Editing Magical realism (section)

==Major topics in criticism==

===Ambiguities in definition===
Mexican critic [[Luis Leal (writer)|Luis Leal]] summed up the difficulty of defining magical realism by writing, "If you can explain it, then it's not magical realism."<ref>García, ''Leal'', p. 127–28</ref> He offers his own definition by writing, "Without thinking of the concept of magical realism, each writer gives expression to a reality he observes in the people. To me, magical realism is an attitude on the part of the characters in the novel toward the world", or toward nature.

Leal and Guenther both quote [[Arturo Uslar-Pietri]], who described "man as a mystery surrounded by realistic facts. A poetic prediction or a poetic denial of reality. What for lack of another name could be called a magical realism."<ref>[[Arturo Uslar Pietri|Pietri, Arturo Uslar]]. 1949. ''Letras y hombres de Venezuela''. Mexico City: [[Fondo de Cultura Económica|Fondo de Cultura Economica]]. p. 161.</ref>

===Western and native worldviews===
The critical perspective towards magical realism as a conflict between reality and abnormality stems from the Western reader's disassociation with [[mythology]], a root of magical realism more easily understood by non-Western cultures.<ref name="Faris, Wendy B pp. 3-4">Faris, Wendy B., and Zamora, Lois Parkinson. "Introduction". In ''Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community''.</ref>{{Rp|3–4}} Western confusion regarding magical realism is due to the "conception of the real" created in a magical realist text: rather than explain reality using natural or physical laws, as in typical Western texts, magical realist texts create a reality "in which the relation between incidents, characters, and setting could not be based upon or justified by their status within the physical world or their normal acceptance by bourgeois mentality."<ref>Angel Flores, quoted in {{cite journal|last=Simpkins|first=Scott|title=Magical Strategies: The Supplement of Realism|journal=Twentieth Century Literature|volume=34|number=2|pages=140–154|year=1988|doi=10.2307/441074|jstor=441074}} p. 142.</ref>

Guatemalan author [[William Spindler]]'s article, "Magic realism: A Typology",<ref>Spindler, William (1993). "Magic realism: A Typology". ''Forum for Modern Language Studies'' 39(1). https://leftychan.net/edu/src/1608528039596.pdf</ref> suggests that there are three kinds of magic realism, which however are by no means incompatible:<ref>Cited in {{cite conference|title=''Ceremony'': A Case Study in Literary Anthropology |pages=9–15 |last=Aniballi |first=Francesca |book-title=Diverse Engagement: Drawing in the Margins |editor1-first=Matthew |editor1-last=French |editor2-first=Simon |editor2-last=Jackson |editor3-first=Elina |editor3-last=Jokisuu |conference=Proceedings of the University of Cambridge Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference |date=June 2010 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |url=http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/1810/225960/3/French,%20M.,%20Jackson,%20S.%20Jokisuu,%20E.%20(2010)%20'Diverse%20Engagement%20-%20Drawing%20in%20the%20Margins'%20online%20edition-3.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119235615/http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/1810/225960/3/French,%20M.,%20Jackson,%20S.%20Jokisuu,%20E.%20(2010)%20'Diverse%20Engagement%20-%20Drawing%20in%20the%20Margins'%20online%20edition-3.pdf |archive-date=2012-01-19 |access-date=2024-01-11}}</ref>

* European "[[Metaphysics|metaphysical]]" magic realism, with its sense of estrangement and the uncanny, exemplified by [[Kafka]]'s fiction;
* "[[Ontology|ontological]]" magical realism, characterized by "matter-of-factness" in relating "inexplicable" events; and
* "[[Anthropology|anthropological]]" magical realism, where a Native worldview is set side by side with the Western rational worldview.

Spindler's typology of magic realism has been criticized as:<ref>Connell, Liam. 1998. "Discarding Magic Realism: Modernism, Anthropology, and Critical Practice". ''ARIEL'' 29(2):95–110.</ref>

{{blockquote|[A]n act of categorization which seeks to define Magic Realism as a culturally specific project, by identifying for his readers those (non-modern) societies where myth and magic persist and where Magic Realism might be expected to occur. There are objections to this analysis. Western rationalism models may not actually describe Western modes of thinking and it is possible to conceive of instances where both orders of knowledge are simultaneously possible.}}

===Lo real maravilloso===
[[Alejo Carpentier]] originated the term {{lang|es|lo real maravilloso}} (roughly 'the marvelous real') in the prologue to his novel ''[[The Kingdom of this World]]'' (1949); however, some debate whether he is truly a magical realist writer, or simply a precursor and source of inspiration. Maggie Bowers claims he is widely acknowledged as the originator of Latin American magical realism (as both a novelist and critic);<ref name="Bowers, Maggie A. 2004"/> she describes Carpentier's conception as a kind of heightened reality where elements of the miraculous can appear while seeming natural and unforced. She suggests that by disassociating himself and his writings from Roh's painterly magic realism, Carpentier aimed to show how&mdash;by virtue of Latin America's varied history, geography, demography, politics, myths, and beliefs&mdash;improbable and marvelous things are made possible.<ref name="Bowers, Maggie A. 2004"/> Furthermore, Carpentier's meaning is that Latin America is a land filled with marvels, and that "writing about this land automatically produces a literature of marvelous reality."<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Alejocarpentier.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Alejo Carpentier]]

"The marvelous" may be easily confused with magical realism, as both modes introduce supernatural events without surprising the implied author. In both, these magical events are expected and accepted as everyday occurrences. However, the marvelous world is a unidimensional world. The implied author believes that anything can happen here, as the entire world is filled with supernatural beings and situations to begin with. Fairy tales are a good example of marvelous literature. The important idea in defining the marvelous is that readers understand that this fictional world is different from the world where they live. The "marvelous" one-dimensional world differs from the ''bidimensional'' world of magical realism because, in the latter, the supernatural realm blends with the natural, familiar world (arriving at the combination of ''two'' layers of reality: bidimensionality).<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|15}} While some use the terms magical realism and lo real maravilloso interchangeably, the key difference lies in the focus.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|11}}

Critic [[Luis Leal (writer)|Luis Leal]] attests that Carpentier was an originating pillar of the magical realist style by implicitly referring to the latter's critical works, writing that "The existence of the marvelous real is what started magical realist literature, which some critics claim is ''the'' truly American literature."<ref>Leal, Luis. "Magical Realism in Spanish America". In ''MR: Theory, History, Community''. pp. 122</ref> It can consequently be drawn that Carpentier's {{lang|es|lo real maravilloso}} is especially distinct from 'magical realism' by the fact that the former applies specifically to ''América'' (the American content).<ref name="Daniel, Lee A 1982"/> On that note, Lee A. Daniel categorizes critics of Carpentier into three groups: those that do not consider him a magical realist whatsoever (Ángel Flores), those that call him "a {{lang|es|italic=no|mágicorealista}} writer with no mention of his {{lang|es|italic=no|'lo real maravilloso'}} (Gómez Gil, Jean Franco, Carlos Fuentes)", and those that use the two terms interchangeably (Fernando Alegria, Luis Leal, Emir Rodriguez Monegal).<ref name="Daniel, Lee A 1982"/>

===Latin American exclusivity===
Ángel Flores states that magical realism is an international commodity but that it has a [[Latin America|Hispanic]] birthplace, writing that "Magical realism is a continuation of the romantic realist tradition of Spanish language literature and its European counterparts."<ref>Flores, Angel. "Magical Realism in Spanish America". In ''MR: Theory, History, Community''.</ref> There is disagreement between those who see magical realism as a Latin American invention and those who see it as the global product of a [[postmodern]] world.<ref name="Faris, Wendy B pp. 3-4" /> Guenther concludes, "Conjecture aside, it is in Latin America that [magic realism] was primarily seized by literary criticism and was, through translation and literary appropriation, transformed."<ref name="Guenther1995" />{{rp|61}} Magic realism has been internationalized: dozens of non-Hispanic writers are categorized as such, and many believe that it truly ''is'' an international commodity.<ref name="Faris, Wendy B pp. 3-4" />{{Rp|4, 8}}

===Postmodernism===
Some have argued that connecting magical realism to postmodernism is a logical next step. To further connect the two concepts, there are descriptive commonalities between the two that Belgian critic Theo D'haen addresses in his essay, "Magical Realism and Postmodernism". While authors such as [[Günter Grass]], [[Thomas Bernhard]], [[Peter Handke]], [[Italo Calvino]], [[John Fowles]], [[Angela Carter]], [[John Banville]], [[Michel Tournier]], [[Willem Brakman]], and [[Louis Ferron]] might be widely considered postmodernist, they can "just as easily be categorized&nbsp;... magic realist".<ref>D'haen, Theo L. "Magical realism and postmodernism". In ''MR: Theory, History, Community''. pp. 193</ref> A list has been compiled of characteristics one might typically attribute to postmodernism, but that also could describe literary magic realism: "[[self-reflexive]]ness, metafiction, [[eclecticism]], redundancy, multiplicity, discontinuity, [[intertextuality]], [[parody]], the dissolution of character and narrative instance, the erasure of boundaries, and the destabilization of the reader".<ref>D'haen, Theo L. "Magical realism and postmodernism". In ''MR: Theory, History, Community''. pp. 192–93. D'haen references many texts that attest to these qualities.</ref> To further connect the two, magical realism and postmodernism share the themes of post-colonial discourse, in which jumps in time and focus cannot really be explained with scientific but rather with magical reasoning; textualization (of the reader); and metafiction.

Concerning attitude toward audience, the two have, some argue, a lot in common. Magical realist works do not seek to primarily satisfy a popular audience, but instead, a sophisticated audience that must be attuned to noticing textual "subtleties".<ref name="jstor.org"/> While the postmodern writer condemns escapist literature (like fantasy, crime, ghost fiction), he/she is inextricably related to it concerning readership. There are two modes in [[postmodern literature]]: one, commercially successful pop fiction, and the other, philosophy, better suited to intellectuals. A singular reading of the first mode will render a distorted or reductive understanding of the text. The fictitious reader&mdash;such as Aureliano from ''100 Years of Solitude''&mdash;is the hostage used to express the writer's anxiety on this issue of who is reading the work and to what ends, and of how the writer is forever reliant upon the needs and desires of readers (the market).<ref name=":3" /> The magic realist writer with difficulty must reach a balance between saleability and intellectual integrity. Wendy Faris, talking about magic realism as a contemporary phenomenon that leaves modernism for postmodernism, says, "Magic realist fictions do seem more youthful and popular than their modernist predecessors, in that they often (though not always) cater with unidirectional story lines to our basic desire to hear what happens next. Thus they may be more clearly designed for the entertainment of readers."<ref>Faris, Wendy. "Scheherezade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction". In ''MR: Theory, History, Community''. p. 163.</ref>