Magic realism is a literary genre originally developed in Latin America, and still associated particularly with Latin American literature. The genre has, however, spread beyond its region of origin; one of its leading contemporary practitioners, Salman Rushdie, has his roots half a world away from Latin America. Rushdie, however, has one important characteristic in common with Latin American writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez; he is a product of the modern Third World.
Magic realism, indeed, is a genre distinctly associated with the Third World. It has not, so far, taken root to any substantial degree among writers in the United States or other Western countries. The reason, we may suggest, is that magic realism is at least in part a fictional response to the political conditions of disruption and alienation that prevail in the Third World. In the following essay, this response to Third World political realities and magic will be examined through a comparative study of two major works in the genre, Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude--the work which, perhaps more than any other, served to establish and define the genre--and Rushdie's Midnight's Children.
Before proceeding with this comparative examination, it may be useful to attempt to define magic realism, and to offer a tentative suggestion of why this genre should have emerged as a response to the political conditions of the Third World. After our examination of the works in question, we may then return to ask again whether magic realism, as expressed in these works, can indeed be considered a statement about Third World political existence.
Magic realism, like pornography, is difficult to define, but readily recognizable when one encounters it. We may first, perhaps, distinguish it from and contrast it to the sort of popular fantasy writing that has become popular in the United States in recent decades, and which is typified by J. R. R. Tolkien's Lor...