The term "magical realism" was first introduced by Franz Roh, a German art critic, who considered magical realism an art category. To him, it was a way of representing and responding to reality and pictorially depicting the enigmas of reality. It is characterized by an aesthetic style in which magical elements or illogical scenarios appear in an otherwise realistic or even "normal" setting. It has been widely used in relation to literature, art, and film.
In order to understand the basis for this type of fiction, you need to understand the culture that inspired it. In Márquez's work, he is informed by the history and culture of the numerous Indian tribes that settled Colombia. Because of this, the artwork produced in that country was heavily informed by culture and beliefs that include folklore, nature worship and mysticism.
For these reasons, magical realism expands the categories of "the real" so as to encompass myth, magic and other extraordinary phenomena in nature or experience which European realism excluded.
The next short story you write will have several components. You will be expanding on the traditional elements of fiction to include a type of fiction that has become very popular in the 1920s.
You will also be offering critical analysis of this story and other works that included in this genre. Your work in this unit will also include some research into the cultures that inspired this group of artists. So, there will be several deadlines.
To begin, we will be reading a piece of fiction by the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez entitled "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Tale For Children". In the story, an angel falls to the Earth because of a violent rainstorm. When the angel is found by Pelayo and Elisenda, they are shocked to see an angel, and yet they never question its existence. The reality of the situation is never mistrusted; however, the angel itself is an astounding manifestation.
(The Chilean Miners)
Their interaction with this angel produces an ending that poses some difficult questions concerning fate and the nature of loss. It seems ironic that I chose this work a few years after 33 men were pulled from a hole in the earth.
Think about how a magical-realist might tell that story.
