Magical Realism and the Sublime in The Circular Ruins Essay

Magical Realism and Gothic style writings may seem very alike, but at the same time, they are different. Gothic style invokes a very dark, scary, and irrational feeling, even though the explanation is completely natural. Magical Realism like the piece “House Taken Over”, makes things seems normal but has events that seem almost unexplainable. In Gothic style writings like “The Fall of The House of Usher”, things seem unreasonable, but in Magical Realism things feel ordinary.

The snowstorm that prompts the narrative event is described in a typically romantic way, using lively diction that glorifies blizzard. References to Asian architecture and the leaning tower of Pisa coincide with the romantic near-obsession with ancient civilizations. The evocative imagery of the ancient buildings and exotic cultures coincides also with the striking natural imagery that is characteristic of romantic poetry. In

The novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson has many themes that present themselves throughout the book. One such recurring theme is a search for truth. The characters in the book do not fully realize that they are searching for truth, but they do feel a vague, "indescribable thing" that pushes and prods their minds to actualize a higher plane of thought. This search for a higher plane by the characters of Winesburg nearly parallels another literary work of ancient Greek origin- Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," which is a portion of his famous writing "The Republic." I contend that the town of Winesburg is the equivalent of the Cave in Plato's

Beautiful ruins, a novel by Jess Walter, follows many characters through their personal journeys that span many generations and travel from cities like Italy to Sandpoint, Idaho. Walter explores the idea of happiness changing over time through two of the main characters, Michael Deane and Dee Moray (Debra Moore). Michael Deane’s life starts in Hollywood as a big-time movie producer whose selfish goals are to make as much money as possible and have an excellent reputation and we don’t see his motivations change throughout the book. The only thing that changes in his life is his success goes down with his age. In contrast, Dee Moray, starts in the story wanting to become famous and be in the movies, but through the novel

However, to further implement how magical realism constitute how this painting is conveyed, the exact meaning behind this trait must be explored. Magic realism is described by a twist in the usual conventions and shows a more fantastical interpretation in the

The conventions of Myths, Fables, and allegory all have magical elements in common like magical realism. But what sets magical realism aside from these genres is that it portrays magical or unrealistic elements in such a way that it is viewed as natural. Matthew Strecher defines magical realism as “what happens when a highly detailed realistic setting is invaded by something too strong to believe”. Some elements that authors use to support magical realism is using unexplainable things/events in the context to be normal, metamorphosis occurring, and not using regular constructs of time.

One of the spookiest moments of Savannah’s life, was exploring an abandoned warehouse and the door slammed shut, an entire flock of birds started to fly at Savannah. This scenario is similar to the traits of Gothic Literature and Magical Realism because it is a description of the eerie setting and events. Gothic Literature and Magical Realism are similar because they both illustrate ideas of suspense and mystery throughout. Edgar Allen Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher is an example of Gothic Literature because the people of the story have physiological problems, while Julio Cortazar’s House Taken Over is an example of Magical Realism because it takes place in a realistic setting that includes ordinary details.

One of the key elements of magical realism is, the story bears the influences of

Though strong as a transition between other works in a gallery, Building More Stately Mansions individually possesses an appropriately glum physical atmosphere. Visually, the painting has a highly representational element,

In this essay, the connection between "Allegory of the Cave by Plato's" and "The City of God by Augustine" will be discovered. The allegory of the cave focuses on human beings believing they're seeing "reality" but they're only seeing shadows, reflections, and distortions. This story also asserts in an allegorical sense how we as human beings are "chained as prisoners" so we never really see how things truly are. Also, the allegory of the cave talks about the enlightened stage and how seeing the light takes a grueling training process and the enlightened expose the falsehood of "common sense." The city of god touches on believing in false Gods/prophets. This story also talks about shunning devils from society and allowing the Christian faith to enter inner life. Lastly, Augustine warns not to listen to people who slander Christ and refuse to see the error of their ways. The connection in the stories is that the people in both time periods believe in falsehoods rather than being in tune with reality/the truth.

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.

Another way in which the story may correspond with the sublime is Sierva's long red hair that had not been cut from the day she was born until the end of her excorcism. Wordsworth says, about the sublime, "Even in the scenes drawn from ordinary life, [the authors] would throw over them a certain coloring of the imagination" (qtd. in Sander 60). This effect is exactly what Marquez does with Sierva's hair. He alluded that there may be something supernatural about it. "The sublime affirm[s] a spiritual dimension to fantasy and explores, through fantastic images, the meaning and existence of spirit" (Sandner 145). Transformation, another sublime characteristic, is used to show how one's perception of something changes (qtd in Sandner 51). Instead of being just hair, it was a promise to Dominga's god. Defamiliarization, which is a characteristic of both the sublime and magical realism (Simpkins 150), is used in Of Love and Other Demons. It focuses one's attention on something, such as hair, that he or she would normally think nothing

This story definitely meets the criteria for magical realism and the sublime because of the many elements described. The very old man with wings, the unusual miracles, the woman spider, and the crab infestation, represent elements of the

Okri’s story ‘The Famished Road’ includes several features of magical realism. Precisely, instances of hybridity happen often. The character Azaro wrongly believes a character by the river to be the ferry man of the dead, he acquires that she is in fact a hybrid woman, young in body but ‘with an old woman’s face’. The illustration is also a hybrid of ancient custom and ritual. Also, The Famished Road portrays the theme of political corruption and political struggle. The character Madame Koto is implied in the corruption of modern Nigerian politics. She summarizes the new power herself, rather than its transgression, foreshadowing the country’s Civil War to come. Okri has also used ironic distance in this novel..

The eccentric. The marvelous. These are just a few words used to describe the genre of ‘magic realism’, which is also known as ‘magical realism’ (the usage of the term, as well as its history, has been debated from the beginning, but shall be bypassed as it is an entirely different topic from what is to be discussed in this commentary). Although Oxford Dictionaries defines it as “a literary or artistic genre in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal elements of dream or fantasy”, others have also interpreted the genre in various other ways. However, the genre itself has a set of elements and characteristics that make them its own, which helps differentiate it from fantasy, as written pieces in magic realism are sometimes mistaken to