Do you believe in magic

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Do you believe in magic?
Magical Realism in Hispanic Literature
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What it isnt

• The author does not create imaginary worlds in
  which to hide from reality.
• The author does not try to copy the surrounding
  world or make harsh judgments about the world.

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What it is

• It is an attitude toward reality.
• The writer confronts reality and tries to
  untangle it--he/she tries to discover what is
  mysterious in life and human acts. It is a sense
  of wonder about the world.
• The author tries to seize the mystery that
  breathes behind things.
• It is intended to be beautiful and highly
  metaphorical.

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Components of magical realism

• These stories challenge the traditional notion of
  time as a linear process. (Time can move in a
  circular pattern, or even fold in on itself so
  that earlier events can collide with later ones.)
• Use of polar opposites, ex fever and chill, life
  and death
• The goal is usually to get the reader to think
  about things in a different way.
• LOTS OF METAPHORS

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• Jose Arcadia Buendia paid the thirty reales and
  led them into the center of a tent, where there
  was a giant with a hairy torso and a shaved head,
  with a copper ring in his nose and a heavy iron
  chain on his ankle, watching over a pirate chest.
  When it was opened by the giant, the chest gave
  off a glacial exhalation. Inside there was an
  enormous, transparent block with infinite
  internal needles in which the light of the sunset
  was broken up into colored stars. Disconcerted,
  knowing that the children were waiting for an
  immediate explanation, Jose Arcadia Buendia
  ventured a murmur
• Its the largest diamond in the world.
• No, the gypsy continued, its ice.

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Why is that magic realism?

• Asks the reader to re-envision what is amazing in
  the ordinary.
• Some normal characters and some abnormal
  characters.

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• Suddenly, something extraordinary happened the
  night came alive with rustling sounds. You would
  have thought that al the hummingbirds in the
  world had decided to meet at Macanauras cabin.
  There were thousands and thousands of them, and
  they all looked quite exquisite with their
  mulitcolored feathers. With their beaks they
  began to pluck off their lightest and most
  beautiful feathers, dropping them in front of the
  bewildered young man.

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Why is that magic realism?

• A young man needs to prove his love to a girl.
• He finds help from the animals that surround him.
• In stories that use magical realism, there is
  often a character who faces a difficult challenge
  and receives help from an elderly family member
  or animals.

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• It is noon and James Baldwin is walking with a
  friend through the streets of downtown Manhattan.
  A red light stops them.
• Look, says the friend, pointing at the ground.
• Baldwin looks. He sees nothing.
• Look, look.
• Nothing. There was nothing to look at but a
  filthy little puddle against the curb.
• His friend insists See? Are you seeing?
• And then Baldwin takes a good look this times and
  he sees, sees a spot of oil spreading in the
  puddle. Then the spot of oil, a rainbow, and
  even deeper down in the puddle, the street moving
  and the people moving in the street the madmen,
  the magicians, the whole world moving, an
  astounding world full of glow. Baldwin sees.
  For the first time in his life, he sees.

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Why is this magical realism?

• Baldwin rediscovers the world in something
  seemingly ugly.
• He gets a fresh look at something familiar, and
  it becomes a source of awe and wonder again.

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• It was 118 degrees the day of Sofis baby
  daughters funeralSuddenly the whole crowd began
  to scream and faint and move away from the
  priest, who finally stood alone next to the
  babys coffin. The lid had pushed all the way up
  and the little girl inside sat up, just as
  sweetly as if she had woken from a nap, rubbing
  her eyes and yawning.
• Mami? she called, looking around and squinting
  her eyes against the harsh lightThen, as if all
  this wasnt amazing enough, she lifted herself up
  into the air and landed on the church roof.

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Why is this magical realism?

• Polar opposites death--gtlife and sadness--gtjoy
• An attempt to deal with the harsh reality of the
  death of a child suggesting that the baby is now
  an angel

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Your turn is coming up

• As we read more stories that use this technique,
  start gathering ideas for how you might write a
  story with magical realism!