One of The most famous examples of earlier magical realism is Franz Kafka’s 1915 novella, Metamorphosis, which describes a man who wakes up to find himself unexpectedly transformed into a giant bug.

Yet while Latin America is the undisputed heartland of magical realism, earlier exceptions from elsewhere would have fit the category perfectly if the genre had existed at the time. Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel García Márquez are credited as the fathers of magical realism, and writers around the world have emulated their approach of blurring fantasy and reality into one story ever since. For the first time, these innovative authors received international acclaim. Yet, it wasn’t until the boom period of the 1960s that it really took off around the world. The genre was popular throughout Latin America from the early 1950s onwards. Magical realism has its roots in Latin America, where prominent writers began to blend traditional folklore elements into realistic plots and storylines. But it was more than two decades later, when this fantasy subgenre first became popular, the term was used to describe an author’s work. It was coined by German art critic Franz Roh in 1925, who used it to describe a painting style that, thanks to fantasy elements and dream-like subjects, didn’t adhere to the strict rules of realism. The term ‘magical realism emerged before the genre hit the literary scene. But the characters in magical realism stories tend to include more regular everyday people. For example, most urban fantasy books have a cast filled with wizards, witches, vampires, werewolves, and the like. But urban fantasy is a little more nuanced, as the backdrops tend to be gritty, inner-city areas with a lot of crime, and the stories are usually most often set in the modern-day.Īnother distinction between these two subgenres is that, as a general rule, urban fantasy contains more fantasy and less reality than magical realism does. In many ways, most urban fantasy stories are also magical realism stories since they feature mythical creatures existing in real-world settings and scenarios. Perhaps the most similar of these subgenres is urban fantasy. Still, it has a few characteristics that overlap into other subgenres, too. Magical realism is a unique genre that is easy to distinguish from pretty much all others. But whatever form the magic comes in, it’s usually presented as a normal component of the world within the story, rather than something out of the ordinary and unexpected. They could also appear as otherworldly phenomena, such as a firmament of ice in the sky or a portal leading between two dimensions.Īnother classic way authors include magic into magical realism is through the use of realistic, human characters who also happen to possess supernatural power, such as telekinesis, telepathy, or the ability to travel through time. These elements come in many forms, for example, mythical characters, such as fairies and leprechauns, ghosts and ghouls, or witches and warlocks. Then, of course, we need some magical elements to contrast against this realistic backdrop. Lewis’s Narnia here these stories take place in locations that really exist or fictional towns and cities based upon life as it is in the real world. A real word setting is an essential component, so you won’t find Tolkein’s Middle Earth or C.S. Of course, every magical realism story is unique, but there are a few overriding themes that most, if not all of them, include. So, in a nutshell, magical realism is about taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. However, extraordinary, magical creatures and events are interwoven into the plot and require the reader to suspend their disbelief and enjoy the ride. On the surface, these stories often take place in mundane, everyday settings with real-world characters. Magical realism blends elements of fantasy into realistic tales. I’ve already written a brief introduction to magical realism in my recent post about great magical realism books, but in case you missed it, here’s my take on this fascinating genre… The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier.The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

Examples of Magical Realism from Latin American Authors.

Magical realism books 2022