Saturday, April 30, 2005

Magical Realism and Oral Traditions

Some of my favorite books of all time fall into the category of "magical realism" (I found out this semester).
Now you may ask, how does this relate to Oral Traditions and I would answer you this:
Because when one reads a book with the element of "magical realism," one gets the feeling that a very old and wise storyteller is sitting right across the table, relating the tales of his life for you to hear. The element of reading seems to almost vanish, as the vivid detail seems to speak out loud.

I am concerned when people call it fantasy (not that I don't love to read fantasy), because magical realism is quite different while still holding the same appeal. It is more like real, practical and everyday life being expressed in a fantastical way. It does not contain any elements of a fantasy world such as magic powers, or unicorns, atleast not in a physical sense. The fantasy element in a magical realism novel is more mystery and enigma. It is stuff from peoples cultural legends- so while it may seem unreal or a tall tale, it is taken from the human life world and from the natural world.
Example: In "The House of Spirits," when the old farmer on the South American ranch deals with the ant problem, he doesn't get insecticide, he simply picks up the ant, speaks very kindly to it in his cupped palm to take his friends, and then my the next day all the ants are gone.
Or in the same novel, Clara's wild uncle picks up a puppy in a distant land and brings it back small dirty and shivering. It then grows up to be the size of a small horse and unrecognizable as any breed known.

For anyone who hasn't ventured into the world of magical realism, you should! (Especially since several very important books in this category (One Hundred Years of Solitude, Metamorphosis (Kafka)) or on our Top One Hundred list!
Here is a list I pulled off a site when I was looking a magical realism stuff:


A Long List -
Aitmatov, Chingiz (USSR) The Day Lasts More Than A Hundred Years [fg]
Alexie, Sherman (?) Reseration Blues [np]
Allende, Isobel (Chile) House of the Spirits [np]
Allende, Isobel (Chile) Love and Shadows [fg]
Beagle, Peter (US) A Fine and Private Place [ew]
Bell, Douglas Mojo and the Pickle Jar [ew]
Billias, Stephen The Quest for the 36 [ew]
Bisson, Terry (US) Talking Man [ew]
Blaylock, James (US) All the Bells on Earth [ew]
Blaylock, James (US) The Digging Leviathan [ts]
Blaylock, James (US) Night Relics [ew]
Blaylock, James (US) Paper Grail [ew]
Blaylock, James (US) The Last Coin [ew]
Blaylock, James (US) The Rainy Season [ew]
Blaylock, James (US) Winter Tides [ew]
Bradbury, Ray (US) Dandelion Wine [ew]
Bradbury, Ray (US) [others] [ew]
Bulgakov, Mikhail (Russia) The Master and Margarita [sm]
Byatt, A. S. (UK) The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye [ew]
Cabell, James Branch (US) The Cream of the Jest [ew]
Cabell, James Branch (US) [others] [ew]
Calvino, Italo (Italy) Numbers in the Dark [ew]
Calvino, Italo (Italy) The Watcher & Other Stories [ew]
Carey, Peter (Australia) Illywhacker [fg]
Carroll, Jonathan (UK) [ew,gec]
Carter, Angela (UK) Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories [soh]
Carter, Angela (UK) Nights at the Circus [fg,np,soh]
Castillo, Anna (?) So Far from God [np]
Chamoiseau, Patrick (?) Texaco [np]
Charnas, Suzy McKee (US) Dorothea Dreams [ew]
Cheever, John (US) "The Swimmer" [rm]
Chesterton, G. K. (UK) The Man Who Was Thursday [ew]
Crowley, John (US) Little, Big [ew]
Crowley, John (US) [others] [ew]
Davidson, Avram (US) [ecl]
De Lint, Charles (Canada) "Newford" stories [dt]
Delany, Samuel R. (US) Dahlgren [ts]
DeMarinis, Rick (US) Cinder [ew]
Doctorov, E L (US) Loon Lake [fg,np]
Eco, Umberto (Italy) Foucault's Pendulum [fg,soh]
Esquivel, Linda (Mexico) Like Water for Chocolate [dt,rh]
Finney, Charles (US) The Circus of Dr. Lao [ew]
Fowles, John (UK) A Maggot [fg]
García Márquez, Gabriel (Colombia) One Hundred Years of Solitude [everyone]
Gearhardt, Sally M (US) The Wanderground [fg]
Golding, William (UK) The Paper Men [fg]
Goldstein, Lisa (US) Dark Cities Underground [ew]
Goldstein, Lisa (US) The Red Magician [jn]
Goldstein, Lisa (US) Tourists [dn,jn]
Goldstein, Lisa (US) Walking the Labyrinth [jn]
Grant, Richard (US) Tex and Molly in the Afterlife [ew]
Grant, Richard (US) [maybe others] [ew]
Greenland, Colin (UK) Other Voices [fg]
Herrick, Amy (?) At the Sign of the Naked Waiter [np]
Hesse, Herman (Germany) Magister Ludi [fg]
Hoban, Russell (US/UK) The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz] [ew]
Hoban, Russell (US/UK) The Medusa Frequency [fg]
Hoban, Russell (US/UK) [others] [ew]
Hoeg, Peter (Denmark) The History of Danish Dreams [fg]
Hoffman, Alice (US) Illumination Night [np]
Hoffman, Alice (US) Practical Magic [rm]
Hospital, Janette T (Australia) The Last Magician [fg]
Hulme, Keri (New Zealand?) The Bone People [em]
Kafka, Franz (Czech) Metamorphosis [fg]
Kathryns, G. A. The Borders of Life [ew]
Kinsella, W. P. (US) Shoeless Joe [dt]
Knudtsen, Ingar (Norway) [son]
Kotzwinkle, William (US) The Bear Went over the Mountain [nl]
Kundera, Milan (Czech) Immortality [fg,np,rh]
Lafferty, R. A. (US) [ew]
Le Guin, Ursula K (US) Threshold [fg]
Lessing, Doris (UK) The Memoirs of a Survivor [fg]
Lindholm, Megan (US) Wizard of the Pigeons [ew,jn]
Machen, Arthur (UK/Wales) The Hill of Dreams [ew]
Machen, Arthur (UK/Wales) The Three Imposters [ew]
McCammon, Robert (US) A Boy's Life [ba]
McCarthy, Cormac (US) Blood Meridian [das]
McEwan, Ian (UK) The Child in Time [fg,np]
Millhauser, Steven The Barnum Museum [ew]
Millhauser, Steven In the Penny Arcade [ew]
Millhauser, Steven The Knife Thrower and Other Stories [ew]
Millhauser, Steven Little Kingdoms [ew]
Morrison, Toni (US) Beloved
Morrison, Toni (US) Paradise [das]
Morrison, Toni (US) Sula
Naylor, Gloria (?) Bailey's Cafe [np]
Nordan, Lewis (US) Lightning Song [das]
Nordan, Lewis (US) Wolf Whistle [das]
O'Brien, Flann (Ireland) The Third Policeman [ew]
Okri, Ben (Nigeria) The Famished Road [je]
Parsipur, Sharnush (Iran) [jb]
Peake, Mervyn (UK) Mr. Pye [ew]
Powers, Tim (US) Earthquake Weather [ew]
Powers, Tim (US) Expiration Date [ew]
Powers, Tim (US) Last Call [ew]
Puig, Manuel (Argentina) [rh]
Ransmayer, Christoph (Austria) The Last World [fg]
Read, Herbert (UK) The Green Child [ew,fg]
Ruff, Matt The Fool on the Hill [ew]
Rushdie, Salman (UK/India) Midnight's Children and Shame [fg,np]
Saramago, Jose (Portugal) [das]
Saxton, Josephine (UK/US) Queen of the States [fg]
Singer, Isaac Bashevis [vs]
Skibell, Jospeh A Blessing on the Moon [np]
Smith, Thorne The Lost Lamb [ew]
Smith, Thorne Rain in the Doorway [ew]
Stewart, Sean (US) Galveston [ew]
Stewart, Sean (US) Resurrection Man [ew]
Swanwick, Michael (US) Stations of the Tide [frossie]
Swift, Graham (UK) Waterland [fg,np]
Tepper, Sheri (US) "Marianne" books [eam,jw]
Tepper, Sheri (US) Beauty [eam,jw]
Thornton, Lawrence (?) Imagining Argentina [np]
Tutuola, Amos (Nigeria) The Palm Wine Drinkard [sc]
Vargas Llosa, Mario (Peru) [rh]
Warner, Sylvia Townsend Lolly Willowes [ew]
White, T. H. (UK) The Elephant and the Kangaroo [ew]
White, T. H. (UK) Mistress Masham's Repose [ew]
Williams, Charles (UK) [ew]
Winton, Tim (?) Cloudstreet [np]
Wolfe, Gene (US) The Devil in a Forest [ew]
Wolfe, Gene (US) Free Live Free [ew]
Wolfe, Gene (US) Peace [ew]
Wolfe, Gene (US) Soldier of the Mist [dn,jn]
Wolfe, Gene (US) There Are Doors [ew]
Woolf, Virginia (UK) Orlando [ew]

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