To me magical realism celebrates what makes humans human (as Farah said
earlier). I don't know what the academic papers you've read said, but just
the fact that something *academic* was written about the subject is out of
sync with the premise of magical realism, which emphasizes that undefinable
quality that makes us human, yet connects us with nature.
To sum it up, magical realism celebrates human nature and the human link to
nature. Tradition tends to associate nature (i.e. Mother Nature, Wicca,
etc.) with females, and therefore, magical realism usually has female
"leads" as in Allende's "House of Spirits."
Personally, I think magical realism speaks louder and more realistically
about human conditions today, yesterday and tomorrow than any academic or
scientific paper ever could.
>In a message dated 97-04-29 17:52:12 EDT, you write:
>
><<
> this isn't a comment so much as a request.
>
> I have been turned right off the *concept* of magic realism (not the
> literature itself), not because of the quality of the literature but
> because of the appalling standard of the three academic papers I
> have listened to on the topic. I would really appreciate it if any body
> could either explain to me what it is, or point me in the direction of a
> lucid article on the topic. >>
>
>Farah,
>I haven't read *any* academic papers on magical realism, which might be why
>I'm still enchanted by it. I didn't read Like Water for Chocolate, I saw the
>movie (go ahead and groan, I swear I'm getting around to it) but the short
>fiction and the one novel I can think of offhand (Allende's The House of the
>Spirits) that are magical realism *are* enchanting.
>
>Magical realism is just like a realistic novel, except that certain
>miraculous or magical things happen and are taken as no more than just
>slightly weird. It's a little like my personal view of really good sf: the
>idea is to find out how humans behave, how they're still human, even in
>unusual circumstances, like working in a lunar colony, or as a vr hacker. The
>emphasis is not on the magic/science, it's on the people. If Allende's novel
>were about the clairvoyance of the women, it would be boring. It's really
>about the family, and Allende uses the magic as a literary device.
>
>I hope that helped!
>
>Hope Cascio
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