{"id":{"repo_id":"utc","oai_identifier":"oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1306"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/utc/oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1306","repository":{"repo_id":"utc","name":"University of Tennessee - Chattanooga","base_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"\"Believe in these things\": magical realism's postmodern use of religious language","abstract":"Magical realism has expanded from a genre squarely located within postcolonialism to one that includes many non-colonial, Western writers such as Karen Russell and Helen Oyeyemi. Using Russell’s Swamplandia!, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, and Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl as representative texts, this thesis extends Frederic Jameson’s theory of “effacement” and Jean-François Lyotard’s “postmodern condition” to investigate the spread of the magical realist genre and techniques beyond its postcolonial beginnings and into a postmodern means to insert an element of the unknown back into a scientifically bound, prosaic reality. These magical Realist authors create their effects largely by using the trappings of religions, specifically its language, symbols, and mindsets. Jameson and Lyotard, along with Brian McHale, and critics Lois Parkinson Zamora, Wendy B. Faris, and Amaryll Chanady, provide insightful ideas, theories, and platforms with which to critically study the origin and implications of this shift in the genre.","abstract_html":"Magical realism has expanded from a genre squarely located within postcolonialism to one that includes many non-colonial, Western writers such as Karen Russell and Helen Oyeyemi. Using Russell’s Swamplandia!, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, and Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl as representative texts, this thesis extends Frederic Jameson’s theory of “effacement” and Jean-François Lyotard’s “postmodern condition” to investigate the spread of the magical realist genre and techniques beyond its postcolonial beginnings and into a postmodern means to insert an element of the unknown back into a scientifically bound, prosaic reality. These magical Realist authors create their effects largely by using the trappings of religions, specifically its language, symbols, and mindsets. Jameson and Lyotard, along with Brian McHale, and critics Lois Parkinson Zamora, Wendy B. Faris, and Amaryll Chanady, provide insightful ideas, theories, and platforms with which to critically study the origin and implications of this shift in the genre.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Duncan, Laura"],"institution":"University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Guy, Matthew W.","Balazs, Thomas P.; Sligh, Charles L.","College of Arts and Sciences"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":null,"date_issued":"","date_published":null,"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:46:11Z","subjects":["Magical realism (Literature)","Russell, Karen, 1981- -- Criticism and interpretation; Rushdie, Salman, 1947- -- Criticism and interpretation; Oyeyemi, Helen -- Criticism and interpretation"],"languages":["English","eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/165","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Guy, Matthew W.","Balazs, Thomas P.; Sligh, Charles L.","College of Arts and Sciences"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Duncan, Laura"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2015-05-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"]},{"key":"dc:relation","label":"Dc Relation","values":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Masters theses","Text"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Magical realism (Literature)","Russell, Karen, 1981- -- Criticism and interpretation; Rushdie, Salman, 1947- -- Criticism and interpretation; Oyeyemi, Helen -- Criticism and interpretation"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/165"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Dept. of English","M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Magical realism has expanded from a genre squarely located within postcolonialism to one that includes many non-colonial, Western writers such as Karen Russell and Helen Oyeyemi. Using Russell’s Swamplandia!, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, and Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl as representative texts, this thesis extends Frederic Jameson’s theory of “effacement” and Jean-François Lyotard’s “postmodern condition” to investigate the spread of the magical realist genre and techniques beyond its postcolonial beginnings and into a postmodern means to insert an element of the unknown back into a scientifically bound, prosaic reality. These magical Realist authors create their effects largely by using the trappings of religions, specifically its language, symbols, and mindsets. Jameson and Lyotard, along with Brian McHale, and critics Lois Parkinson Zamora, Wendy B. Faris, and Amaryll Chanady, provide insightful ideas, theories, and platforms with which to critically study the origin and implications of this shift in the genre."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["\"Believe in these things\": magical realism's postmodern use of religious language"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Guy, Matthew W.","Balazs, Thomas P.; Sligh, Charles L.","College of Arts and Sciences"],"dc:creator":["Duncan, Laura"],"dc:date":["2015-05-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description":["Dept. of English","M. A.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts."],"dc:description.abstract":["Magical realism has expanded from a genre squarely located within postcolonialism to one that includes many non-colonial, Western writers such as Karen Russell and Helen Oyeyemi. Using Russell’s Swamplandia!, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, and Oyeyemi’s The Icarus Girl as representative texts, this thesis extends Frederic Jameson’s theory of “effacement” and Jean-François Lyotard’s “postmodern condition” to investigate the spread of the magical realist genre and techniques beyond its postcolonial beginnings and into a postmodern means to insert an element of the unknown back into a scientifically bound, prosaic reality. These magical Realist authors create their effects largely by using the trappings of religions, specifically its language, symbols, and mindsets. Jameson and Lyotard, along with Brian McHale, and critics Lois Parkinson Zamora, Wendy B. Faris, and Amaryll Chanady, provide insightful ideas, theories, and platforms with which to critically study the origin and implications of this shift in the genre."],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/165"],"dc:language":["English","eng"],"dc:publisher":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"],"dc:relation":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"],"dc:rights":["https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en"],"dc:subject":["Magical realism (Literature)","Russell, Karen, 1981- -- Criticism and interpretation; Rushdie, Salman, 1947- -- Criticism and interpretation; Oyeyemi, Helen -- Criticism and interpretation"],"dc:title":["\"Believe in these things\": magical realism's postmodern use of religious language"],"dc:type":["Masters theses","Text"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:46:11Z"}