Magic Realism and Canadian Literature: Essays and Stories

Thomas M.F. Gerry is a professor of English (Canadian Literature) at
Laurentian University.

The editors have not only managed to preserve the lively spirit of the Magic Realist Writing conference, but also to produce a useful, introductory reference work on the subject. The book is divided into three sections: five theoretical essays, six stories (all read at the conference), and a transcript of the closing panel discussion. Ultimately aiming to define the term Magic Realism, the juxtaposition of these forms is designed to provide the reader with a sensitivity to the overlapping of the metafictional and critical aspects of the stories and essays, and to the personal and consciously fictional elements of the criticism.

The type of definition which this book provides is not the dictionary sort. Instead, the diverse critical approaches and direct presentations (of stories and of photographs of paintings) generate a much more useful multi-dimensional concept of Magic Realism. Stanley McMullin’s opening essay employs Harold Innis’s “heartland/hinterland” model to give an overview of the history and possible causes for the development of magic realist writing in Canada. “Magic Realism in Art,” by Nancy-Lou Patterson, reveals how this concept works in painting, and thereby, supplies an illuminating analogy for its presence in literature. Geoff Hancock’s “Magic or Realism” underscores the paradoxical nature of Magic Realism, while providing a variety of definitions, and, most helpfully, a reading list. Recognizing the germinal influence of Latin American writers on Canadian Magic Realists, the editors include Amaryll Chanady’s “The Origins and Development of Magic Realism in Latin American Fiction,” which also contains many suggestions for further reading. Robert Wilson’s “The Metamorphoses of Space” systematizes fictional spatiality into three categories: realistic, which imitates “real” space; fantastic, which, like a game, establishes its own rules; and “hybrid” — the kind of spatiality in Magic Realist writing — any combination of the first two.

As the editors point out, “Stories speak best on their own.” Their selections, by George Elliott, Keith Maillard, Leon Rooke, Ken Ledbetter, Eric McCormack and Jane Urquhart, effectively arouse interest in Magic Realist writing.

The closing panel discussion confronts again the difficulty of defining Magic Realism and touches on the role of religion in such writing and art. Keith Maillard’s closing words supply the rationale both for Magic Realism and for this book: “Society is now looking for an added dimension beyond reality.” Magic Realism and Canadian Literature successfully indicates one direction this quest is taking.