What is Magic Realism? : first ver

Back Ground Music : Jascha Heifetz - Paganini Caprice No. 24

        Perhaps, the most precise and accurate description of realism would be magic realism. Core idea of the realism is straightforward as it is: “a theory of writing in which the ordinary, familiar or mundane aspects of life are represented in a straightforward or matter-of-fact manner that is presumed to reflect life as it actually is”. Unfortunately, this precise definition does not provide readers what to read – what to focus and what to learn from the works. Furthermore, the “aspects of real life” is even more opaque since the view of real world differs from people to people. Depends on individual’s understanding of the world, meaning of the literary works may differ greatly; however, ironically, this “vagueness” is what makes work of realism so magical. It has a power to empathize with thousand different people regardless of ethnicity and social background because it does not force any specific message to readers, a true realism reflecting real world. In this sense magic realism would be a true realism. Though magical or unrealistic odd elements intervene a realistic portrait of the world, this realistic depiction even makes the magical element so real. Thus, depends on the reader, the work may become a fairy tale or could be a grave-most story which contains truth about the human nature.

        One of the strangest and the remarkable aspect about the magic realism is that the most unrealistic element so unaffectedly blends into the most realistic story. So far, unless the genre is hybrid, while mostly characterized with realistic depiction, works regarding magic realism literally contain magical element, something that cannot happen in a real world. However, most distinguishing feature of the magic realism is that this magical element is neither special to the author nor to the characters – magic seems to be a “real thing”. One of the most representative magic realism authors Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” well shows this feature of the magic realism: when Pelayo discovered the man with the wings, he visits “a neighbor woman who knew everything about life and death to see him, and all she needed was one look to show them their mistake” to ask who the man is. What she tells to Pelayo is that “He’s an angel.” Though readers expect some change happen regarding Pelayo’s behavior, Pelayo only considers the man as a mere strange creature to be “watched over…all afternoon from the kitchen, armed with his bailiff’s club…” Even more absurd, Elisenda, the wife of Pelayo, is only annoyed by the man even after Pelayo and Elisenda earns much money from visitors of the man. This absurdity, or strange reality of the story culminates in the conclusion where Elisenda kept watching the man “even when she was through cutting the onions and she kept on watching until it was no longer possible for her to see him…” The man is only an ordinary subject that is “a bit” strange in the story. As such, magic realism makes the magic no different from the reality.

        If the “real-like strangeness” were the feature of the magic realism, what makes magic realism a true realism is in its “mirrorness”: the story reflects reader’s life, a true real world in an individual’s view-point. In children’s view-point, magic realism may be a simple fairy tale; in adult’s view-point, it can be a story with life lesson that can be only achieved after years of experience. In case of “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”, it could be a simplified “Harry Potter” like version story, whereas, for adults, the story might be “inconvenient truth” of cruel human nature towards strange, different, weak, dependent creature. Furthermore, there are still a lot of rooms for different interpretation about motifs or symbols used in the story. Another example, a movie “To Rome with Love”, one of the magic realism works, it could be a story of time machine, it could be a story about true love or a true image of love. If the audience is a staunch believer in true love, movie becomes romance movie; if the audience is pessimist, movie becomes criticism of love, that love is “Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Magic realism gives no decisive message to the reader. Rather, its reflection of the world is so real and aerial at the same time, when trying to look at the core of the work, it only reflects reader’s mind just like a mirror.

        In a nutshell, magic realism could be interpreted as one of the attempts to depict a true real world. By only constructing a background for readers to start imbue their own meaning to the work, magic realism allows individuals to realize their personal “real world” with each of their distinctive point of view.