Magical Realism | Explained from a Venezuelan perspective

I decided to make a short video this week to get back on track. Do you have a favourite magical realism novel?

Magical Realism novels mentioned in this video:

* Isabel Allende's La casa de los espiritus | The House of the Spirits
* Karina Sainz Borgo's La isla del doctor Schubert
* Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude | Cien años de soledad
* Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus

Other novels mentioned in this video:

*Karina Sainz Borgo's It Would Be Night in Caracas | La hija de la española

[elemileTLDR]

Thank you for this. Also coming from a latin-american, catholic and rather esotheric houselhold, I consider myself a hard skeptic. However, the way I see it, the ethical and aesthetical value of characters and stories is orthogonal to their plausibility: they 'exist' in the measure they impact your life and the way you navigate the world, whether they are factual or fictional. Moreover, the closer they are to full fiction, the more archetypal, universal and thus relatable they tend out to be...

It's similar to a certain stance in philosophy of science. According to Nancy Cartwright, hardcore scientific laws, such as Newton's three laws of dynamics, are strictly false insofar as they work in a set of ideal conditions that cannot be met in any concrete situation (e.g. no friction, no turbulence). However, it is thanks to their high level of mathematical abstraction that they can connect to an immense array of phenomena, by means of 'bridge-laws'. Analogously, well built ideal and fully fictional characters may exert a greater influence on us than any real concrete being could.

[elestanteliterario]

Hola, Eva. Está muy cool tu canal. Sigue creando! Te deseo muchos éxitos :)

[subtlefire]

I'd love to hear more about Venezuelan culture and South American literature, especially since I'm currently learning and want to start reading books in Spanish.

[jorachim]

Excelente saludos desde Coro estado Falcón

[salmonellaisbad]

I loved hearing your take on magical realism in Latin America! It is my favorite genre so I always enjoy seeing people talk about it :)

[sebleblan]

100 years of solitude is the most beautiful book I've ever read. I sobbed loudly after the last page out sheer awe.

[iMdelV]

also, I believed it’s not well credited but the first magical realism novel was witten Arturo Uslar Pietri, ‘Lanzas coloradas’ and that set the tone for the upcoming movement of Latin American boom

[linkrox]

Thank you Eva, this was a wonderful explanation of Magical Realism and I appreciate your perspective. I plan to share this with some of my students as we begin reading some of Gabriel García Márquez’s work.

[KellyannMitchell]

I have one hundred years of Solitude on my Translated works bookshelf to read before the end of 2023. I love when you do these deep dives in a specific genre and Yes I would like to know more about Venezuelan culture. My place of birth is Trinidad and Tobago so I consider you my neighbour😊

[inesfsmonteiro]

What a lovely video, Eva! I would love to learn more about Venezuelan culture and literature, for sure!