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As used today the term is broadly descriptive rather than critically rigorous. The term was initially used by German art critic Franz Roh to describe painting which demonstrated an altered reality, but was later used by Venezuelan Arturo Uslar-Pietri to describe the work of certain Latin America n writers. The Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier (a friend of Uslar-Pietri) used the term "lo real maravilloso" (roughly "marvelous reality") in the prologue to his novel '' The Kingdom Of This World '' (1949). Carpentier's conception was of a kind of heightened reality in which elements of the miraculous could appear while seeming natural and unforced. Carpentier's work was a key influence on the writers of the Latin American "boom" that emerged in the 1960s. HISTORY The term ''magic realism'' was first used by the German art critic Franz Roh to refer to a painterly style also known as Neue Sachlichkeit . It was later used to describe the unusual realism by American painters such as Ivan Albright , Paul Cadmus , George Tooker and other artists during the 1940s and 1950s . However, in contrast to its use in literature, when used to describe visual art, the term refers to paintings that do ''not'' include anything fantastic or magical, but are rather extremely realistic and often mundane. The term was first revived and applied to the realm of fiction as a combination of the fantastic and the realistic in the 1960s by a Venezuelan essayist and critic Arturo Uslar-Pietri , who applied it to a very specific South American genre, influenced by the blend of realism and fantasy in Mário De Andrade 's influential novel '' Macunaíma .'' However, the term itself came in vogue only after Nobel Prize winner Miguel Ángel Asturias used the expression to define the style of his novels. The term gained popularity with the rise of the Latin American Boom , most notably Jorge Luis Borges , Juan Rulfo , Carlos Fuentes , and Gabriel García Márquez , who confessed, "My most important problem was destroying the lines of demarcation that separates what seems real from what seems fantastic." More recent Latin American authors in this vein include Isabel Allende and Laura Esquivel . Subsequently, the term has been applied both to earlier writers such as Jorge Luis Borges , Mikhail Bulgakov , or Ernst Junger and to postcolonial and other contemporary writers from Salman Rushdie and Gunter Grass to Angela Carter LITERATURE In literature, Magic Realism often combines the external factors of human . In literature, this manifested itself as Magic Realism, a Dissident and Dialectical discourse strategy which that can provide a more accurate representation of human reality as a whole. Indeed, Magic Realism can also be seen as the story of the 'other'. Magic Realism is a world-wide phenomenon and, because of this very fact, the geographical, historical and cultural contexts in which it has evolved are extremely diverse. This has given rise to an abundance in discourse strategies. Nevertheless, six features of the many that have been associated with Magic Realism tend to be found in all magical-realist texts: the perspective is that of ' The Other '; the duties of the readers, in decoding the texts, have 'evolved'; the setting has a relatively specific historical, geographical and cultural context; reality is presented as the human experience of the universe, and elements such as dream and imagination are consequently present; a free, Post-structuralist style of writing; and, finally, the inexplicable, in its many shapes and forms, plays a major role in all magical-realist texts. Some well-known authors of magical realism and their works:
NB: For a more extensive and eclectic list see under . Magical-realist writers use many devices, or 'special effects' to accommodate a particular discourse strategy. Although many of these tend to recur in the writings of authors with very different backgrounds, it is possible to isolate the ones which all magical-realist texts tend to have in common. The most common features: As regards the author-text-reader relationships the following is commonplace: the author's perspective is that of 'the Other'; the narrator(s) is(are) and the Afterlife , Spiritism ; multiple realities (see Multiverse ); social and natural catastrophes or cataclysms. The characters are often idiosyncratic, posses unusual or symbolic names and are heavily characterised. The . There is a miscellaneous use of and the Macabre . The free, and descriptions involving the five senses; an isolation or meticulous detailed description of objects; original Metaphors and Similes , frequent Juxtaposition ; Hyperbole and Litotes ; repetition; Symbolism ; sardonic Irony , Oxymorons and Paradoxes ; and Anthropomorphism . Of course, what is most striking to the reader often is the 'inexplicable': Coincidences , Serendipity , Consequentialism , and Poetic Justice or divine justice; Supernatural or wondrous powers, abilities, beings or events; Prophecies , Omens and Premonitions . VISUAL ART Magic realism is a style of visual art which brings extreme Realism to the depiction of mundane subject matter. In painting, magical realism is a term often used interchangeably with Post-expressionism . In 1925 , art critic Franz Roh used this term to describe painting which signaled a return to Realism after Expressionism 's extravagances which sought to redesign objects to reveal the spirits of those objects. Magical realism, according to Roh, instead faithfully portrays the exterior of an object, and in doing so the spirit, or magic, of the object reveals itself. Other important aspects of magical realist painting, according to Roh, include:
Artists associated with magic realism include:
FILM Though the term itself is not particularly well established within Film Theory , many films can be said to follow the conventions of magical realism. For example, in Tim Burton 's '' Big Fish '', unlike earlier, more fantastical works, the entire story takes place fairly grounded in reality with the memories and stories including magical elements that, most of the time, seem semi-plausible. In film, like with the rest of the movement, magical realism has strong ties with expressionism and could be said to have developed out of it as a recent development influenced by older, German Expressionism . However, as mentioned above - within film, the genre is not well established and therefore it is hard to come up with references to particular films that follow the conventions particularly strictly. For this reasons one must draw tenuous comparisons, rather than solid conclusions magical realisms place in film theory. Two films that have been called magical realist works are Daughters Of The Dust and Antonia's Line . Rooted in both historical detail and myth, these films incorporate symbolic rituals, legends, and folklore. They include multiple standpoints, weaving together different ways of seeing with the camera as well as narrative voice over. These are fluid films, where the real and the magical meet, and the narrative allows for unexpected moments to occur at almost any time without the story becoming full-on fantasy. Like many novels in the magical realist tradition, these films have political and post-colonial themes. Other films that have been called magical realist works include '' Pan's Labyrinth '', '' Urchin (film) '', '' Kala (film) '', '' Orphée '', '' The Night Of The Hunter '', '' Amélie '', '' An Autumn's Tale '', '' The Science Of Sleep '', '' Apocalypse Now '', '' El Norte '', '' The Lake House (film) '', and the '' The Milagro Beanfield War ''. MUSIC Magic realism has very recently become a little known but rapidly developing genre of music. Music of this genre is regarded as particularly expressive of its creator's emotions through the use of modern instruments as opposed to traditional instruments. In some cases "instruments", as they are traditionally thought of, are not used at all, with the musician fusing certain noises with others (such as the gentle rustling of leaves with the harsh noise of a kettle whistling) to create a surreal listening experience that is deeply emotive. Juxtaposition of sounds, like in the example mentioned above, is a common trait of magically realistic music. RELATION TO OTHER GENRES AND MOVEMENTS Magical realism often overlaps or is confused with other genres and movements.
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