Dissertationsprojekt

Arbeitstitel: Magical Realism at Work in Distinct Cultural Realities: (Un)Believable Versions and Subversions

In many ways, magical realism can be understood as a transgressive form of realism. Realism aims to represent not what reality should be, but what reality is, knowing that it is impossible to actually portray a reality that is objective and universally applicable (Kaplan 1988). On the other hand, magical realism is a mode that also aims to represent reality and arrive at some truth, but by very different representational strategies, pushing the limits of what is considered real and rational and incorporating seemingly uncanny and magical instances to a realist narrative in a matter-of-fact manner (Bowers 2004). This description works in our attempt to understand what magical realist narratives do, but a clear definition of magical realism is extremely elusive, and identifying what counts as magical realism and what does not is also a complicated endeavor.
The term “magical realism” was coined by the German Franz Roh in the 1920’s. Even though it was born in the entrails of Europe, magical realism is often associated with Latin America and its creation thus attributed to Latin American authors, as they were the ones to adopt and popularize it in the second half of the 20th century. Due to its capacity to represent disproportionality and a consciousness that differs from that of Europe and European conventions, magical realism is evoked as a form of subversive expression. As such, it has become a popular mode of writing for the marginalized and the oppressed (Bowers 2004). It has found meaning and resonance in a wide range of cultural contexts due to its ability to cater to different realities, to provide a distinct way of expressing the inexpressible and to interrogate master narratives and dominant rationalist understandings of what is real. Therefore, the research question that I aim to answer in this project is, how is magical realism able to fulfill subversive purposes in different cultural contexts and how does it adapt for this purpose? If we look at this with a modelling mind, we might wonder how magical realist texts are modelled and re-modelled with the different cultural and historical experiences, and different lived realities? And how are these realities modelled in these magical realist texts, and through what means?
In order to address this question, I will explore different subversive powers that I attribute to magical realism and investigate them in a selection of key novels, to find out how magical realism is used and how it changes in different cultural contexts and for different purposes. The subversive powers of magical realism that I will focus on are: (1) the presentation and legitimization of alternative epistemologies, (2) its counter-historiographical power, (3) the weaving of myth into reality and (4) the ability to give a voice to peculiar objects or beings. Additionally, my project aims to re-engage with magical realism by examining its worldwide influence in distinct cultural realms.

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