Editing Magical realism (section)

===Realism===
[[Literary realism|Realism]] is an attempt to create a depiction of actual life; a novel does not simply rely on what it presents but ''how'' it presents it.  In this way, a realist narrative acts as framework by which the reader constructs a world using the raw materials of life.  Understanding both realism and magical realism within the realm of a narrative mode is key to understanding both terms. Magical realism "relies upon the presentation of real, imagined or magical elements as if they were real. It relies upon realism, but only so that it can stretch what is acceptable as real to its limits."<ref name="Bowers, Maggie A. 2004" />{{Rp|22}} Literary theorist Kornelije Kvas wrote that "what is created in magic(al) realism works is a fictional world close to reality, marked by a strong presence of the unusual and the fantastic, in order to point out, among other things, the contradictions and shortcomings of society. The presence of the element of the fantastic does not violate the manifest coherence of a work that is characteristic of traditional realist literature. Fantastic (magical) elements appear as part of everyday reality, function as saviors of the human against the onslaught of conformism, evil and totalitarianism. Moreover, in magical realism works we find objective narration characteristic of traditional, 19th-century realism."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Boundaries of Realism in World Literature|last=Kvas|first=Kornelije|publisher=Lexington Books|year=2019|isbn=978-1-7936-0910-6|location=Lanham, Boulder, New York, London|pages=29}}</ref>

As a simple point of comparison, Roh's differentiation between expressionism and post-expressionism as described in ''German Art in the 20th Century,'' may be applied to magic realism and realism. [[Realism (arts)|Realism]] pertains to the terms "history", "[[Mimesis|mimetic]]", "familiarization", "empiricism/logic", "narration", "closure-ridden/reductive naturalism", and "[[Rationalization (sociology)|rationalization]]/[[cause and effect]]".<ref name="Simpkins, Scott 1988">{{cite journal |last1=Simpkins |first1=Scott |title=Magical Strategies: The Supplement of Realism |journal=Twentieth Century Literature |date=1988 |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=140–154 |doi=10.2307/441074 |jstor=441074}}</ref> On the other hand, magic realism encompasses the terms "myth/legend", "fantastic/supplementation", "[[defamiliarization]]", "[[mysticism]]/magic", "[[Metanarrative|meta-narration]]", "open-ended/expansive [[romanticism]]", and "imagination/negative capability".<ref name="Simpkins, Scott 1988"/>