A Companion to Magical Realism

by Stephen M. Hart, Wen-chin Ouyang

The Companion to Magical Realism provides an assessment of the world-wide impact of a movement which was incubated in Germany, flourished in Latin America and then spread to the rest of the world. It provides a set of up-to-date assessments of the work of writers traditionally associated with magical realism such as Gabriel Garca Mrquez [in particular his recently published memoirs], Alejo Carpentier, Miguel ngel Asturias, Juan Rulfo, Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel and Salman Rushdie, as well as bringing into the fold new authors such as W.B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, José Saramago, Dorit Rabinyan, Ovid, Mara Luisa Bombal, Ibrahim al-Kawni, Mayra Montero, Nakagami Kenji, José Eustasio Rivera and Elias Khoury, discussed for the first time in the context of magical realism.
Written in a jargon-free style, and with all quotations translated into English, this book offers a refreshing new interdisciplinary slant on magical realism as an international literary phenomenon emerging from the trauma of colonial dispossession. The companion also has a Guide to Further Reading.

Stephen Hart is Professor of Hispanic Studies, University College London and Doctor Honoris Causa of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru. Wen-chin Ouyang lectures in Arabic Literature and Comparative Literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.
Jonathan Allison, Michael Berkowitz, John D. Erickson, Robin Fiddian, Evelyn Fishburn, Stephen M. Hart, David Henn, Stephanie Jones, Julia King, Efran Kristal, Mark Morris, Humberto Nez-Faraco, Wen-Chin Ouyang, Lois Parkinson Zamora, Helene Price, Tsila A. Ratner, Kenneth Reeds, Alejandra Rengifo, Lorna Robinson, Sarah Sceats, Donald L. Shaw, Stefan Sperl, Philip Swanson, Jason Wilson.

Table of Contents

Globalization of Magical New Poltics of Aesthetics [with Wen-chin Ouyang] - Stephen M. Hart
Globalization of Magical New Politics of Aesthetics [with Stephen M Hart] - Wen-Chin Ouyang
Section Genealogies, Myths, Archives - Stephen M. Hart
Swords and Silver Magical Objects in the Work of Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garca Mrquez - Lois Parkinson Zamora
The Presence of Myth in Borges, Carpentier, Asturias, Rulfo and Garca Mrquez - Donald L Shaw
The Earth as Archive in Bombal, Parra, Asturias and Rulfo [with Julia King] - Stephen M. Hart
Alejo Carpentier's Re-invention of América Latin as Real and Marvellous -
The Golden Age Myth in Gabriel Garca Mrquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and Ovid's Metamorphoses - Lorna Robinson
Lessons from the Golden Age in Gabriel Garca Mrquez's Living to Tell the Tale - Efran Kristal
Section History, Nightmare, Fantasy - Stephen M. Hart
History and the Fantastic in José Saramago's Fiction - David Henn
Magical-Realist Elements in José Eustasio Rivera's The Vortex - Humberto Nuez-Faraco
Beyond Magic Realism in The Red of His Shadow by Marya Montero - Alejandra Rengifo
Cops, Robbers, and Crime and Magical Realism's Jewish Question - Michael Berkowitz
Flights of Angela Carter's Transgressive Narratives - Sarah Sceats
Section The Politics of Magic - Wen-Chin Ouyang
Humour and Magical Realism in El reino de este mundo - Evelyn Fishburn
Magical Realism and Children's Isabel Allende's La Ciudad de las Bestias - Philip Swanson
Unsavoury Representations in Laura Esquivel's Like Water for Chocolate - Helene Price
Not so Innocent - An Israeli Tale of Dorit Rabinyan's Persian Brides - Tsila Ratner
Magical Realism as Narrative Evasions in the Work of Nakagami Kenji - Mark Morris
Legend, Fantasy and the Birth of the New in `Los funerales de la Mam Grande by Gabriel Garca Mrquez - Robin Fiddian
Section Empire, Nation, Magic - Wen-Chin Ouyang
Magical Nationalism, Lyric Poetry and the W. B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney - Johnathan Allison
Empire and Tribal Magic in a Tuareg Ibrahim al-Kuni's Lunar Eclipse - Stefan Sperl
Magical Realism and Nomadic Writing in the Maghreb - John Erickson
Of Numerology and Magical Realism in Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses - Stephanie Jones
From The Thousand and One Nights to Magical Postnational Predicament in The Journey of Little Ghandi by Elias KhouryElias Khoury - Wen-Chin Ouyang
Guide to Further Reading [with Kenneth Reeds] - Stephen M. Hart
Select Bibliography - Stephen M. Hart

Genres: Magical Realism, Literary Criticism

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 2005

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A scholarly tome, most definitely. While very difficult to read and comprehend, at times, I found it nonetheless to be required reading for me, if only to more fully understand the bizarre genre in which I seem to naturally write. No one could pigeonhole me. Someone said "your writing has a magical realist feel to it". And so it does. So, this book was as much one of self-exploration as it was anything else. If you are not fantasy and not science fiction, then what are you? Probably magical realism.

[joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

has nice explanation of magic realism!

[Gabrielle Jarrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Companion to Magical Realism is an excellent academic critical study of magical realism. The comparisons, depth analysis, and inclusion of other areas in addition to Latin America is well-received. All of the studies did not appeal to me, being a writer, rather than an academic. While skimming a few, I did get a whole view of magical realism writing, beginning in Germany, exploding in Latin America, and seeding in many other countries with a diversity of authors.
Magical realism began as a way to satire, story, and magic to reveal the corruption in very reactionary leaders. I liked what I read, especially the reading lists!