Salman Rushdie has sure read his Greek mythology. Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude recalls myth: in fact, it takes us back right to the very beginnings of time in this quote (Quote #1). Political structures are temporary, but myths have survived for centuries, and they have helped form collective identities stronger than political categories and affiliations. For Latin American writers, in particular, incorporating myth into their work is one form of political critique. On top of that, though, myths are also ancient, collective stories of a given people. For one thing, myths are a ready source of fantastic happenings pretty much anything can and does happen in myths. Magic Realist writers often draw inspiration and material from all kinds of myths-ancient myths, modern myths, religious myths and all sorts of other myths. Here (Quote #3) is the narrator of One Hundred Years of Solitude describing a priest levitating in a very matter-of-fact tone of voice.Ĭheck out Franz Kafka's deadpan first sentence (Quote #1) describing the transformation of Gregor Samsa into a bug in his story Metamorphosis. I continued eating my Cheerios." Here, the same thing is described as if it's the most normal thing in the world-and that makes the fantastic elements of the story feel more realistic, as if they could actually happen. That could never actually happen."īut how about this?: "My mom was making coffee this morning when she got on her knees, started barking and then turned into a dog. If a writer wrote something like, "OMG! OMG! When I walked into the kitchen, my mom dropped on all fours and turned into a dog! I ran screaming from the room," you'd probably think, "Wow, that is so weird. Little fairies came to dress you for school this morning? We've all been there. Your wallpaper started talking to you? Happens everyday. Your mom turned into a German shepherd? No biggie. In Magic Realist literature, the most fantastic, crazy things are told in a very matter-of-fact way.
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