Lesson 4 | Making the Ordinary Extraordinary: Magical Realism in Latin American Literature | 10th Grade English | Free Lesson Plan (2024)

FAQs

What is magical realism in Latin American literature? ›

Magical realism portrays fantastical events in an otherwise realistic tone. It brings fables, folk tales, and myths into contemporary social relevance. Fantasy traits given to characters, such as levitation, telepathy, and telekinesis, help to encompass modern political realities that can be phantasmagorical.

Magical realism is a genre of literature that depicts the real world as having an undercurrent of magic or fantasy. Magical realism is a part of the realism genre of fiction. Within a work of magical realism, the world is still grounded in the real world, but fantastical elements are considered normal in this world.

“Post-boom” writers. In the 1980s and '90s—a period that some have called the “post-boom”—the major novelists who had made a name for themselves in the 1960s continued to publish works of considerable value. In fact, with the early deaths of Puig and Sarduy, they encountered no young rivals of their quality.

The main periods of Latin American literature are Pre-Colombian, Colonial, Resistance, Modernismo, Boom, and Contemporary. Each period has a genre that ruled, ranging from first-person narratives, magical realism, philosophical short stories, anti-establishment poetry, and experimental prose.

Magical realism is a style of writing in which fantastic elements appear as a natural part of the story's environment, with the emphasis not being on the elements themselves but on what they signify or mean for the characters in the story.

GABRIEL GARCIA MÁRQUEZ: This Nobel prize-winning Columbian writer, journalist and screenwriter was a pioneer in the writing style known as magic realism which combines a realistic narrative with fantasy. His best-known novels are One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera.

Magical Realism Defined

As the name would suggest, magical realism is a combination of realistic fiction with magical moments weaved into it. For example, in the book Beloved by Toni Morrison, the character Sethe is haunted by the spirit of her daughter.

Instead of fantasy, which takes place in a totally unrecognizable world, it can help a reader feel like their own world is magical. Harry Potter uses magical realism tools to inspire wonder in an audience while also allowing them to feel like they could be in the world themself.

Four key themes in Latin American literature include civilization vs. barbarism, politics and resistance, the construction of identity, and the construction of reality.

Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of the Americas.

What are the characteristics of the boom Latin American literature? ›

Hallmarks. The Boom novels are essentially modernist novels. They treat time as nonlinear, often use more than one perspective or narrative voice and feature a great number of neologisms (the coining of new words or phrases), puns and even profanities.

Latin American literature is often associated with magical realism, and magical realism is primarily associated with Latin America. But although the narrative tradition was widely popularized by García Márquez, in some ways it roots from a critique of European surrealism, Clayton explained.

Not only is Salsa one of the most popular genres of Latin American music, but it is incredibly widespread worldwide. Salsa is primarily Cuban-style dance music and is heavily influenced by jazz and Latin rhythms, such as Afro-Cuban son montuno, guaracha, and rumba.

Magical realism in Latin American literature serves as a powerful tool to explore complex themes. By blending the fantastical with the real, it provides a unique perspective on various social, political, and cultural issues.

Magical realism, as a literary style, blends magical elements with the real world, creating narratives where the extraordinary is treated as a mundane part of daily life. This unique blend reflects Latin America's cultural, historical, and social fabric, with Colombia often seen as the heartland of magical realism.

The magic of Encanto flows like the river in the film: strong, ever-present, and able to be re-routed. Like many Disney films, Encanto can be categorized as a fantasy musical, but Encanto fits comfortably under the Magical Realism umbrella.

It expanded to describe the 1950s literary movement of Latin American authors (including Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Luis Borges, and Isabel Allende) who created realistic settings in which magical elements nonchalantly occurred.