the novel One hundred years of lonelinessby Gabriel García Márquez ‘Gabo’ (1927-2014), became a milestone of magical realism the same year of its publication, 1967. For many critics, it is the masterpiece of the genre, and its author, one of the most recognized writers of magical realism, along with the Chilean Isabel Allende (b. 1942).
But what is magical realism? As often happens, the definition resists. Is it really a literary genre? Or is it, rather (and as many critics maintain) simply a style, a way of narrating? Did it emerge with Gabo, or did it already exist before? Is it only a literary movement, or can its impact be expanded to other arts?
In today’s article we talk to you about this literary and artistic trend that turns the fantastic into everyday life: magical realism.
No, magical realism did not begin with Gabriel G. Márquez or Isabel Allende, nor with any of the other Latin American authors who cultivated it. In fact, the connection between this way of narrating and the avant-garde is more than evident; specifically, with surrealism, since both transcend everyday reality and sprinkle it with facts that are often not very credible or directly fantastic.
The name itself indicates it. Realismthat is, the surrounding reality; magicalbeyond the real. The first time the expression was used was in 1925. Specifically, the art critic Franz Roh (1890-1965) used it to describe a painting that had an “altered reality”, in connection with the avant-garde of the moment. That is to say, at first, the expression “magical realism” was applied exclusively to painting.
Arturo Uslas Pietri and the term “magical realism”
It was precisely the translation into Spanish of Roh’s essay (made, by the way, by José Ortega y Gasset) that catapulted the term in the Hispanic world and linked it forever to the literary movement born around the 1950s and starring, among others, , by García Márquez. In 1948, the Venezuelan writer Arturo Uslas Pietri (1906-2001) definitively coined the term and used it in his writing Letras y hombres de Venezuela. In fact, Pietri was one of the first to create a novel of magical realism, the famous The red spearspublished in 1931, several years before he himself consolidated the term.
In his aforementioned essay Letters and men of Venezuela, Pietri mentions that the human being is a “mystery in the midst of realistic data”. A true declaration of intentions and an excellent summary of what the literary activity of the second half of the 20th century will be, especially in Latin America and, above all, after the so-called Latin American boom of 1960.
Magical realism: just literature?
Although the area that is best known for magical realism is literary, it is not fair to think that this trend is limited only to letters. We have already mentioned that the true introducer of the term was the German Franz Roh who, in 1925, used it to describe a painting that followed avant-garde guidelines and presented an “altered reality.”
Interwar Germany and the “New Objectivity”
In reality, what Roh was trying to describe was the painting that was being done in Germany after the First World War and before Nazism, which he himself called “post-expressionist” in his work Magical Realism, post-expressionism. Problems with the most recent paint. What Franz Roh tried so hard to outline was later called “New German Objectivity.”
This New German Objectivity (frequently included within German Expressionism, a large mixed bag that brought together many of the best painters of the moment) was made up of artists such as Otto Dix (1891-1969) or George Grosz (1893-1959) who formed, from Roh’s perspective, the “realist” side of the New Objectivity. This realistic side captured on canvas an acid satire of the German society born after the Great War.
On the other hand, There were those that Roh baptized as the “magical-realists”among whom were Alexander Kanoldt (1881-1939) or Georg Schrimpf (1889-1938) who, influenced by the metaphysical painting of Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978) and the naive painting of Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), They made works with a strong fantastic and unreal content.
The two aspects constituted, in reality, two different ways of escaping from the same thing: a disheartened and dark interwar world, where some, like Dix and Grosz, used biting and grotesque criticism to survive the heartbreak, and others, like Kanoldt , Schrimpf or, later, Marc Chagall (1887-1985), leaned towards escaping into practically dreamlike worlds.
It is in this line of painting where we can include, for example, Frida Kahlo (1907-1954)one of the greatest representatives of magical realism in painting, although her work has often been called “surrealist.” Precisely, what is the difference between magical realism and surrealism?
Magical realism and surrealism: similar, but different
Magical realism has often been linked to surrealism. In fact, both currents are children of the same avant-garde context, and both propose solutions that are unrelated to reality. However, they do not represent the same thing.
The main difference is that, in magical realism, reality is not lost from sight. Although magical, unreal and dreamlike elements are included, there is always that basis of realism that constitutes a framework that circumscribes the scenes and events. In magical realism, unreal events are perceived as a natural part of the world.
On the other hand, surrealism explores the terrain of the unconscious and, therefore, of dreams. There is no tangible and “comforting” reality; Everything is left in the hands of the most hidden desires and fears. Despite everything, as we can see, the line that separates both currents is more than fine.
Magical realism in literature
Although the boundaries of magical realism go beyond letters, what is best known about this movement is its literature. The writers who cultivated it the most were the young Latin Americans who began their literary activity in the 1960s, what has come to be called the Latin American boom. The aforementioned Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende would be the greatest exponents of the movement, with One hundred years of loneliness and The spirit houserespectively, but it is also important to mention names as significant as Juan Rulfo (1917-1986), with his Pedro Paramo and Elena Garro (1916-1998) with Memories of the future.
What characteristics does literary magical realism have?
Literary magical realism has a series of very significant characteristics that transform it into an easy-to-recognize current. Whether it is a literary movement or “just” a style, literary realism has the following characteristics:
This is probably the most defining characteristic. Magical realism introduces magical and fantasy elements into the characters’ daily lives; However, these are not fantastic or science fiction stories. The main difference is that, in stories linked to magical realism, the characters perceive fantasy as something natural, something perfectly normal in their daily lives.
2. Fantasy is not justified
Also unlike fantasy stories, this everyday magic is not justified. There is nothing that triggers fantastic events; They are simply attached to the daily life of the story and the characters. The reader will never find an explanation for this.
3. Nonlinear time
In general, in magical realism stories time is not linear; It advances and recedes at the whim of the author and the reader does not always find justification or clarification.
4. Frame away from the world
It is common in magical realism novels and stories for the action to take place in a remote and secluded place and, very often, incredibly poor. This is the case of García Márquez’s Macondo, inspired by his hometown, Aracateca (Colombia), or Comala, which appears in Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo.
###5. Social criticism Finally, in magical realism stories one can often find acid criticism of the society of the time. The recurring fantasy and the remote setting are not an obstacle for the author to carry out a satire on the denounceable aspects of his world.
