"Magical Realism" in Spanish-American Fiction ENRIQUE ANDERSON IMBERT, Harvard University The term "magical realism" first appeared in the criticism of the plastic arts and only afterwards was it extended to literature. In 1925 the German critic Franz Roh coined it to characterize a group of German painters. According to Roh, the impressionist painters, faithful to the nature of objects and to their own chromatic sensations, painted what they saw (e.g. Camille Pissarro). As a reaction, expressionist painters rebelled against nature, painting objects that were either nonexistent or so disfigured as to appear extraterrestrial (e.g. Marc Chagall). And what Roh discovered in 1925 was that postexpressionist painters (Max Beckmann, George Grosz, Otto Dix) were once again painting ordinary objects, only they were now doing it with wonderstruck eyes, because, rather than turning again to reality, they were contemplating the world as if it had just sprung again from the void in a magic re-creation. In other words, the postexpressionists, after the fantastic Apocalypse of the expressionists, saw things enveloped in the innocent, early morning light of a second Genesis. It was an art of reality and magic, which Franz Roh baptized Magischer Realismus ("magical realism"). It is true that, years later, in 1958, when referring to the same painters, he replaced the term Magischer Realismus with that of Neue Sachlichkeit which could be translated as "new objectivity." 1 By then, however, the term "magical realism" had been adopted into the language of literary criticism. It is not surprising that a term of art criticism should pass to literary criticism; what is surprising is that while art historians no longer use it, literary historians abuse it. Now, when a term conceived with respect to the plastic arts is transposed to the literary arts, it must adjust to its new conditions. Painting is a spacial art which makes use of line and color. Literature is a temporal art which makes use of words and rhythm. To compare a painting with a story is to play with mere metaphors. At best, one can look for an aesthetic ideal which is common to both painting and writing. What ideal could this be? Franz Roh saw in the historical process of painting a dialectic which would have pleased Hegel: a thesis: "impressionism"; an antithesis: "expressionism"; and a synthesis: "magical realism." Anyone who enjoys these games of criticism could transfer them from painting to literature and say that in the historical process of the narrative art Roh's dialectic is achieved through three categories: a thesis: the category of the veridical which produces realism; an antithesis: the category of the supernatural which produces fantastic literature; and a synthesis: the category of the strange which produces the literature of "magical realism." A narrator of realism, respectful of the order of nature, stands in the midst of daily life, observes everyday things with the perspective of an ordinary man, and relates a tale which is true or probable. A narrator of the fantastic dispenses with the laws of logic and the physical world and, ithout further explanation
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7/27/2019 "Magical Realism" in Spanish-American Fiction
E N R I Q U E A N D E R S O N I M B E R T , Harvard University
The term "magical real ism" f i rs t appeared in the cr i t ic ism of the plas t ic ar tsand on ly a f te rwards w as it ex ten de d to l i te ra tu re . In 1925 the G erm an c r it icFran z Roh co ined it to charac te r ize a g r ou p of G erm an pa in te rs .
Accord ing to Roh , the impress ion is t pa in te rs , fa i th fu l to the na tu re o fobjects and to their own chromatic sensat ions , painted what they saw (e .g .Camil le Pissarro) . As a react ion, expressionis t painters rebel led against nature ,
pa in t ing ob jects tha t were e i the r no nex is ten t o r so d is f igured as to a pp ea rex t ra te r res t r ia l (e .g . Marc Chaga l l ) . And what Roh d iscovered in 1925 was tha tpos texpress ion is t pa in te rs (Max Beckmann , George Grosz , Ot to Dix) were onceaga in pa in t ing o rd i nar y ob jects , on ly they were now do in g it wi th w ond ers t ru ckeyes, because , ra ther than tu rn ing aga in to rea l i ty , they were con templa t ing theworld as if it ha d ju st sp ru ng ag ain from the void in a magic re-cre at io n. Inother words, the postexpressionis ts , af ter the fantast ic Apocalypse of theexpress ion is t s , saw th ings enve loped in the innocen t , ea r ly morn ing l igh t o f asecond Genesis . I t was an ar t of real i ty and magic , which Franz Roh baptizedMagischer Realismus ("magical re alism "). It is tr ue th at, years later, in 19 58, w he n
refe r r ing to the same pa in te rs , he rep laced the te rm Magischer Realismus withthat of Neue Sachlichkeit which could be t ransla ted as "new object iv i ty ."1
By then ,however , the te rm "magica l rea l i sm" had been adopted in to the language o fliterary criticism. It is not surprising that a term of art criticism should pass tol i terary cr i t ic ism; what is surpris ing is that while ar t h is tor ians no longer use i t ,l i terary his tor ians abuse i t . Now, when a term conceived with respect to theplast ic ar ts is t ransposed to the l i terary ar ts , i t must adjust to i ts new condit ions .Paint ing is a spacia l ar t which makes use of l ine and color . Li tera ture is at e mp o ra l a r t wh ic h ma k e s u se o f wo rd s a n d rh y th m. T o c o mp a re a p a in t in g wi tha s tory is to play with mere metaphors . At best , one can look for an aesthet ic
ideal which is co m m on to both pain t ing a nd w ri t ing. W ha t ideal could th is be?
Fran z Roh saw in the his tor ical process of paint in g a dia lect ic which wo uldhave pleased Hegel: a thesis : " impressionism"; an ant i thesis : "expressionism";and a synthesis : "magical real ism."
Anyone who enjoys these games of cr i t ic ism could t ransfer them frompaint ing to l i tera ture and say that in the his tor ical process of the narra t ive ar tRoh 's d ia lect ic is achieved through three categories : a thesis : the category of thever id ica l which p roduces rea l i sm; an an t i thes is : the ca tegory o f the superna tura l
which produces fantast ic l i tera ture; and a synthesis : the category of the s trangewhich produces the l i tera ture of "magical real ism."
A nar ra to r o f rea l i sm, respec t fu l o f the o rder o f na tu re , s tands in the mids tof dai ly l i fe , observes everyday things with the perspect ive of an ordinary man,and re la tes a ta le which is t rue or probable . A narra tor of the fantast ic d ispenseswith th e laws of logic an d th e physical world a nd , w ithou t fu r th er ex pla na t ion(oth er tha n that of h is ow n whims), recoun ts an action which is ab sur d orsupernatural . A narra tor of "magical real ism," to create for us the i l lus ion of theunre a l , p re ten ds to escape from na tur e and recou nts an act ion tha t , however
explicable it may be, unsettles us with its strangeness.
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In case this class i f icat ion of the ver idical , the supernatural , and the s t rangesou nd s too abs t ract , I shall il lus t rate it wi th con crete ex am ple s ; these are theth re e ways in which A lejo Ca rp en t ier tel ls us abo ut a jo ur n ey :
(a ) Category of the veridical: Sofia's jo u rn e y , relate d very realis tical ly inEl siglo de las luces, ch ap ter VI , s ect ion XL II I .
(b ) Category of the supernatural: the fantast ic journey as in "Viaje a la semilla,"in which an o ld man becomes a chi ld , en ter s h i s mother ' s womb, and d i sappears .
(c) Category of the strange: the journey f rom New York to the Venezuelanj u ng l e wh i ch is un de r t ak en i n Los pasos perdidos by a C ub an mu sician. I t is a rea ljo ur ne y th ro ug h a geog raphica l se t t ing , bu t it is a lso a magic jo ur ne y th ro ug hhis tory , as the pro tagoni s t r e t r aces epochs f rom the twent ie th century , throughthe R om an t ic era, the R enaissan ce, the M iddle Ages , an d a ncie nt times , to a lostpara di se . . . Th i s jou rn ey thr ou gh a r ever s ib le t ime arouse s a f ee ling ofs t ran ge ne ss w hich is chara cter is t ic of "mag ical real ism."
The t e rm "magica l r ea l i sm" has become fashionable to the poin t where i twould be unusual for a r eview dedica ted to the s tudy of Spani sh-Amer icanl i terature not to publ ish an ar t icle on the "magical real ism" of Garcia Marquez orof one of his contemporar ies . Somet imes I quiet ly tel l mysel f (of course, wi thoutbel ieving i t ), tha t p er ha ps I was the fi rs t to associate R oh, wh o coin ed the ter mhal f a century ago, wi th the "magica l r ea l i sm" of a Spani sh-Amer ican wr i t e r .Permit me to relate how this came about .
In 1927 O rte ga y Gasset had Franz R oh's boo k t ran s lated for his Revista deOccidente; an d th en , wh at was me rely a subt i t le in German—Nach-Expressionismus
(Magischer Realismus)—became a t i tle in Sp an ish: Realismo magico.2 This t e rm was ,then, wel l -known in the Buenos Aires l i terary ci rcles which I f requented in myadolescence. The f i rs t t ime I heard i t appl ied to a novel was in 1928, when myf r iend Anibal Sanchez Reule t— of my own ag e— reco m m end ed tha t I r ea d Lesenfants terribles by Je a n C octeau: " pu re 'magica l r ea l ism, ' " he to ld me. W i th in theci rcle of my f r iends , then, we talked about the "magical real ism" of JeanCo cteau , G. K. Ch es ter to n , Franz Kafka, M assimo Bon tempe l l i, Benjam in Ja rn eset al . I , who had been publishing antirealis t short s tories s ince 1927, was veryconsc ious of the degrees of ver i s imi l i tude which run f rom the improbable to theimposs ible. I t wou ld ne ver hav e oc cu rred to m e to confuse the "magical real ism "
of my s tory "Luna de la ceniza," (1934) ,—which is expl icable by natural phys icallaws but which suggests a possible end of the world—with the fantasy "El levéPedro," (1938) , in which the protagonis t , inexpl icably l iberated f rom the laws ofgrav ity, r ises th ro u g h t he air an d is lost in spac e.
3I t was because I was
acc us to m ed to such dis t inct ions , that , in 1956, wh en I app l ied the term "mag icalrea l i sm" to a Spani sh-Amer ican wr i t e r , I d id so re ta in ing the meaning whichRoh had given i t . I was refer r ing then to Arturo Uslar Piet r i ' s shor t s tor ies , andI said: "In 'La l luvia' we appreciate the originali ty of his 'magical realism, ' to usethe term coined by the German cr i t ic Franz Roh in his s tudy of one phase ofcontemporary ar t . Everyday objec t s appear enveloped in such a s t r ange a tmos
p h er e tha t , a l th ou gh recog nizab le they shock us as if they were fantas tic ."4
I suspect that in these last few years there are those who do not associate theterm "magical real ism" wi th Roh, and when they do, they do not alwaysdis t inguish between "magical real ism" and "fantas t ic l i terature." Ar turo UslarPiet r i , for ins tance, did no t men t ion F ranz R oh in 1948 w he n he poin ted ou t amys ter ious e lement in Venezuelan shor t s tor i es and ca l l ed i t " rea l i smo magico ." 5
N or did An gel Flores m en t ion Fran z Ro h in his ar t icle of 1955, "Magical Real ismin Span ish-A m erica n Fict ion."" In 1959 he was to repla ce the ter m "magicalreal ism" wi th that of "fantas t ic l i terature" for to him they were one and the
s a m e .7
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Me anwh i le , an oth er t e rm h ad app ea red w hich , as t ime went on , bec am eassocia ted wi th the two which I have jus t me nt ion ed; th i s l ed to an even gre a te rconfus ion in the language of cr i t ic ism. I refer to " the marvelous ly real" (" lo realmaravi l loso") which Alejo Carpent ier def ined in the prologue to El reino de estemundo* and later repeated in his essay "De lo real maravi l losamente amer icano."
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C arp en t i er be l i eves (1) tha t th ere is a l it e ra ture of the "marve lous ," Eu rop ea n inor igin, which refers to su pe rn atu ra l events ; (2) tha t the Am erica n real ity is m or e"marvelous" than that l i terature, and, as a resul t , one must refer to " that whichis ma rvelous ly re al in Am erica"; (3) that th e "marvelous ly real" of Am erica c anbe t ransposed to l i terature only on the condi t ion that wr i ters bel ieve that , int ruth, America i s "real ly marvelous" (or "marvelous ly real") . Now let us look atthis in more detai l .
T h e Eu r ope ans a s mu ch as t he eu r op ean i zed Amer i cans — s ays Ca r pen t i e r in
his essay—use a form ula for fantasy wh ich cons is ts of tur ni ng the w or ld ins ideou t , an d which is m erely a m ech anism of invers ion. ("A fuerza d e q u er er susci tarlo maravi l loso a todo t r ance los t aumaturgos se hacen burocra tas , " p . 130. ) Thei rar t i s t i c e f for t s a re surpassed by na tura l wonders . Fur thermore , Carpent i e r wr i t esthat : "T h er e i s a m om en t , in the s ixth ca nto of Maldoror, when t he he r o ,pursued by al l the pol ice in the wor ld, escapes f rom 'an army of agents andspies ' by assuming var ious animal forms and by making use of his abi l i ty tot ranspor t himself ins tant ly to Peking, Madr id, or Saint Petersburg. This i s verymuch l i t e ra ture of the 'marvelous . ' But in Amer ica , where noth ing s imi lar hasbeen wr i t t en , there d id exi s t a Mackandal endowed wi th the same powers by the
fa ith of h is co ntem po rar ie s , wh o br ou gh t abo ut wi th th is mag ic on e of thes t rang es t an d m ost dra m at ic upr is ings in his tory. . . . Bu t wh at is Am erica 'shis tory i f i t i s not a chronicle of the 'marvelous ly real?" (pp. 134-135) .Carpent i e r has a l so sugges ted tha t " the sensa t ion of the 'marvelous ' presupposesa fai th. Those who do not bel ieve in saints cannot be cured by the miracles ofsaints , nor can those who are not Quixotes become, body and soul , a par t of thewor ld oi'Amadis de Gaula o r Tirante el Blanco. . . . Hence , those who invoke the'marvelous ' wi thout bel ieving in i t—as did the surreal is ts for so many years—doso only as a l i terary gimmick" (p. 132).
Evident ly Ca rp en t ier has wri t ten a l i terary essay w i thou t any phi losop hicalpre tens ions ; but s ince there are people who wi l l r ead i t as phi losophy andnot as l i terature, i ts fal lacies should be pointed out .
Above al l , i t is a fal lacy that art is a mere imitat ion of reali ty and that ,the ref or e, reali ty surpasses ar t . W he n Ca rpe nt ie r says that in Am erica th ewri ter puts himself " into contact wi th the 'marvelous '" (p. 133) , he i s assumingthat the "marvelous" i s as tangible as phys ical objects . With the same logic—or
lack of logic—it could be said that the as t ronaut Nei l Armstrong touched uponthe rom ant ic n at ur e of the m oo n, whe n in fact the moo n is only roma nt ic fora per so n wh o contem pla tes i t wi th the eyes of a poet . T h e g eog raph y andhi s tory of Amer ica only appear "marvelous" when they s t imula te Carpent i e rwho, wi th his imaginat ion thus aroused, wr i tes that wonder which is hisnovel Los pasos perididos.
C arp en t ier ' s secon d fallacy is that of assum ing that in o rd e r to n ar ra tepo r ten tou s event s on e mus t have fa ith . T h e oppos i t e is t ru e . T h e re l ig ious
individual remains insens i t ive to the esoter ic nature of his supers t i t ions . At bes t ,supers t i t ions cons t i tute good mater ial for tales of horror , but in order to conver t
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them into s tor ies , an unbel iever must s top taking them ser ious ly and must retel lthem with a new purpose. Fantas t ic l i terature arose when men of an ar t i s t iccommuni ty ceased to be l i eve in the s tor i es they re la ted . Not even Homerbel ieved in the t ru t h of the myths which he used to na r ra te for the am use m en tof unbel i ever s .
T o sum m ariz e: the idea of the "marvelou s ly real ," s ince it is de tac he d f romAesthet ics , should not be confused wi th the category "magical real ism" which isindeed aes thet ic . I has ten to add that "magical real ism" should not be confusedwith fantas t ic l i terature, ei ther .
Som e peop le do so , and un do ubte dly they have the i r r easons . Erwin DaleCar ter , adher ing to the cr i ter ion of Flores , includes "shor t s tor ies of fantasy" inhis doctoral thes is on Ma gical Realism in Co ntemporary Argentine F iction.
10 J u a nLoveluck uses "magica l r ea l i sm" or " the marvelous ly r ea l " indi scr iminate ly ."
Luis Leal thinks that the def ini t ion of "magical real ism" ( in Franz Roh) coincideswith that of " the marvelous ly real" ( in Carpent ier ) ; and when i t seems that he i sgoing to separate "magical real ism" f rom fantas t ic l i terature he br ings themtogether again by giving as an example of "magical real ism" Carpent ier ' s ta le"Viaje a la semilla," which, s ince i t relates a miraculous reversing of physicalt ime, belongs to fantas t ic l i terature.
1 2Miguel Angel Astur ias , wi th the term
"magical real ism"—which he appl ies to his own works—alludes to that process ofthe mythif icat ion of nature which can be seen in the magic wor ld picture of theindigenous peoples of our Amer ica .
1 3Angel Valbuena Br iones s t a tes tha t
"marvelous r ea l i sm," "magica l r ea l i sm," and fantas t i c Argent inean l i t e ra ture are
s imi lar . " German Dar io Car r i l lo compares the previous def in i t ions and concludes that al l wr i ters who explore real i ty in a new way ar r iving at the ext remel imi t of fantasy wi thout fal l ing into the absurd or prodigious are "magicalrea l i s t s . " '
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My intent ion is not to ques t ion the terminology of my col leagues . Af ter al l ,these t e rms are only words which change wi th h i s tory .
1 6Only a fanat ic would
think of def inin g a word ac co rdin g to a pas t m ea nin g whe n tha t word is s till verym uc h al ive in the pre sen t . I have al ready said that in 1 958, w he n Ro h himselfagain ref er r ed to the ar t is t ic style wh ich in 1925 he ha d bapt ized w i th the na m e
Magischer Realismus ("magical real ism") , he prefer red to replace that name wi tha n o t h e r Neue Sachlichkeil ("new objectivi ty") . I t is f i t t ing that everyone shouldmake his ideas clear ; and i t has been my intent ion to clar i fy my own. I havedi s t ingui shed, then , be tween supernatura l and s t r ange nar ra t ions . In the f i r s t ,the narrator al lows a por tent to break suddenly into the act ion which he isnar ra t ing . He re jo ices in denouncing the pr inc ip les of logic and in s imula t ingmirac les which turn th e laws of na tu re ups id e do wn . T ha nk s to the f r eedom ofhis imaginat ion, that which is imposs ible in the physical order becomes poss iblein the or de r of fan tasy . Th e re is no o the r explana t ion th an tha t of h is whim s .The narrator af fects , as an explanat ion of the inexpl icable, the intervent ion of
mys ter ious agent s . Somet imes the supernatura l appears , not per soni f i ed bymeans of agent s , but in a cosmic upheaval which , wi thout anyone knowing how,obl iges men to as sume grotesque pos tures . In these supernatura l s tor i es , theworld i s lef t s tanding on i t s head. On the contrary, in s t range s tor ies , thenarrator , ins tead of present ing magic as i f i t were real , presents real i ty as i f i twere magic . Charac ter s , th ings , and event s a re a l l r ecognizable and reasonable ,but as the nar ra tor proposes to provoke fee l ings of s t r angeness he d i s regardswhat he sees and abs tains f rom rat ional explanat ions . Before, we saw himpa lm ing or al ter in g objects . Real ity was diss ipated in the m ea nd er i ng s of fantasy.Magic was l ike a violent f l ight towards Nothingness . Now we see the narrator at
the opposing ext reme. "Magical real ism" takes root in Being but , i t does so whi ls t
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descr ibing i t as problemat ic . Things do exis t , and what a pleasure we get f romseeing them emerge f rom fantasy 's f low; but now we enter into them, and inthe i r depths we again touch upon the enigma. Between the d i s so lu t ion of r ea l i ty(magic) and the copying of real i ty ( real ism) , "magical real ism" surpr ises itself, asthough i t were present at the spectacle of a new Creat ion. Seen wi th f resh eyes
in a new m orn ing 's l ight , the wor ld i s , if no t ma rve lou s , at least dis t urb ing . Inthis class of narrat ion, the events , being real , produce the i l lus ion of unreal i ty.The wr i t e r ' s s t r a tegy cons i s t s of sugges t ing a supernatura l a tmosphere wi thoutd ep ar t in g f rom n at ur e, an d his tact ic is to de fo rm real i ty f rom within th eimaginat ion of neurot i c charac ter s .
Having def ined "magical real ism" in this fashion, I am going to apply i t toSpani sh-Amer ican l i t e ra ture—not to Spani sh-Amer ican rea l i ty , which does notenjoy ar t i s t ic pr ivi leges , but rather to wri ters who have looked at thei r lands andthe i r peoples through l enses pol i shed in the workshops of the wor ld ' s grea t
l i terature. I f I may, I shal l of fer a personal tes t imony to demonstrate how andwhen "magica l r ea l i sm" came in to be ing .
My perspect ive was that of a reader who l ived in Buenos Aires , that i s tosay, in the most europeanized ci ty of the whole of Spanish America. TheAr gen t i neans d i d no t r ead Ar gen t i nean wr i t e r s and much l e s s Span i s h - Amer i canones . As a chi ld , l ike many of my schoolmates , I devoured French and Engl i shnovel s . T h e first A rge nt ine an novel which moved m e to adm ira t ion was DonSegundo Sombra (1926) . Wi th a m etaph or ic a r t l earn ed f rom the F renc hsymbol is ts , Ricardo Güiraldes ideal ized a gaucho Argent ina which did not exis t
and he b le nd ed very na tu ra l s cenes in to a pr e te rna tur a l a t m osp he re of f antas ies ,mys ter i es , and t ime changes . In compar i son wi th the count ry novel s which thenpredominated ( those of Beni to Lynch, for example) , i t could have been sa id ofch ap ter XV (a nd of its conc lus ion in ch ap ter X V III ) tha t i t was p u re "m agicalreal ism." Since that reading of Don Segundo Sombra I have pa id more a t t en t ion toSpani sh-Amer ican l e t t e r s .
"Can there not be ," I would ask myself, "can there not be in the res t ofSpani sh Am er ica , na r ra to r s wh o go even fur the r th an G üi ra ldes in the i r break
wi th r ea li st ic con ven t ions?" T h e you ng peo ple of today , accu s tome d to thein terna t ional "Boom" of Rul fo , Cor tazar , Garc ia Marquez , Vargas Llosa , Fuentes ,C ab rera Infan te , a re un able , pe rha ps , to imagine tha t in the year s to which I amrefer r ing Spani sh-Amer ican l i t e ra ture was not access ib le . One had to make agre at ef for t in o rd er to obta in any of i t in Bu en os A ires . I was luckier th an ot he rcri t ics . My search was made easy f irs t ly by my close fr iendship with PedroHe nr i que z U r ena , who was we l l- in f o rmed abou t wh a t eve r was be i ng don e i n ou rAmerica; and secondly, by the fact that , due to my pos i t ion as edi tor of theli terary section of La Vanguardia ( f rom 1931) , I received f rom all pa r ts book swhich the ord inary reader would not have been able to buy, not even in the bes tbookstores . I t was then that I discovered, hidden away in remote ci t ies , aminor i ty of an t i r ea l i s t nar ra tor s .
I was daz zled by the p rose of Alfonso Rey es , wi th who m I dea l t person al lydur ing his vis i t s to Buenos Aires : his narrat ions invented a fascinat ing realm offict ion. One has only to recall the stories in El piano oblicuo (1920) ; for example :"La cena" and "La re ina perd ida ," in which rea l i ty turns in to magic . Thanks a l sot o A l f ons o Reyes , who r ecommended t hem t o me , I r ead t he s t r ange Ensayos y
fantasias (1918) of h i s compat r io t Ju l io Tor r i .
Reyes and Tor r i be longed to the pos tmoderni s t genera t ion . In the fo l lowinggenera t ion , the one which appeared af t e r the Fi r s t Wor ld War , nar ra t ive ar t
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changed more os tenta t ious ly . Many of the charac ter i s t i cs which are a t t r ibuted tothe novel of today were ske tched out then . The subjec t mat ter was t r ans fer redfrom the country to the ci ty; psychological analys is moved f rom s imple souls tothe examinat ion of r a re neuroses ; the r ea l i s t phi losophy was subs t i tu ted byideal is t and exis tent ial i s t phi losophies ; s tyle became poet ic; language began to
exper i men t by ana l yz i ng itself; the novel mult ipl ied i tself and, as if in a hall ofmirrors , we saw one novel wi thin another . I f not always in the total i ty of a book,at leas t in some passages of high ar t i s t ic endeavor , the narrators of thegene r a t i on known as de Vanguardia descr ibed s i tuat ions which were enveloped inthose s torm clouds of mystery which foretel l discharges of "magical real ism." Iam t h i nk i n g o f A l ejo Car pe n t i e r , V i cen t e Hu i d ob r o , J a i m e To r r es B ode t , Mi gue lAngel As tur ias , Enr ique Labrador Ruiz , Gi lber to Owen, Lino Novas Calvo ,Vizconde de Lascano Tegui , Agus t in Yanez , Mar ia Lui sa Bombai , the CesarVallejo of Fabla salvaje, and severa l o ther s .
I mysel f became par t of tha t r enovat ing adventure : in Vigilia (1934), withm eth od s learn ed f rom Prou s t and Joyce , I po ur ed ou t the novel f rom wi th in thementa l processes of an adolescent . And, in El mentir de las estrellas (1940) therewere at leas t three s tor ies which were sealed wi th the aes thet ic of "magicalrea l i sm."
Up t i l l now I have not ment ioned Jorge Lui s Borges because h i s work as ashor t s tory wri ter began late; but scarcely had i t begun when his s tor ies exercised(and they cont inue to exerc i se) a grea t inf luence on the nar ra tor s of "magica lreal ism." I remember the surpr ise wi th which in 1940 we read his s tory "Tlön,
Uqbar , Orbi s Ter t ius . " I t opened a new per iod in the h i s tory of the Spani sh-American narrat ive. In the f i rs t place, there, in that s tory, were the seeds of thefores t of t a l es tha t was to grow f rom Borges dur ing tha t decade . And, f rom thes torytel l ing ar t of Borges , in i t s turn, there was let loose a mul t i tude of admirers ,apprent ices , disciples , inspi red people, and plagiar is ts . His s tor ies broke thegenre down in to cur ious formal compl ica t ions : the shor t s tory-cum-essay and theessay-cum-shor t s tory, the shor t s tory wi thin a shor t s tory, the shor t s tory whichseems a mere chronic le and which i s suddenly t r ans formed in to a f antasy by afootnote or a pos tscr ipt , the shor t s tory which reduces a theory to the absurdand which is fol lowed by another shor t s tory which reduces the opposi te theory
to the absurd . One example , among many, of th i s cons t ruc t ion wi th thes i s andant i thes i s is "La obra de H er be r t Qu ain ," w here he speaks of r egress ive novel swi th an inf in i te ly b ran ch ing pas t and "El j a rd in d e send eros que se b i furcan ,"w he re he speaks of a l abry nth in e novel w he re the fu ture b ranc hes in to inf in i teposs ibi l i t ies . And observe that al though Borges decided not to wri te novels , hedid wri te shor t s tor ies about the ar t of wr i t ing novels ; wi th the resul t that someof h i s r e f l ec t ions on the novel form par t of the program of today ' s exper imenta lnovel is ts . Be that as it may, what is cer ta in is that the i m po r ta nt di in g a bo utBorges ' contr ibut ion was that he subver ted one 's vis ion of the wor ld. AndBorges ' vis ion of the wor ld has inf luenced Arreola, Cor tâzar , Mej ia Valera,
Gar c i a Mar quez , and o t he r na r r a t o r s o f t oday .
Part of Borges ' s torytel l ing can be classif ied as fantast ic l i terature; in otherwords , the na tura l order i s inexpl i cably a l t e red by the i r rupt ion of a super natural fact , as in "Las ruinas ci rculares ," for example. But , the major i ty of hiss tor ies f i t , rather , into "magical real ism": "Funes el memorioso," "El muer to,"an d "El Zahi r ," to m en t ion jus t three of those wr i t t en in the fort ies .
I have del iberately refer red to s tor ies by Borges which take place in theRiver Plate region, and in which Creole characters are involved in s i tuat ions
which are typical of American l i fe . I have done so because I bel ieve that when
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yo u ng cri t ics spea k of "mag ical realism ," it is precisely to a l i te ra tur e r ich inAmer ican content tha t they poin t . Fur thermore , I be l i eve tha t the novel ty of thewr i t e r s of the "Bo om ," be twe en 1950 and 1970, cons i s ted in mak ing theant i real is t ic schemes of the magicians of 1930-1950 funct ion wi thin the real i tywhich extends f rom Mexico to Argent ina and f rom Chi le to Puer to Rico .
In fact , betw een 1930 an d 1950 the l i teratu re of the Sp anish -Am erica ncountr ies was predominant ly real is t ic and rus t ic . The devotees of fantas t icl i terature chal lenged this empire of regional is ts . A school was thus formed onthe margin of of f icial real ism with Borges as one of i t s masters . In i t , youngdisciples secret ly learned to manipulate the l i terary schemes of what I have cal led" the sup ern atu ra l " and " the s t r ange ." In the last two decad es— from 1950 to1970—those young wr i t e r s have s t epped down f rom the school bui l t a t the topof a marb le tower and have walked barefoot in the m u d of Am er ica as d id the i rg r andf a t he r s . The i r mas t e r s had t augh t t hem t he t echn i ques f o r weav i ng
tenuous p lo t s and the t r i cks for cons t ruc t ing abs t rac t s t ruc tures . The d i sc ip les ,once they ha d m as tered tho se les sons , den ied the i r m as ter s an d now theyexercise thei r ant i real is t ic techniques and t r icks in a concrete American real i ty.They do not idea l i ze i t to the poin t of making i t unrecognizable ; nor do theyreduce i t to a gross copy. The formal games which before had fascinated aminor i ty now enter tain the major i ty because they rely on famil iar objects . I t i s aph en o m en o n of a mass society. T h e s tyle of a m inor i ty i s ad op ted by a m ajor i ty.T h e only thin g is that , in the p rese nt p opu lar i ty of the " isms" of the old el i te ,the im petu s is no longer gra tu i tou s an d univer sa l , but r a the r com mi t ted an dnat ional i s t . Thi r ty year s ago Borges t r ans formed exper iences of Buenos Ai res
into improbable tales and, in order that thei r improbabi l i ty would be tolerable toa smal l publ ic , he s i tuated them in India or on the planet Tlön. Today, GarciaMarquez, so that the publ ic at large wi l l tolerate his improbable f ict ions , s i tuatesthem in Mac ond o, which is the hea r t of ou r Am er ica . In both cases the mag ic ,the "marvelous ," does not l ie in real i ty, but in the ar t of make-bel ieve.
Translated from the Spanish by Roger Moore.
N O T E S
' F r a n z R o h , Nach-Expressionismus (Magischer Realismus) (Le ipz ig : K l inkha rd t und Bie rman, 1925) ;
Geschichte der deutschen Kunst von 1900 bis zur Gegenxvart (Mun ich: F . Bru ckm ann Ver lag , 1958) . Engl i sh
t rans la tion wi th ad di t ions by Ju l i e ne Roh, German Art in the 20th Century (New York: Graphic Soc ie ty
Ltd. , 1968) .
!F r a n z R o h , El reatismo magico, t r ans . Fe rnando Ve la (Madr id : Revis ta de Occ idente , 1927) .
'Lune de cendre (Buen os Ai re s: La Van gua rd ia , 1935), jux tapo sed the t ex t s of "Lu na d e deniza , "La Nation, 7 Oc tob er 1934, and i ts t rans la t io n by Mano el Gahis to in La Revue Argentine, Paris , No. 11
(Sept . 1935) . Th is s tory, a long with an ot he r three which inc lu ded "El levé Pe dr o," La Nation,
28 Au gus t , 1 938, we re edi ted in El mentir de las estrellas (Buenos Ai re s : E l Ange l Gulab , 1940) .
' E . An ders on Imb e r t and L . K iddle , eds . , Vemte cuentos hispano-amerkanos del agio XX (New York:
App le ton-Cen tury-Cro f t s , 1956), p . 148 .
sArturo Us la r P ie t r i , Letras y hombres de Venezuela (Mexico: Fon do de Cu ltur a Econo mica , 1 948) , p. 162.
'Angel Flores , "Magica l Real ism in Spanish American Fic t ion," Hispania, 38 (May, 1955) , 187-192.
"Angel Flores , Hisloria y antologia del cuento y la novela en hispanoamerica (New York: Las Americas , 1959) ,
p p . 3 8 6 - 3 8 8 .
"Ale jo Ca rpent ie r , El reino de este mundo (Mexico: Ediapsa , 1949) , pp. 9-16.
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"Ale jo Carpent ie r , "De lo rea l maravi l losamente americano," in Tientos y diferencias (Mexico: Univers idad
Nac iona l Au tono ma , 1964), pp . 115-135 .
' "Erwin Da le Ca r te r , Mag ical Realism in Contemporary Argentine Fiction (Los Angeles: University of
Southe rn Ca l i forn ia , 1966) .
"J u an Loveluck, "Cris is y renovacio n de la novela hispan oam ericana ," m La novela hispanoamericana, 4 th
ed. (Sant iago de Chile : Edi tor ia l Univers i ta r ia , 1972) .
l 2Luis Leal , "El rea l ismo magico en la l i te ra tura hispanoamericana ," Cuademos americanos, 153 (1967) ,
2 3 0 - 2 3 5 .
i :'Günter W. Lorenz , "An Interview with Nobel Pr ize Winner Miguel Angel Astur ias ," Atlas, 14 (1967) ,
17 .
l 4AngeI Valbuena Briones , "Una ca la en e l rea l ismo mâgico," Cuademos americanos, 166 (1969), 2 3 3 - 2 4 1 .
l s( * r m a n Dario Car i l lo, "U n re la to de Gabrie l Garc ia Marqu ez visto a través de la lupa de l rea l ismo
màgico ," Razon y fabula (Bogota) , 23 (1971) , 6-31.
'"The XVI Congress of the Ins t i tuto Internac ional de Li te ra tura Iberoamericana met a t Michigan Sta teUnivers i ty f rom Aug ust 2 6 to 31 , 1973, with the o ne subjec t of "La fantas ia y e l rea l ismo magico en lal i t e ra tura ibe roamer icana . " T h e de f in i t ions of the t e r m were a s cont rad ic tory a s those tha t I havem e n t i o n e d h e r e .
