You’ll hear scholars claim it’s not a genre but a sensibility, a way of looking at reality.Ĭonfused? Don’t worry. But despite magical realism’s reach, the term is surprisingly hard to nail down. It’s an enchanting formula first popularized by Latinx authors in the 20th century, and has since spread all over, from England to Japan.
It sounds simple enough: you take the mundane and make it just a little bit magical. Its heroes aren’t fairies or sorcerers, they’re ordinary people - whose lives happen to butt up against the extraordinary. Magical realism is a literary style that weaves threads of fantasy into a depiction of everyday life. Magical Realism 101: Definition and 15 Essential Classics
