The Mundane in Magic Realism

The Mundane in Magic Realism

So now you may be asking: if Magic Realists are obsessed with the fantastic and writing about the fantastic, doesn't that just make them fantasy writers? Nope. And here's why: while Magic Realists do write about extraordinary things and events, they also write about regular stuff. Like, seriously, totally everyday stuff: cleaning the house, going to your job in an office, arguing with your wife or parents.

So, you know, that's the "Realism" part of "Magic Realism."

Magic Realists write about the mundane alongside the fantastic. The worlds that they create are a combination of the regular world that we all know (cars, streets, houses, friends, family) and the crazy stuff that we don't come across normally (people growing wings or turning into bugs).

Chew on This

Extraordinary things happen in Gabriel García Márquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," but they all take place in a very mundane setting: a backyard.

Isabel Allende's House of the Spirits is all about something we're all familiar (sometimes maybe too familiar) with: family. Check it out in all its mundane glory here.