Magical Realism in Latin American Literature: A Journey Through Time
Isable Beyond Its Position in Spanish American Literature
Stages of the Spanish American Novel
Latin American novels saw a late development. We can distinguish several stages:
- Until 1945: Survival of nineteenth-century realism, with various events.
- From 1945 to 1960: Start of narrative renewal. Magical realism.
- From 1960 to 1980: Apogee or “boom” of Latin American novels.
- Since 1980: The latest narrative.
Latin American literature emerges, on the arrival of modernism with authors like José Martí, Rubén Darío, and José Asunción Silva, moving away from the European canon. The heyday of Latin American literature comes through the “Boom” from 1940, which corresponds to the so-called real-maravillosa literature, known as the Latin American Boom or the promotion of magical realism by several writers in the second half of the twentieth century.
In mid-1960, following the publication of a crucial series of novels that hit Spanish-speaking countries, a strange phenomenon broke out, later called the “Latin American Boom.” This put the onus of global attention on Latin American literature because, during its development, it had established a new style of storytelling. This style aims to show a direct and concise narrative, presenting the expansion of rural and urban issues, the integration of the real and the fantastic, the renovation of common narrative techniques, and experimentation with language. Its constant themes are the fusion of reality, the ideal and the fantastic, the urgency of creating a distinct literature, and problem-solving, moral, psychological, and social issues. The Latin American boom developed in different phases.
The structure of the story is the subject of thorough experimentation. And as for the renewal of the narrative, there is no news that does not have a splendid show in the new Latin American novel: rupture of the storyline, perspective changes, “temporary puzzle,” “counterpoint,” “kaleidoscope,” combination of those narratives, free indirect style, interior monologue, the experimental novel, etc.
This experimentation also affects, in a special way, the language. Underneath all this, and as in Spain in the same years, lies the conviction of the practical and aesthetic failure of realism. But that obviously does not preclude aesthetic concerns from the writer who proclaimed revolutionary social and political ideas.
Then came the Post-Boom, a Latin American literary movement that took place, as its name indicates, after the rise of the Latin American Boom. It is characterized by differences from the Boom era. The newest concern for the creation of new types of literature is dropped, and a more direct, easier-to-read style is used. In addition, there is a return to realism and existential concerns, unlike in works by Cortázar. There is also a preference for historical fiction based on fact.
The term “magic realism” was created by Franz Roh, a German art critic, in 1925 to define a current German post-expressionist painting. This group of painters aimed to capture the permanent, the essence of reality, based on the coexistence between realism and exploring the magical dimension of expressionism.
The writer who began this new movement was Demetrio Aguilera Malta. Despite being the pioneer of magical realism, he was not aware of the importance that this stylistic innovation would have. The term “magical realism” is used by the Venezuelan writer Arturo Uslar Pietri to refer to a stream of narrative that is in Venezuela against strict realistic formulas and creates a new realism, in which man and his environment are immersed in a world of fantasy and mystery. They think it’s possible to reach another kind of reality (the fantastic and wonderful) through the unconscious, dreams, imagination, etc., and therefore there are parallel realities which can be perceived only through observation and logic. To access these other realities, they are influenced by pre-Columbian cultures present in the oral transmission of fantastic stories, tales, and legends. Experimenting with new narrative forms collecting aspects of regionalism, neo-realism, and the social novel, it uses dream resources to give it a more ethereal feel and tries to adapt the stylistic devices of poetry to prose. Especially, it is a literature of contrasts, the fact that magic serves as a counterpoint to everyday situations as a way of pointing out the purity of an ideal or simply as a vehicle to question reality.
Magical Realism in The House of the Spirits
The novel presents a remarkable mix of real and magical elements in everyday family life. For example, Clara’s telekinetic powers help them predict earthquakes, save dishes, and even find a severed head by accident.
- These premonitions could also be framed as a way of seeing reality in the sense that explanations become very important.
- The novel uses multiple narrators. When you’re reading a chapter, the narrator in the same scene happens to be the grandfather, Esteban Trueba, his granddaughter, or even other people. In fact, in one chapter, the narrator may change to more than four different characters.
- Some of the names of the characters have meanings that reflect aspects of their personalities. For example, the case of Clara, which means clairvoyant. The meanings of women’s names are intended to indicate something about the character, but in the case of men, it only serves to list them in the order of the lineage.
Some strange and characteristic elements of magical realism in the novel include:
- Resurrection of Uncle Marcos.
- Barabbas, the dog with which Blanca plays like a horse.
- Cyclical time: the novel begins and ends the same way: “Barrabas came to the family by sea.”