Magic Realism

Vision and Revision

“[A] series of devices [which], like telescopes, microscopes,

and polarized filters, offers us a way of seeing truth somehow
excluded from our vision”—Geoff Hancock
 Five Primary Characteristics
1. The text contains magic, something we cannot explain according to the laws of the universe as we
know them. In the terms of the text, magical things ‘really’ do happen.

2. Realistic descriptions create a fictional world that resembles the one we live in . . . . this is the
realism in magical realism, distinguishing it from much fantasy and allegory.

3. We experience the closeness or near-merging of two realms, two worlds.

4. The reader may hesitate . . . between two contradictory understandings of events—and hence have
some unsettling doubts.

5. These fictions question received ideas about time, space, and identity.

From Wendy B. Faris’ 1995 essay “Scheherazade’s Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction”
in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community.
 Five Secondary Characteristics

1. Draws on and makes use of legends

2. Uses repetition as a narrative principle
3. Contains a metafictional dimension
4. Emphasizes metamorphosis
5. Possesses a carnivalesque spirit

From Wendy B. Faris’ 1995 essay “Scheherazade’s Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction”
in Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community.