Translations by W. C. Nielsen:
395: "Avez-vous fait des etudes?"
Have you studied (at university)?
396: "À Paris, Madame."
In Paris, Madame.
"Ah, oui, ça me fait plaisir, toujours, toujours, d’entendre .
.. oui . . . vous savez . . . on était tellement
habitué . . . et après . . . “
Ah, yes, that always, always pleases me to hear . . . yes . . . you
know . . . one was used to so much . . . and before . . .
407: “Elle avait quinze ans lorsque je l’ai connue et, si j’ose le
dire, ce sont ses yeux verts qui ont fait ma
perdition”
She was fifteen when I met her and, if I dare say so, those green eyes
were the end of me.
“Ma jeune poupée aux yeux verts; je t’ai comblée d’amour”
My green-eyed girl [also: doll or puppet], I filled you with love
“J’ai même supporté ta haine des chats, moi qui aimais
tellement les jolies bêtes . . . “
I even supported your hatred of the cats, me who so loves beautiful
beasts
“tu faisais ça d’une façon si innocente, par pur
enfantillage”
You did that in so innocent a way, with pure childishness.
“parce que tu m’avais dit que torturer les chats était ta
manière à toi de rendre notre amour favorable, par un
sacrifice symbolique . . . “
because you told me that torturing the cats was your way of restoring
our love propitiously, with a symbolic sacrifice
“Tu sais si bien t’habiller, ma douce Consuelo, toujours drapée
dans de velours verts, verts comme tes yeux. Je pense que tu seras
toujours belle, même dans cent ans . . . “
You dress so well, my sweet Consuelo, always draped in green velvet,
green like your eyes. I think that you will always be beautiful, the
same in a hundred years . . .
“tu es si fière de ta beauté; que ne ferias tu pas pour
rester toujour jeune?”
you are so proud of your beauty; only will you stay young forever?
415: “Consuelo, le démon aussi était un ange, avant . . .
“
Consuelo, the demon was also an angel, before . . .
“Fait pour notre dixième anniversaire de marriage”
Taken on our tenth wedding anniversary
Saints:
401: St. Sebastian is patron
saint of athletes and soldiers
General Discussion Question: To what
purpose does Fuentes employ magical realism in this novella? What does
he allegorize about Mexico/the New World and modernity?
Clarice
Lispector, "The Smallest Woman in the World" ("A menor mulher do
mundo," 1960)
Translations:
- 385: Bishop translates "little spouse" from a word Lispector invents,
"concubino," a masculine form of the word for concubine (normally only
used in a feminine form, concubina)
(Rosenberg 74).
- Pretre means "priest" in French
Thomas Mann,
"The Wardrobe"
Translations:
- Qual means pain, anguish, or agony in German
- Hotel zum braven Mann = Brave Man Hotel
What is the role of women in magical realist stories?
What is magical realism? : Define magical realism using your
own examples from at least three works we have read in Unit II, such as
stories from Magical Realist Fiction, and the movie Like Water for Chocolate. Direct
your analyses and answers toward answering the following questions: a) What extra-literary realities does
magical realism expose, be they post-colonial identity, gender
identity, and/or the perceived threat of modernity? b) Why do authors
employ magical realism to make these points? I suggest you
examine closely the ways in which magically real moments—while
apparently moments of love and passion—also allegorize power
relationships.
Works Cited
Rosenberg, Judith. "Taking
Her Measurements. Clarice Lispector and 'The Smallest Woman in the
World'." Critique 30.2
(Winter 1989): 71-6.
Wendy C. Nielsen, "Magical Realism Unit," Apr. 2008