A Literary Study of Magical Realism in Hombres de Maíz

As a precursor of Magical Realism,MiguelÁngel Asturias uses bold narrative structure,fantastic skills and a style full of images,symbols and musical effects to endow Hombres de Maíz with an unmistakable singularity.As a literary study of this book from the perspective of Magical Realism,this paper aims to uncover in detail the presence of this literary formula in this novel,taking into consideration the contributions of this literary Nobel to Latin American literature and the domestic and foreign contexts of that time.

Magical Realism in Mary Gavell's Short Story The Swing

The Swing, written by Mary Gavell, relates the pain of an aging mother, who is comforted by her childhood son's returning to the family swing at night. The story is mixed with magic and reality, filled with magic symbols and implied with magical feminism themes. By employing magical realism, Mary Gavell portrays the loneliness of an elder woman and creates for her a magical world where she could freely express herself.

Magic Realism in Morrison＇s Paradise

＂We Are the Furrow of His Brow＂ is the graffiti altered from ＂Beware of the Furrow of His Brow＂ or ＂The Furrow of His Brow＂ on the hood of an oven in a separated black town Ruby. Young people of Ruby change the words because they feel regretted contriving to shoot an assumed guilty woman living in the nearby convent. However, whether the woman Consolata and the other four women at the convent are dead remains mysterious. There are some descriptions of magics in Paradise in which the most magical abilities are Connie＇s ＂bat vision＂ and ＂stepping in＂. This paper demonstrates the ways that Morrison manifests magic realism in Paradise including multiple narrative timelines, ambiguous writing, reconstituted marginal figures and naturally blended reality. Primarily in thefour ways Morrison presents how she utilizes magic realism genre to depict the changeable world penetrating through the appearance.

The Bitter Butter Knife＂ Puttermesser＇s Problematic Paradise

This paper analyzes how the themes of magical realism and female divinity intersect in the novel The Puttermesser Papers （1997） by Cynthia Ozick. In the ＂Introduction＂, the writer defines magical realism and discusses its connections to Women＇s Studies. The next section, ＂The Bitter Butter Knife＂, discusses the protagonist＇s （Ruth Puttermesser） boring existence and pathetic attempts to connect to her Jewish ancestry. In ＂The Problematic Paradise＂, the author focuses on Puttermesser＇s attempts to take control of her life by creating the first female golem and the ups and downs of paradise. This author argues that the female protagonist of the novel utilizes magical realism as a tool of empowerment over personal oppression.

The Shadow Lines as a Post Modem Novel

Amitav Ghosh is one the most remarkable writers of the postmodernism era. He excelled in this era with his trend of magic realism. The Shadow Lines is a story told by a nameless narrator in recollection. It＇s a non linear tale told as if putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in the memory of the narrator. This style of writing is both unique and captivating; unfolding ideas together as time and space coalesce and helping the narrator understand his past better. Revolving around the theme of nationalism in an increasingly globalized world, Ghosh questions the real meaning of political freedom and the borders which virtually seem to both establish and separate. The novel traverses through almost seventy years through the memories of people, which the narrator recollects and narrates, giving their viewpoint along with his own. Though the novel is based largely in Kolkata, Dhaka, and London, it seems to echo the sentiments of whole Southeast Asia, with lucid overtones of Independence and the pangs of Partition.

Translating Difference:Reflections on the Interface between Novelistic Discourse and World Literature

The present essay examines two moments from the evolution of the modern Malayalam novel,in relation to the reception of two classics in world literature,namely Victor Hugo's Les Miserables translated into Malayalam between 1925 and 1927 and Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude translated in 1984.The translation of Hugo's novel energized the scene of Malayalam fiction by infusing new modes of representation and widening the intellectual horizons of writers in general,and novelists in particular.The echoes of Les Miserables could be heard in Malayalam fiction well into the 1950s.The struggles against colonial and feudal authorities in Kerala,provided a fertile context for the imaginative interpretation of Hugo's humanist vision.The paper illustrates this point through close readings of critical essays,autobiographical narratives and debates on the nature of translation.The fascination of Malayali readers with Garcia Marquez has resulted in the translation of his entire corpus into Malayalam.Magic realism as pioneered by Garcia Marquez liberated the Malayalam novelistic narrative from social realist and modernist dogmas.The colonial disruption of oral narratives,the consequent cultural amnesia and the struggle to reclaim one's forgotten past are themes that struck a chord in Malayalam writers of fiction.Through a detailed discussion of the novel,Moustache by S.Hareesh,the interface between novelistic discourse and world literature is mapped in the latter part of the essay.