Introduction and Reading List

[Sequoia]

Hi All,

I'm new to the group. First off, I think genre categories are extremely problematic albeit necessary in many respects. For me, Magical Realism (generally associated with Latin American writers) is writing the incorporates the fantastic into an otherwise realistic world or vice versa. Fabulism and Slipstream are also terms thrown around. Fabulism often claimed by the literary establishment (New Wave Fabulism) and slipstream claimed by the speculative side. Why can't we all just get along? :P

Anyway, I love, love magical realism (or enter your favorite term here). It's a genre of the other . It's a genre between genre. It's a genre of digging at identity/history/culture/community through the lens of the fantastic. For many countries, the magical in literature and film is one of the few ways to create a bridge to the past/self when wars and colonialism have all but obliterated any paths.

Anyway, I'm originally from San Francisco and Waipahu, Hawaii. I was educated at Grinnell College in Iowa and Southern Illinois U for my MFA in creative writing. Starting in the Fall, I will be joining the faculty of St. Olaf College in Minnesota as a creative writing professor.

Much of my work is inspired by Japanese folklore and pop-culture, and I think it's safe to say that some years living in Japan proved to be influential in how I utilize the magical as a bridge to my own heritage and personal past. I have a story collection coming out soon that revolves around suck work: Where We Go When All We Were Is Gone

Some of my favorite Magical Realist/Fabulist Work:

Ghosts by Cesar Aira
Metropole by Ferenc Karinthy
Death at Intervals by Jose Saramago
The Illuminations by Kevin Brockmeier
Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link
Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender
By Light We Knew Our Names by Anne Valente
Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
How They Were Found by Matt Bell
North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud
The Miniature Wife by Manuel Gonzales
A Guide to Being Born by Ramona Ausubel

[Zoe]

Hello Sequoia and welcome.

I have the Magic Realism Books blog (http://magic-realism-books.blogspot.com). I also administer the Magic Realism Books Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/magic...). If you want an review, please tell your publisher to get in touch.

[Niela]

I assume you have read Murakami since you are a lover of Japanese culture? My favs were The Wind-Up Bird and Kafka on the Shore.
I like mixtures of fantastical elements in modern settings such as The Golem and the Jinni= and magical, archetypal & occult themes in contemporary settings such as the novels of Dion Fortune, Charles Williams, and Julia Turk's trilogy, The Navigator's Dream, which has us follow a modern day psychiatrist through the world of the Tarot, one card at a time! Thanks for your list. If there are particular books on it that you think I would enjoy based on what I have described here, do tell! :-)