Magic Realism In The House Taken Over By Julio Cortazar

Magical realism combines two seemingly contrasting elements reality and fantasy. Julio cortazar’s “House taken over” is a good example of magical realism because the house is being taken over by supernatural activity or Natzis. For instance, Cortazar describes the house being old and spacious, “ it kept the memories of great grandparents, our parents and the whole of childhood.”(pg. 37). This is a good example of magical realism because the family seems normal, they’re living in a home where past ancestors also used to live and the house is full of childhood memories. Although he also describes some sort of supernatural activity, “it was eight at night”- “I heard something in the library or the dining room.The sound

Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” is a good example of magical realism because the characters have a normal life, they read , they knit, and the do normal people stuff. For example, in the story it says,” once the morning housework was finished, she spent the rest of the day on the sofa in her bedroom knitting (38).” this sentence proves magical realism because it's what people do every day, it contributes to an everyday life, it may not be what everyone does but it's common in the real world. Therefore, “House Taken Over’’ is an example because it includes details of ordinary

Alex’s spookiest experience was when she was watching a t.v. show and it actually convinced her that a women could communicate with the dead. This is related to gothic literature because they both have supernatural elements. However, it's also related to magical realism because it was realistic but also contained surreal elements. Edgar Allan Poe’s “Fall of The House of Usher” is an example of gothic literature because it resembles a dark and mysterious plot. While Julio Cotazar’s “House Taken Over” is an example of magical realism because the house gets taken over by Nazi’s, but seems as if ghost’s took over.

One of Diana spookiest experiences of her life was when her cousins and Diana would hear weird sounds in the night. This scenario relates to the traits of Gothic Lit and Magical Realism because the sounds did happen so it's reality. Gothic Lit and Magical Realism are similar because they are both scary, mysterious, and are dramatic. Edgar Allen Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher” is an example of Gothic Literature because it has a dark and gloomy setting in a large old mansion. While Julio Cortazar’s “House Taken Over” is an example of Magical Realism because it has a mysterious ending.

They’ve taken over the back part...in that case, we’ll have to live on this side. I sipped at the mate...she took her time starting her work again… I remember it was a grey vest she was knitting. I liked that vest” (Cortazar 39-40). This demonstrates magical realism because strange events coincide with realistic characters in their everyday life. Likewise, this also shows unimpressed tone which is an element of magical realism in presenting fantastic events as logical parts of life when the narrator hears the mysterious sounds emitting from the passageway and afterwards they treat it as a very ordinary occurrence, returning to what they were doing prior to the occasion such as sipping mate and returning to needlework. Therefore, “House Taken Over” is an example of magical realism. {JinJinYan}

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.

Magic Realism appears when a character in the story carry forward to be alive ahead of the normal length of life. Also where magical or unreal aspect of a natural part in a different realistic environment and character fracture the rules of our real world. Characters that are portrayed as magical or surreal has a statement that is behind it. An example is Gregor in the Metamorphoses and not only did he turn into a bug but he sent a larger message about human experience. The two stories, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings and the Metamorphosis, both have a symbolic mean to humanity and realism.

People are afraid of the unknown and things that they cannot understand. It is something that people spend their entire lives trying to understand, but there will always be an unknown, something people fear. Magic is one of these things, it is something that people do not understand and therefore fear.In the novel, The House of the Spirits, the author includes a dog named Barrabas which seems normal enough in the beginning but quickly grows to the size of a horse. This is an example of magical realism in the novel which is a commonly used device by the author. Through magical realism, Allende explores the idea that Barrabas connects the magical world and reality.

Obviously the most concise definition of magical realism is that it is the combination of magical and real elements. The magical elements that

Magical Realism is a genre of narrative fiction including magical elements that characters treat as normal. Although there is magic in the movie, Pan’s Labyrinth is not an example of magical realism in film because anything that happens does not affect the real world, no one except Ofelia can see the magic, and most of the “magic” can be explained.

Some great examples of magical realism are: Mrs. Gregg's bizarreness, Alice Conroy Flashback, and Bobo demon eye. Mrs. Gregg had such an extreme stutter that she could not be understood unless she spoke to the tune of "Here Comes Santa Claus." In this example, her stutter is a realistic narrative, and "Santa Claus had broken her chains and set her free," (page. 17). Santa Claus had not literally allowed her to speak, but for some odd reason, thinking and speaking to that specific tune allowed her to be understood.

Magical realism is a genre that portrays both reality and fantasy. As defined by Faris (2004) in Ordinary enchantments, magical realism is a genre of writing that includes an irreducible element of magic and details that suggest phenomenon (Faris, 2004, p. 7). He describes the irreducible element as: “…something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as they have been formulated in Western empirically based discourse…” (Faris, 2004, p. 7). In Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s short story, The handsomest drowned man in the world, the facets of magical realism are rife. He uses magical realism to enchant the reader. The story is of a small cliff-side and coastal community

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.

Although there are many more to be named, the perfect example of magical realism in literature is The People of Paper. One reason why The People of Paper is an example of magical realism is through the fantastical events that occur. In The People of Paper an origami surgeon named Antonio creates a women of paper, who would be later known as Merced de Papel. After creating Merced de Papel Antonio dies from papercuts. Merced de Papel lost and clueless gets on a bus to go to El Monte.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez are both short stories and both stories show us what is magical realism. According to Anne Hegerfeldt, ' 'magical realism refers to a mode of writing that may most briefly be characterized as an “amalgamation of realism and fantasy”. The term in its present sense was first applied to Latin American literature from the 1960s, with Gabriel Garcia Marquez 's novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) ' '.