Text C Faith Irrelevance and Magical Realism（第1页）

TextCFaith，IrrelevandMagicalRealism

Christopher>

[1]Thetermmagicalrealismhasappearedinprintwithingfrequehepastfewdecades。Itowbefoundinavastnumberofuycoursedess，dissertationsaidithasreotableceinthepopularpress。Eveisingindustryhasretlybeguerestihoughitlongagolearocapitalizeonmagicalrealistvisualteiquesiforevermorenovelroducts。Themaiheattrastobethattheterm’sdistinorestsanuminousqualitytotheeveryday，anditthuspromisessomehowtorecilethemodern，ratioedsubjectoftheWestwithfottenbutrecoverablespiritualrealities。

[2]Inthedomaiudiesthispopularityhasytyicalrealismactuallyis，andsewtothefieldarelikelytobetedbyaradictoryattitudestowardstheterm。Oichasreferredtomagicalrealismasthe“literarylaheemergentpostialworld”，whileanotherhascalledit“littlemorethanabraicism”。Itbe“amajor，perhapsthemajor，poofpostmodernistfi”，oritbe“apossiblealterhenarrativelogiporarypicalrealismhasbyturnsbeenpraisedfaiculturalartisticrealityaedasdangerousandshallow。Ithasevenbeenaccusedofbeingunderpinnedbypernicious—evenracist—ideologies。Whilesuchdisciesarepartlytobeatedforbyideologicaldifferences，asacriticaltermmagicalrealismhas，uly，lackedwidespreaddefinitionalaicallegitimacy。

[3]Somecriticshaverespohisstateestiodoawaywiththetermmagicalrealismaltogether。Theproblemwithsuchasuggestiowerepossibletoimplement，isthatitighatthetenacityofthetermisdueioitsexplanatoryvalue。Thereisagrowingcorpusofliteraryworksthatdrawsupoionsofbothrealismandfantasyorfolktale，yetdoessoinsuchawaythathesetworealmsisabletreaterclaimtotruththahiscapacitytoresolvethetewodiscursivesystemsusuallythoughtofasmutuallyexclusivemuststitutethestartingpointforanyinquiryintomagicalrealism。Abriefsurveyofagicalrealisttexts—GabrielGarcíaMárquez’sOneHundredYearsofSolitude，IsabelAlleheHouseoftheSpirits，LauraEsquival’sLikeWaterforChocolate，SalmanRushdie’sMidnight’saaoniMorrison’sBeloved，Aer’sNightsatthedBenOkri’sTheFamishedRoad，forexample—willrevealthatwhattheseotherwisedifferesallhaveinonisthateachtreatsthesupernaturalasifiterfectlyacceptableaaofeverydaylife。AsRushdiesays，talkingofGarcíaMárquez，“impossiblethiantlyandquiteplausibly，outihemiddaysun”。Abasiitionofmagicalrealism，theasamodeofnarrationthathesupernaturalthatistosay，amodeinwhidfantastiaturalaural，aretlyrepreseateorousequivaleherhasagreaterclaimtotruthorreferentiality。

Notes

1。ChristopherWarnes:HeisaUyLeEnglishandaFellowofSt。JohnsCollege，Uye，UK。HeheldpreviappoiheUyofStellenbosch，SouthAfrica。HehaspublishedontfromporarySouthAfriliteraturetames。

2。GabrielGarcíaMárquez’sOneHundredYearsofSolitude:Itisaellsthemulti-geionalstoryoftheBuendíafamily，whosepatriarch，JoséArdía，fouownofMaetaphoribia。Theoryisnarratedviadifferenttimeframes，ateiquederivedfreerJeLuisBes（asinTheGardenPaths）。

3。LikeWaterforChocolate:Itisapopularnovelpublishedin1989byfirst-timeMexiovelistLauraEsquivel。Thenovelfollowsthestoryofayounggirlawholoirelifetomarryherlover，Pedro，buteverhavehimbeother’supholdiraditiodaughternbuttakingotheruntilthedayshedies。Titaisooexpressherselfwhenshecooks。

4。Midnight’s:Itisa1980bookbyBritishISalmadealswithIndia’stransitionfromBritishtoihepartitionofIndia。Itissideredaialliteratureandmagicalrealism。Thestoryistoldbyitschiefprotagonist，SaleemSinai，ahetextofactualhistoritsaswithhistoricalfi。

&isaheAmeriwriterToniMorrison，publishedin1987。ItisbasedooryoftheAfri-Amerislave，MargaretGaremporarilyescapedslaveryduring1856iuckybyfleeingtoOhio，afreestate。ApossearrivedtoretrieveherandherbytheFugitiveSlaveActof1850，whichgaveslavehttopursueslavesacrossstatebaretkilledhertwhterratherthaoberecaptured。

6。NightsattheCircus:ItisaishAer，firstpublishedin1984。ThenovelfothelifeasofSophieFevvers，awomanwhois—orsoshelebelieve—aeyvirgin，hatanegglaidbyunksaodevelopfullyfledgedwiimeofthestory，shehasbeeacelebratedaerialist，aestheyoungjournalistJackWalser，whorunsawaywiththedfallsintoaworldthathisjourshadnotpreparedhimtoenter。

7。TheFamishedRoad:ItistheBookerPrize-wiehorBenOkri。Thenovel，publishedin1991，followsAzaro，anabikuorspiritchild，livinginalikelyy。Thenovelemploysauivestyleingthespiritworldwiththe“real”worldinwhatsomehaveclassifiedasmagicalrealism。OthershavelabeleditaillothersplyovelfahebookexploitsthebeliefieualandmaterialworldsthatisadefiraditionalAfrilife。

ForFun

WorkstoRead

PleaserefertotheC

&oSee

1。DonnieDarko（2001）

ItisanAmeripsychologicalthrillerfilmwritteedbyRichardKelly。ThefilmdepictstherealitybeuresofthetitlecharacterasheseeksthemeaningandsignifidhistroublingDoomsday-relatedvisions。Withastrongtintofpostmodernism，thefilmmightfindsomespiratieBes’sstories。

2。Midnight’s（2012）

ItisafilmadaptationofSalmanRushdie’s1981hesameeedbyDeepaMehta，thefilmwasreleasedinlate2012。