Alejo Carpentier, Gabriel García Márquez, Salman Rushdie : three moments in the problematics of magic realism

Chapter One begins by outlining the space magic occupies in Western culture, clarifying what I mean by the term "magic". I examine aspects of indigenous American sacred traditions which have influenced and which prefigure magic realism. I review the development of the aesthetic in its Latin American context, touching on the Chronicles, the role of nationalism and erotic rhetoric, the influence of European modernism and the role of the intellectual in Latin American society. Chapter Two examines the development of a realist aesthetic in Europe since the Enlightenment. This review of its manifestations and counter-traditions in European culture is founded upon a discussion of aspects of the philosophy of Kant. I focus on the influence of Surrealism which is particularly illuminating of Latin American magic realism. The impacts of anthropology and psychoanalysis on Latin American writers are also reviewed. Chapter Two includes a review of formulations of magic realism influential in the field of English studies and concludes with a working definition which is used as a basis for the discussions of the three novels analysed in this study. Chapter Three is a study of the development of Alejo Carpentier's version of magic realism culminating in the writing of The Kingdom of this World in 1949. Through using both European and indigenous American techniques and perspectives he hoped to create a literature which could represent the complex realities of Latin American life and establish a mythology for the founding of a unified Latin American identity.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of English Language and Literature

Year dc:date.issued

1994

Author dc:creator

• Pooley, Simon Preston

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Brink, Andre P
• Watson, Stephen

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18876

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18876