Varieties of Magic Realism,

Dr. Clark Zlotchew

Professor

Modern Languages and Literatures

SUNY at Fredonia

ISBN: 1-930879-47-4   - English- 180 pp

A textbook to be used in several courses:
 
-Spanish American Fiction (prose fiction in Spanish  America:  20th century).
      -Special Topics: Jorge Luis Borges
      -Sex and Magic in Latin American Literature
The term “Magic Realism” has been employed frequently from mid Twentieth-Century on, yet no agreement exists as to a definition of the term.

    There are critics who claim that writers like Borges and Alejo Carpentier cannot be considered Magic Realists, while others consider them the foremost practitioners of Magic Realism.  Some critics maintain that any fiction written by a Latin American author from the mid twentieth century on, which is not crassly naturalistic, constitutes Magic Realism.  These same critics deny that writers from any other part of the world can represent this literary mode.  Yet others, obeying strictly literary parameters, recognize European authors, such as Proust and Kafka, as among the first Magic Realists.

     Further complicating the issue, Magic Realism is often confused or used interchangeably with terms such as "the fantastic," "the uncanny," "the marvelous," and "surrealism."  Yet, literary critics like Tzvetan Todorov have attempted to separate these terms and define the kinds of literature they represent.  As might be expected, total consensus has remained elusive, while polemics abound.

     The Introduction to Varieties of Magic Realism provides a summary of the history of the term "Magic Realism," defines the literary modes often confused with it, and finally provides some current opinions on what a definition of Magic Realism should or might be. However, the rest of the book (10 chapters) consists of essays that attempt to illustrate by analysis of the works of specific writers the manner in which some Latin American authors create their own personal brand of Magic Realism.


INDEX:

 

INTRODUCTION:

TOWARD A DEFINITION OF MAGIC REALISM

CHAPTER 1

BORGES: MAN AS INSTRUMENT

CHAPTER 2

BORGES: MAGIC REALISM IN REAL LIFE

CHAPTER 3

BORGES AND THE FRENCH "NEW NOVEL":

FICTION WRAPPED IN FICTION

CHAPTER 4

BORGES AND THE FRENCH "NEW NOVEL":

THE UNMEDIATED EXPERIENCE

CHAPTER 5

BORGES AND THE FRENCH "NEW NOVEL":

THE READER AS ACCOMPLICE

CHAPTER 6

CARLOS FUENTES' AURA:

MAGIC, SEX AND DESTINY

CHAPTER 7

JULIO RICCl: TIME TRANSMUTED INTO SPACE

CHAPTER 8

JULIO RICCI: RETURN TO EDEN

CHAPTER 9

ANTONIO BRAILOVSKY:

BENEATH THE SURFACE OF REALITY

CHAPTER 1O

ENRIQUE JARAMILLO LEVI:

MAGICAL METAPHORS OF LITERARY CREATIVITY

Notes

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