ABSTRACT

Magic realism reflects “the hybrid nature of much postcolonial society”. Drawing on Tzvetan Todorov’s work, Amaryll Beatrice Chanady distinguishes magical realism from the older and more general body of work called the fantastic by claiming that the narrator in fantastic fiction is usually still very much rooted in rationalist thought, trying to find a logical explanation for supernatural phenomena. The cultural aspect of magical realism and the form’s resistance to Western European notions of the “real” are crucial to understanding its roots in the realities of Latin America, the Caribbean, and indigenous communities of North, Central, and South America. The underlying longing for a world that is un-co-optable, i.e. open to the likelihood of the extraordinary, on the one hand, and a playful approach to reality that is linked to a relevant political message, on the other hand, helps explain magical realism’s adaptability and success as a world-wide trend.