Magic Realism

Magic Realism Magic Realism is a literary movement associated MOVEMENT ORIGIN with a style of writing or technique that incorpo- rates magical or supernatural events into realistic c. 1940 narrative without questioning the improbability of these events. This fusion of fact and fantasy is meant to question the nature of reality as well as call attention to the act of creation. By making lived experience appear extraordinary, magical realist writers contribute to a re-envisioning of Latin-American culture as vibrant and complex. The movement originated in the fictional writing of Spanish American writers in the mid-twentieth century and is generally claimed to have begun in the 1940s with the publication of two important novels: Men of Maize by Guatemalan writer Miguel Angel Asturias and The Kingdom of This World by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier. What is most striking about both of these novels is their ability to infuse their narratives with an atmos- phere steeped in the indigenous folklore, cultural beliefs, geography, and history of a particular geographic and political landscape. However, at the same time that their settings are historically correct, the events that occur may appear improb- able, even unimaginable. Characters change into animals, and slaves are aided by the dead; time reverses and moves backward, and other events occur simultaneously. Thus, magic realist works present the reader with a perception of the world where nothing is taken for granted and where anything can happen. 437 Magic Realism The fantastical qualities of this style of writing were heavily influenced by the surrealist movement in Europe of the 1920s and literary avant-gardism as well as by the exotic natural surroundings, native and exiled cultures, and tumultuous political histories of Latin America. Although other Latin America writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Carlos Fuentes, and Julio Cortazar used elements of magic and fantasy in their work, it was not until the publication of Gabriel Garcı´ aMa´ rquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude in English in 1970 that the movement became an international phenomenon. Subse- quently, women writers such as Isabel Allende from Chile and Laura Esquivel from Mexico have become part of this movement’s later devel- opments, contributing a focus on women’s issues and perceptions of reality. Since its inception, Magic Realism has become a technique used widely in all parts of the world. Thus, writers such as Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, and Sherman Alexie have been added to the magic realist canon of writers because of their use of Isabel Allende (Archive Photos / Getty Images) magical elements in real-life historical settings. including De amor y de sombra (Of Love and REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORS Shadows), translated in 1987, Eva Luna, translated in 1988, which won a number of national Isabel Allende (1942–) book awards, including the Before Columbus Isabel Angelica Allende was born on August 2, Foundation award, the Freedom to Write Pen 1942, in Lima, Peru, the daughter of a Chilean Club Award in 1991, and the Brandeis Univer- diplomat, Tomas, and his wife, Francisca. They sity Major Book Collection Award in 1993. later moved to Chile, where Isabel attended a Allende’s later books include Ines of My Soul: private school. Afterwards, she worked for a A Novel (2006) and The Sum of Our Days: A United Nations development organization Memoir (2008). Allende became a U.S. citizen before becoming a journalist in Santiago. in 2003; as of 2008 she resided in California. Allende’s most notable family member was her uncle, the Chilean president Salvador Allende, Miguel Ańgel Asturias (1899–1974) who was assassinated in 1973 as part of a mili- Born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Octo- tary coup. This event heavily influenced Allende, ber 19, 1899, Asturias was the son of a Supreme who commented in an interview later that she Court magistrate, Ernesto, who later became an divided her life before and after the day of her importer, and his wife, Maria Asturias. He uncle’s assassination. Her first novel, La casa de became a lawyer in 1923 and left Guatemala los espı´ritus (The House of the Spirits), published for political reasons, residing in Paris and study- in 1982, won a number of international awards ing history of ancient Mesoamerican cultures at in Mexico, Germany, France, and Belgium. In the Sorbonne in Paris from 1923 to 1928. In the mid-1980s, Allende moved to the United Paris, he associated with members of the surre- States where she has taught creative writing at alist movement, such as Andre Breton and Paul various universities. In 1985, an English trans- Valery. His exposure to Surrealism as well as his lation of her first novel, The House of the Spirits, intellectual and political interests in Central was published by Knopf. Since then, she has American indigenous cultures would later influ- written a number of other well-known novels, ence his own writing. Returning to Guatemala in 438 Literary Movements for Students, Second Edition, Volume 2 Magic Realism 1933, Asturias worked as a journalist, publishing Mikhail Bulgakov (1891–1940) books of poetry in small presses. In 1942, he was Mikhail Bulgakov was born in Kiev, Ukraine, elected deputy to the Guatemalan congress and on May 3, 1891. Although trained as a medical later became a diplomat under Jose Arevalo’s professional, Bulgakov gave up medicine to pur- presidency. In 1946, he published his first sue writing in 1919. The next ten years were novel, El senõr presidente, translated in English rocky for his career; by 1929, Bulgakov was as Mr. President, which garnered praise from unable to publish his novels, short stories, both South and North American critics. His plays, translations, and essays because the gov- next novel, Los hombres de maize (Men of ernment had censored his work. Out of desper- Maize), published in Spanish in 1949, was not ation, he wrote a letter to Soviet dictator Josef as highly praised but has come to be viewed as Stalin in 1930, requesting permission to leave the his masterpiece. In 1954, Asturias was exiled country. From this correspondence, Bulgakov again due to the establishment of another repres- received work writing plays for theaters in Mos- sive Guatemalan regime. He worked as a jour- cow but did not find success there either. His nalist in South America and later returned in third wife, Yelena Shilovskaya, whom he mar- 1966, becoming the French ambassador under ried in 1931, inspired the central character of his Carlos Montenegro’s moderate government. He most famous work, The Master and Margarita. was awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize for literature Bulgakov died of nephrosclerosis on March 10, for his commitment to writing about the injus- 1940. His work is noted for its satire, fantastic tice and oppression of Guatemalan people, par- elements, and dark humor. ticularly working class and peasants. He died on June 9, 1974, in Madrid, Spain. Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980) Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier y Valmont was born on December 26, 1904, in Havana, Cuba, Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) to a Russian mother and a French father. He Born on August 24, 1899, in Buenos Aires, attended the Universidad de Havana until drop- Argentina, Jorge Luis Borges was the son of a ping out due to economic circumstances. For lawyer and a translator. Of mixed European and many years afterward, he worked as a journalist, Spanish-American heritage, he was educated in editor, educator, musicologist, and author. Switzerland, England, and Argentina. In 1919, Involved in revolutionary activities against the the Borges family moved to Spain. However, dictator Gerardo Machado y Morales, Carpent- young Borges moved back in 1921 and began to ier was forced to leave Cuba after he had been write poetry and essays for literary journals. He imprisoned and subsequently blacklisted. He also cofounded a number of magazines before lived in France for many years, publishing his publishing his first book of poetry in 1923. His first novel in 1933, Ecue-yamba-o! which faded current reputation is based more on his short quickly into obscurity. In 1939, Carpentier stories than his poetry, and it was the publication returned to Cuba, where he began to write fic- of Historia universal de la infamia (AUniversal tion again. This time, with the publication of History of Infamy) in 1935 that heralded his novels such as El reino de este mundo (The King- career as a well-known writer of a hybrid genre dom of This World) in 1949, Los pasos perdido that was part fiction, part essay. In 1941, his (The Lost Steps), and El Acoso (Manhunt in magic realist tales El jardıń de senderos que se Noonday), Carpentier became an established bifurcan (The Garden of Forking Paths)werepub- and world-renowned author. He continued to lished, and it was followed a few years later by write short stories, novels, essays, and criticism Ficciones, 1935–1944 (Fictions, 1935–1944) and until his death, from cancer, in Paris, France, on El Aleph (The Aleph). For many years, he worked April 24, 1980, where he served as Cuba’s cul- as a municipal librarian in Buenos Aires, as well tural attache´ . as a teacher. In 1955, he was appointed director of the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library) where Laura Esquivel (1950–) he served until 1970. By the late 1950s, he was Born in Mexico on September 30, 1950, Laura completely blind but continued to publish in a Esquivel began her writing career as a screen- variety of genres: poetry, essays, and stories. writer. Married to the Mexican director Alfonso Borges died of liver cancer on June 14, 1986, in Arau, Esquivel wrote a screenplay for a 1985 film, Geneva, Switzerland.

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