MAGIC REALISM by Olga Sanchez

A “script” for teachers

introducing this literary concept
to middle school students

A quote to start:

“Only three things have ever astonished me: a dream within a dream, voices in an empty
room, and fire the colour of ice.” – Silvina Ocampo, from a letter to A.M.

Why are those things astonishing?

We’re going to talk about a 20th century form of writing known as Magic Realism. What
do you think that is? What is Realism? Right, it describes “reality” as we know it. But
reality can be magical, yes? For example, in the fall, when you walk down the road, the
sun is shining and the trees are bright with colors, what colors?

How would you describe an amazingly beautiful fall-colored tree? (Prompts: It’s on fire,
it’s painted, it’s new, etc.) That’s the magic part of life, of what we call reality. What are
other examples of amazing but real situations? (Prompts: Snow covered fields, rainbows,
a giant supermarket, etc.) Famous Colombian author, Gabriel García Márquez said that
Magic Realism was actually closer to describing life than Realism, because life is so
unexpected, and surprising, all the time!

How many of you have younger brothers or sisters (or nieces, nephews, etc.)? What’s
like for very young children to discover something new to them? What’s the look on
their faces?

Let me read a passage from one of Márquez’ most famous books called “One Hundred
Years of Solitude.” (Describe circumstances of passage.) Notice where the writer
surprises you. (Clarify the word “giant” so as not to be misunderstood for fantasy.)

They insisted so much that José Arcadio Buendia paid the thirty
reales and led them into the center of the tent, where there was a
giant with a hairy torso and a shaved head, with a copper ring in
his nose and a heavy iron chain on his ankle, watching over a
pirate chest. When it was opened by the giant, the chest gave off
a glacial exhalation. Inside there was only an enormous,
transparent block with infinite internal needles in which the light
of the sunset was broken up into colored stars. Disconcerted,
knowing that the children were waiting for an immediate
explanation, José Arcadio Buendia ventured a murmur:
“It’s the largest diamond in the world.”
“No,” the gypsy countered, “It’s…”

What do you think it was? (Answer: Ice.)

What did you think? Did you know it was ice when I was reading it? Does it make sense
that it was ice? Let me read the description again.

One notable feature of Magic Realism is the very detailed description. It’s the way we
know it’s real, we recognize the object as something familiar, but the writer has put it
down in such a way that it becomes new to us again.

Another quote, it’s a few centuries old, so the language is old:

“There is nothing that God hath established in a constant course of nature, and which
therefore is done everyday, but would seem a Miracle, and exercise our admiration, if it
were done but once.” – John Donne, from LXXX Sermons

Writing Exercise:

Everyone please close your eyes and think of something that’s an everyday object.
Imagine it clearly, colors, textures, shape, its function, its taste or smell. Imagine it as if
you’d never seen it before in your life. As if you were new to this region, or a child, and
you’re experiencing this object for the first time.

Write this description, include as many details as possible, and you don’t know the name
of this object or its purpose. What do you think it’s called? What do you think is its
function?

There’s something about this (everyday) object that you find amazing, some quality. It’s
an amazing object! What’s amazing about it? Exaggerate! Please write that description
down, and again, use as much detail as you can.

Who would like to share his or her writing? What’s great is that you didn’t have to
invent a fantasy (monsters, spaceships, special “powers”, etc.) to present a startling
experience for your audience. Magic Realism writing is different than Fantasy writing,
where things are made up.
------------------------
Okay, here’s a second feature of Magic Realism. Sometimes it’s a code. A lot of famous
Magic Realism writers have come from Latin America. Let’s talk about why.

Can anyone tell me about the geography of Latin America? (Almost all answers are
correct!) Yes, it’s a land of variety and extremes. The land includes snow-covered
mountains, jungle rainforest, desert, beaches, giant waterfalls and rivers, rolling hills.

What’s the weather like? The weather varies from frozen (e.g., southern tip of Chile) to
tropical (e.g. coasts of Colombia, Venezuela & Brazil.)
What animals and plants would you expect to find there? There are animals and plants
found only in Latin America, such as giant condors with 12-foot wingspans, rare orchids,
toucans, piranhas, anacondas. There’s also an abundance of natural resources, such as
gold, silver, emeralds, rubies, oil, and agriculture such as chocolate, coffee, and a wide
assortment of fruits and vegetables.

With all these resources, Latin America has been fought over for generations, and
especially since the arrival of the Europeans, who were seeing this kind of territory for
the first time in their lives (remember the experience of little children and new things).
An excerpt from (an essay in Magical Realism: Theory, History & Community, p.104):

How could America be anything other than marvelously real, if we

recognize certain very interesting factors that must be taken into account?
The conquest of Mexico occurs in 1521, when Francois I ruled France.
Do you know how big the urban area of Paris was under Francois I?
Thirteen square kilometers. In Garnier’s Universal Atlas, published less
than one hundred years ago, we are told that the metropolitan area of
Madrid was twenty kilometers in 1889 and that the area of Paris, capital of
capitals, was eighty kilometers. When Bernal Diaz del Castillo laid eyes
for the first time on the panorama of the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of
Mexico, the empire of Montezuma, it had an urban area of one hundred
square kilometers – at a time when Paris had only thirteen. After
attempting to tell the king what he has seen in Mexico (Hernan Cortes)
acknowledges that the Spanish language is too narrow to identify so many
new things and says to Charles V: “As I do not know what to call these
things, I cannot express them.”

Can anyone tell me about Latin American history? In a nutshell, it’s been turbulent. The
conquistadors arrived, overthrew indigenous kingdoms, imposed their religion, made the
Indians into slaves, brought over slaves from Africa. Changed things in a big way. Then
there were revolutions in the 1800’s—Simon Bólivar helped overthrow the European
governments. It wasn’t just one Revolutionary War, it was several that resulted in the
several different nations with their own governments. But the people who came into
power were mostly the wealthy landowners who were tired of paying taxes (like in the
U.S.) and there remained a great inequality and injustice among the people. So in the 20th
century, when Communism and Socialism were developed (the idea that people share the
resources and wealth for the good of all) there were huge upheavals again in many of the
countries. And then the military forces wanted power. Again, because of the abundance
of natural resources in Latin America, there’s a lot to fight over!

In these turbulent circumstances, with wars going on (for example the civil war that’s
been going on in Colombia for the past 50 years), and power shifts, it’s often unsafe to
speak one’s mind. But people need to communicate, so they become creative. Art
provides a way to say things in code.
Listen to the next excerpt, from Gabriel García Márquez’ “Story of a Shipwrecked
Sailor.” This was written at the beginning of Colombia’s civil war.

“Everyday at five, astonishingly punctual, the sharks arrived.

Then there was a banquet around the raft. Huge fish would jump out
of the water and, a few moments later, resurface in pieces. The
sharks, crazed, would silently rush up to the bloody surface. So far,
they hadn’t tried to smash the raft, but they were attracted to it
because of its white color. Everyone knows that sharks are more
likely to attack things that are white. Sharks are myopic and only
see white or shiny objects. Then I remembered another of the
instructor’s recommendations: “Hide all shiny things so as not to
draw the sharks’ attention.”

If you thought this was written in code, to describe a wartime situation, what do you think
the writer is trying to tell us? Is the sailor in control? What are the shiny things? What
are the sharks? Where is the danger found?

Writing Exercise

Think of a real-life situation where you are not the person in charge. Not too hard, I
imagine. Now, imagine you want to communicate to a friend what’s going on. You
know who the power person is, but you can’t speak about them out loud. So instead
you’re going to write a story in code, disguising the name of the powerful person.
What are classic examples of powerful people? (Prompt: teachers, police, judges,
colonels, etc.)

You’re going to write about this powerful person in your own life, but giving them a
different identity, in order to tell your friend what’s going on that’s unfair. (For
example, “My mother makes me go to school every day” could be disguised as, “The
colonel forces his soldiers to march 50 miles every morning.”)

You won’t be able to tell the exact details but you’ll be able to let them know what it
feels like.

Who’d like to read aloud what they’ve written?

Let’s try taking both elements of Magic Realism, the exaggerated new way of looking at
ordinary things, along with the writing in code, and putting them together. Take a look at
the story you just wrote in code, about an injustice in your life.

If you haven’t already done this, describe the setting where your story takes place. Now
go back and see if you can add details to the setting in order to make it extraordinary (but
keep it “real”!)
And/or: Look at the objects in your story. Go back and add details, and description, in
order to make these objects extraordinary.

Who’d like to read aloud what they’ve written? In what ways did the added information
(setting or detailed objects) contribute to the impact of the story?

Congratulations. Taking these two ways of writing—an exaggerated new way of looking
at ordinary things, and writing in code—and putting them together in one piece, you’ve
begun to write in the style of Magic Realism!

Thank you!

Another possiblity for illustrating the idea of “magic” realism: use an excerpt from the
film, “Miracle in Rome,” based on the short story by Gabriel García Márquez (in
Spanish, subtitled). Early in the film, the father comes home and brings his seven-year
old daughter a new toy. She joyfully embraces him to thank him, then suddenly she is
dead in his arms. Her sudden death is inexplicable but not entirely impossible.