How Magical Realism Is Achieved

Jacquelyn Barrett’s spookiest experience was, less than a year ago, she got a call from my oldest sister Hannah saying,”did you hear what happened to Grandpa Barrett?” For over two hours she was stuck inside of Citrus Valley Gym, playing with the boys volleyball team. Right after practice ended, her mom got a call from her dad and the next thing she remembers her mom saying “do you know? Grandpa Barrett passed away about a half an hour ago. “Right away on that day 3 April 2017 at 4:50 her life had changed forever. This scenario relates to Gothic literature and Magical realism because it was a very surreal moment. These genres are similar because both genres blend reality and magical moments in one. Gothic literature is a setting that begins with bleak setting and has an ambiguous ending. Also it has a scary and mysterious feeling and makes you wonder what's going to happen next. It impacts the reader by putting intelligent words and a gloomy setting. A example of gothic literature is in the story “Where is here”. In the story “Where is Here” a stranger appears at the family's house and the family reacted with curiosity and concern(69). Magical Realism is a literary genre, therefore there is a realistic narrative and natural techniques, combine with surreal elements of dream or fantasy. Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” is a good example of Magical Realism because both the brother and sister started to hear “noises” coming from a part of the house, so they limited

Aura by Carlos Fuentes explores the ideas of fantasy and imagination against the backdrop of Mexico City in the 1960s, coinciding with the Latin American Boom. This was a time of literary experimentation as the Latin American novel gained increasing popularity amongst wider audiences. As such, Fuentes uses Aura to redefine narrative norms by incorporating genuine historical events into fantastical situations and through the use of symbolism to heighten the feelings of the uncanny and the unknown which linger throughout the novel.

Through viewing Big Fish, by Tim Burton and reading both of Marquez’s stories (Handsomest Drowned Man In The World and A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings), it becomes apparent that while both novels vary greatly in plot and storyline, they are also both centered around the concept of magical realism. For example, Big Fish is a story about a young mAn who visits his dying father, but throughout the story, is introduced to various ‘magical’ entities, which introduce an almost fantasy-like theme to the story. In Marquez’s stories, one is about a handsome drowned man and the other is about a dirty, raggedy angel. We are similarly shown this sense of an ordinary reality, with a certain twinge of magic/fantasy. So while this film and these novels are completely different in the terms of context and storyline, they share these elements of fantasy, that seamlessly blend together to create a realistic, yet magical atmosphere that provides the reader with a unique and capturing experience.

Magical realism is a type of writing where two views of reality come together. There are numerous of ways magical realism is expressed in Latin American writing. A very common one amongst stories is open-ended conclusion in which we the readers just have to accept it. Usually magical realism is used as a metaphor for something more meaningful. One story that conveys a lot of magical realism is The Third Bank of The River by João Guimarães Rosa. The story is about the narrator's dad who was quite the quiet man, who one day bought a boat fit for one. He entered the river and never spoke a word to another soul again. The son is the only one who stays at the house in case of the father's return. He leaves food out for him so that he will survive, until one day he makes an offer to his father, and ends up fleeing in terror.

This way of writing is based on the “rational view of reality” versus the “acceptance of the supernatural” (Moore). Magical realism is usually associated with contemporary Latin American fiction but it is also seen in the writings of authors from different countries (Lodge 114). The unexplained fantasy in these works is used to depict “historical convulsions and … wrenching personal upheavals” that can not be otherwise described adequately in a realistic fashion (Lodge 114). One of the best known magical realism novels is Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. The best known magical realism short story author however, is Jorge Luis Borges. Although Latin American literature was predominantly written by males in the past, it is becoming more diverse now with the voices of females, homosexuals, and Jews.

Latin American literature is perhaps best known for its use of magical realism, a literary mode where the fantastical is seamlessly blended with the ordinary, creating a sort of enhanced reality. Though magical realism is practiced by authors from other cultures, the works of authors Salman Rushdie and Toni Morrison, for example, are notable examples of non-Latin works in which magical realism has been used to both great effect and great celebration, it is in the works of Latin American authors where the style has flourished and made its mark on the literary world. Yet even in Latin American works we can find many different kinds of magical realism, all used to achieve a different end. In the works of the Cuban poet and novelist

Imagine, every morning you wake up to the sound of the rooster singing. Not to the normal crow a rooster makes, but to a beautiful sonata that wakes your soul up from a deep slumber. It may not sound too realistic in our real word, but to a writer, this can bring special emphases to the story’s meaning. This literary practice is called magical realism. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines magical realism, or magic realism as they put it; 1) painting in a meticulously realistic style of imaginary or fantastic scenes or images; and 2) a literary genre or style associated especially with Latin America that incorporates fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction. It is the second definition that author Laura Esquivel, incorporates magical realism into her book, Like Water for Chocolate. Many of the themes and emotions in the book are emphasized with the use of Magical realism.

     Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a master of magical realism, twist our minds eye in the story A VERY OLD MAN WITH ENORMOUS WINGS. Our perspectives are disoriented as we are enchanted with beautiful prose and appaled by people’s actions.

is a wonderful novel and which I think was inspired specifically in the roraima mount a tepui located in Venezuela, an area of ​​the world of a very powerful spiritual energy, which makes change almost immediately mood of visitors, is a feeling as if a large vessel to which one addresses entering unknown leaving behind the normal urban world. So what this novel reflects and tries to describe this magical world until then in the process of discovery and research of new animal and plant species, then we have the stage to introduce all kinds of fantasies about all kinds of extinct animals long ago is both writing materials had to be a lot of work organizing everything. this novel seem countless film adaptations of it and there is one in particular

The controversy surrounding Magical Realism makes the classification of what is and what is not Magical Realism very difficult. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a famous Latin American author, has written many pieces of what is generally conceived to be Magical Realism. Marqez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" fulfills every characteristic of Magical Realism..

Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote is a masterpiece in many senses of the word: at the time of its conception, it was hailed as a revolutionary work of literature that defined a genre, in later centuries regarded as an acerbic social commentary, a slightly misshapen romantic tragedy, and even as a synthesis of existentialist and post-modernist features. At the centre of this Spanish satirical chronicle is the perplexing character Don Quixote. Don Quixote’s personality and perspective is rapidly established fromsince the beginning of the novel, revealing unabashedly to readers that he is mad. The source of his madness lies in the extent to which Don Quixote acts on his delusions and projections unto reality as he saunters through Cervantes’ Andalusia. Don Quixote’s delusions have two primary functions in the novel: demonstrating the reality and tragedy of Cervantes’ manifestation of idyllic themes of love and chivalry, and revealing certain characteristics about narration.

Latin author Gabriel Garcia Marquez has written many short stories and novels that are considered to be Magical Realism. Some of these works are "The Ghosts of August," One Hundred Years of Solitude," "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," "Chronicle of a Death Foretold," and "Light Is Like Water." In "Light Is Like Water" (December 1978), the use of various fantastic elements along with the realist elements is what defines this story as Magical Realism.

The narrative structures of the first two sections do not follow the typical dramatic arc, as no climax or resolution exist in either section. I caution readers against identifying as possible climaxes of “From the Other Side” Rocamadour’s dying (chapter 28, discussed across various pages) or Oliveira’s leaving La Maga, as the former serves primarily as a catalyst for change; more importantly, Chapter One begins with Oliveira’s asking, “Would I find La Maga?” (3) because he has already left her. When readers eventually ascertain the plot sequence of “From the Other Side,” they can see that they do not read along the traditional dramatic arc that develops over time, but rather read segments while immersed in a perpetual middle. This characteristic leaves readers in a continual present in which the passage of time does not progress the plot, much like in hypertext fiction. Although the plot of “From This Side” develops linearly, the presumed ending of chapter 56 continues this perpetual present: readers

Marquez had a unique style of writing during his time. He wrote with the sense that magic was real, and everyone should know it and it was a common idea. This was ever present in One Hundred Years of Solitude when many abnormal things would happen but in the life they had, it was common; such as when insomnia took over the town and all the people were happy and excited that this phenomena is taking place. This style of

Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, first published in Portuguese in 1988 and then translated into English in 1993, follows the travels of a lone shepherd boy, simply named Santiago, in search of his treasure, which is revealed to him through his recurring dreams, and with the help of a gypsy woman, his dream is deciphered and he is given a destination. Along the way, he meets King Melchizedek of Salem, the Englishman, the Alchemist, and many other characters, each of whom play a role in helping him in reaching his Personal Legend. The tale itself is also filled with many fantastical and magical elements that have been integrated into the characters’ reality in believable ways, qualifying The Alchemist to belong under magic realism, despite the fact