Latin American Literature: Realism and Magical Realism (Week 6)

This week’s literary focus is on realism in Latin American literature. Many of their writings come in the form of magical realism, and one of the most famous authors is Gabriel Garcia Marquez. According to Kelsey McKinney at vox.com, “Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude was the first celebrated text that used magical realism, even though several great writers, such as Jorge Luis Borges and Alejo Carpentier, had written several novels (short stories in the case of Borges) in the style before him. Garcia Marquez's work became internationally famous, among other reasons, because — unlike many other Latin American writers — he did not write lengthy, multi-volume historical novels. He wrote rapidly paced novels in a simple and approachable style” (2014). His story, “Death Constant Beyond Love” includes a mystical account of a torn scrap of paper transformed into a butterfly which appears to be real. In a more tragic account of realism, Isabel Allende shares the broken lives of Rolf Carle and Azucena. Hosts from Literary Roadhouse Podcast shares their thoughts on the story.

            

Teachers who want to jump in and teach magical realism should read a few short works to their class. One of the most famous and recommended places for a teacher to start is reading aloud to her students Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s story called “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” The title summarizes the main character, and after the students go on the adventure with the old man, they can write their own short stories about people will magical traits. How fun would it be to have the main character be a grandparent or other mature relative? Students would post their stories online for friends and family to read. They could compile all the stories on The Bookpatch website and put the collection together.

References

McKinney, Kelsey. “What's so Magic about Magical Realism?” Vox, Vox, 20 Apr. 2014,             www.vox.com/2014/4/20/5628812/11-questions-youre-too-embarrassed-to-ask-about- magical-realism.

Puchner, Martin. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. W.W. Norton & Co., 2012.