Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Book Reports gabriel garcia marquez and magic realism in one hundred years of solitude gabriel garcia marquez and magic realism in one hundred years of solitude “The tone that I eventually used in One Hundred Years of Solitude was based on the way my grandmother used to tell stories. She told things that sounded supernatural and fantastic but she told them with complete naturalness…. What was most important was the expression she had on her face. She did not change her expression at all when telling her stories and everyone was surprised. In previous attempts to write, I tried to tell the story with out believing in it. I discovered what I had to do was believe in them myself and write them with the same expression with which my grandmother told them: with a brick face.” (Garcia Marquez-Magical Realism) Magic Realism was a term used by a group of art critics in the 1920’s. It was used to characterize a group of painters that were post expressionist. Throughout Latin America magic realism became the term to describe the style of work of the authors from 1950-1970. This period of time was also known as the “Latin boom” in literature. Magic realism has its roots in Latin America. During the time of colonization a lot of Europeans found a new world full of strange and supernatural things. Their interpretations of their experiences inspired Gabo (Gabriel Garcia Marquez). Many Latin American writers began to question this point of view. The result was the birth of magic realism. Many Latin Americans traveled to Europe during the surrealist movement. They were in search of the supernatural aspects of life. This would help them to create a reality based on dreams, the super natural and unconscience. With their return to Latin America they realized it wasn’t nessary to look for this strange reality in Europe. They discovered their own cultures and cities. Gabo is often called the father of magic realism. Magic realism is not magic literature. It is not about waking up emotions, but it is about expressing emotions. Magic realism shows something common like something unreal and strange. What is not reality becomes part of reality. The author discovers what is mysterious in things. He looks at things that happen in live and human nature. The author creates an illusion of unreality as he pretends to leave reality and tells about an experience. This experience is easily explained but we think of it as something strange. Most of all magic realism is an attitude about reality. The author’s strategy is about creating a super natural climate and deforming the reality of the people, things and actions. The author creates strange, unknown sentiments that we wouldn’t normally experience in normal life. “The wonderful thing about magic realism is its reality.” (Garcia Marquez-Magical Realism) Gabo’s first novel came out in 1955. His most famous literary work is One Hundred Years of Solitude, published in 1967. From that day on Gabo’s fame has grown non-stop. He has received many awards. He was recognized world wide in 1982 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize. At the conference for his award Gabo talked about a European explorer named Antonio Pigafetta. This explorer lived during the colonization time and documented his experiences in Latin America. He described supernatural and gross creatures. His accounts inspired Gabo. Gabo takes events that could happen in real life and makes them appear magical. He does such a good job of diminishing the line between reality and nonreality that the events described seem real. There are many events that take place in One Hundred Years of Solitude that are good examples of his style of magic realism. An important event in the novel was the death of Jose Acardio Buendia. “Then they went into Jose Arcardio Buendia’s room, shook him as hard as they could, shouted in his ear, put a mirror in front of his nostrils, but they could not awaken him. A short time later, when the carpenter was taking measurements for the coffin, through the window they saw a light rain of tiny yellow flowers falling. They fell on the town all through the night in a silent storm, and they covered the roofs and blocked the doors and smothered the animals that slept outdoors. So many flowers fell from the sky that in the morning the streets were carpeted with a compact cushion and they had to clear them away with shovels and rakes so that the funeral procession could pass by”. (One Hundred Years of Solitude 144) Another example is the stream of blood racing across the village to tell Ursula about the death of her son. “ As soon as Jose Arcadio closed the bedroom door the sound of a pistol shot echoed through the house. A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the Buendia house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlor, hugging the walls so not as to stain the rugs, went on to the living room, made a wide curve to avoid the dinning-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano Jose, and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Ursula was getting ready to crack thirty-six eggs to make bread.” (One Hundred Years of Solitude 135) Gabo uses magic imagery and metaphors to make the surreal into real. The blood represents how the news of something bad spreads quickly, like a running stream. Gabos uses magical metaphors like that in his novels and short stories to represent real life occurrences. The distruction of the Buendia family is another important even that was told using magic realism. “The first of the line is tied to a tree and the last is being eaten by the ants.” (One Hundred Years of Solitude 420) Along with the distruction of the Buendia family came the distruction of the village, “for it was foreseen that the city of mirrors would be wiped out by the wind and exiled from the memory of men.” (One Hundred Years of Solitude 422) The reason for the death of the village and of the family is “because races condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second opportunity on earth.” (One Hundred Years of Solitude 422) Gabo is truly an outstanding author with a special gift. He shares his emotions with us through his novels. He once said that he became a writer because he was shy and wasn’t good at sharing his emotions. He also said that he doesn’t like to talk about literature because he doesn’t know what it is, and he is convinced that the world would be the same with out it. Despite his thoughts about literature he has become a worldwide icon for his use of magic realism in his novels. Bibliography: Word Count: 1155
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