Magical Realism

A delve into an imaginative genre

Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about the work and life of Ursula K. Le Guin, one of the foremost science fiction writers of the twentieth century.  A later thread revealed that many readers and subscribers were big fans of not only Le Guin, but the whole genre of sci-fi.  I also received a helpful pointer on the differences between the sci-fi and fantasy genres from my good writer friend Matthew Long of Beyond the Bookshelf.

Something that I mentioned in that thread was the genre of Magical Realism, which, as a novice when it comes to sci-fi and fantasy, is a genre I have read quite a bit, particularly in the realm of short fiction, and which a few readers had not come across before. 

I thought it might be interesting to explore a few of my favourite writers in this genre, as well as introduce anyone unfamiliar to the concept of magical realism in fiction.

Magical Realism is a genre of narrative fiction originating amongst Latin American writers- along with other areas of art- encompassing a range of subtly different concepts, whilst expressing a primarily realistic view of the real world.  It adds to, or reveals, to these real world views magical elements, as the name would suggest, often containing an element of the supernatural, employing elements of myth, folk tales, and fables, bringing to them a contemporary and social relevance.  Popular novelists using elements of magical realism within their fiction are Haruki Murakami, Gabriel Garcia Màrquez, and Isabel Allende.  

Characters are often given fantasy traits such as levitation, telepathy, and telekinesis.  But unlike science fiction, the writers of magical realism don’t generally invent new worlds, but reveal magical and fantasy elements within the real world.

Photo by Lloyd Newman on Unsplash

Often, the narrators of such stories hold a level of reticence, a deliberate withholding of information and explanations of the often disconcerting and displacing effects of the fantasy elements of the narrative.  Hybrid stories and metafiction are rife within these stories, which often contain a story within a story.

It works particularly well in short- and flash- fiction, such as Carmen Maria Machado’s ‘The Husband Stitch’, a brilliant story reminiscent of Angela Carter which features a woman who feels subsumed by marriage and childbirth, and the terrible consequences of this.  It went on to be nominated for the Nebula award.

Sarah Hall’s story ‘Mrs Fox’ is another illuminating example, a darkly erotic tale in which a woman turns into a fox, and which won the BBC short story award.  

Aimee Bender, my favourite exponent of this genre, has used magical realism successfully in both novel and short story form.  

Her writing is known for its surreal plots and characters.  A perfect example of this appears in her short story ‘The Rememberer’.  It opens with an intriguing premise:

‘My lover is experiencing reverse evolution. I tell no one. I don’t know how it happened, only that one day he was my lover and the next he was some kind of ape. It’s been a month, and now he’s a sea turtle.’ 

She has a perfect way of summing up a surreal encounter in a couple of paragraphs in which you find yourself believing every word she says, however preposterous they may seem.

This short story goes on to delve further into the reverse evolution of the narrator’s lover, whom she claims to be ‘shedding a million years a day’.  She explains calmly how she didn’t bother to call 911, as she could see he had the same sad eyes, and simply sits cradling his furred hand.  In a touch of humour, she tells the reader how, when he comes too close, she tells him ‘NO’, loudly, explaining to the reader that she has her limits.

The narrator informs us that she doesn’t miss the human Ben too much at first, simply wanting to care for the ape Ben, like a pet, but that’s before she realises he’s not coming back.  Each day, returning from work, she feels sad when she realises he isn’t there.

He eventually ends up as some kind of salamander, and she realises she’s found her limit: she cannot bear to come to the pan of water she’s placed him in and find him no longer there at all.  She takes him to the ocean, and wonders if some day, a human Ben will be washed ashore, confused.  She keeps a look out for his return, just in case.

Bender’s story appears to be a deeper comment on people and relationships, and how they can change and break down.

Bender’s novel An Invisible Sign of My Own meanwhile features less magical realism than some of her others, but still retains an element of unreality.  The protagonist Mona Gray is a young woman who was ten years old when her father contracted a mysterious illness, leading her to become a quitter: each time an interest for which she has talent becomes intensely pleasurable, she quits doing it.  What she cannot stop doing, however, are small habits such as knocking on wood, adding her steps, and multiplying people in the park against one another.

An Invisible Sign of my Own by Aimee Bender

This leads her to begin teaching math to second-graders, realising that here, she has a ready audience for her talents.  She develops an interest in the male science teacher, who has an innate way of seeing through her intricately built façade.  The setting and situations Mona finds herself in are both startlingly familiar and fancifully surreal.  

A book in which Bender explores the realm of magical realism further is The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, in which we see nine year old Rose Edelstein who discovers, to her horror, that she can taste her mother’s emotions when she bites into her home-made lemon chocolate cake.  Suddenly, eating anything becomes perilous.  Her seemingly magical gift of reading the emotions of others becomes a curse, and as she grows she begins to realise the secret knowledge within her family and the secrets which surround all families.  

She learns in time to harness her gift, and becomes aware that there are some secrets that even she cannot discern.  

The themes of the novel explore the difficulties of loving someone fully when you know too much about them.  It is really the story of a family falling apart, as she realises that her mother loves someone else, her father has a secret past, and her often disdainful, increasingly socially isolated older brother has an unusual gift all of his own.

What Bender does particularly well is deliver wholly believable, relatable, and empathetic characters who the reader can root for, whilst often suddenly and deliberately hitting us with a magical revelation.  (I won’t spoil the book for you by revealing a point which divides many readers, but ask that you let me know what you think if you decide to read it!)

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Alice Hoffman is another hugely popular, successful novelist with many bestsellers to her name.  Some of the most well-known titles have also been made into hugely successful films, such as Practical Magic.  Hoffman novels often feature young women set within a realist perspective but with magical or other-worldly revelations disrupting the narrative.  

The novel I most enjoyed of Hoffman’s is The Ice Queen which explores the life of a young woman who gets struck by lightning.

At the beginning of the story, we are told that the narrator, when a young girl, wishes her own mother dead.  When her mother is then killed in a car accident, the narrator’s heart becomes frozen, never to let anyone else in.  

As an adult, she moves to Florida to live close to her brother and becomes a librarian.  She is subsequently struck by lightning, which rather than killing her, allows her to begin again.  

Joining a local support group, she makes friends with a fellow lightning strike victim, Renny and hears of Seth, a man known as Lazarus, because he returned from the dead, having died for 40 minutes.  Developing an obsession about him, she finally tracks him down, discovering that he is her exact opposite: a burning man whose breath can boil water and whose touch scorches.  They begin an obsessive love affair, where both hide their most dangerous secrets - why she turned to ice and he to fire.

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

The magical realism comes from the ways in which Hoffman infuses the story with a fairy tale element.  She brings together the fabulous and the real; chaos theory and the irrational, everyday experiences of life.  What results is a haunting, erotic novel with a sharp edge. 

The books I have read of Hoffman’s often feature young women who have to deal with some kind of trauma or curse placed on them, and their attempts to overcome their fate in life.

Magical Realism is not a genre I read often, but it can make a nice excursion from the more realist fiction I usually enjoy.  A good way to explore this genre might be with a few short stories, as these are often more accessible.  

As someone who enjoys reading the domestic novels of both the past and present, I find that a short dabble into the magical realism realm is a good experience of allowing my imagination to flow.   

If you are looking for something different to tempt your reading taste buds, it might do the same for you! 

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