Framework

What is Magical Realism?

In the introduction to her book, Magic(al) Realism, Maggie Ann Bowers defines Magical Realism as "notoriously difficult to define."

“Since the 1980s, the terms ‘magic realism’, ‘magical realism’ and ‘marvellous realism’ have become both highly fashionable and highly derided. On the face of it, they are oxymorons describing the forced relationship of irreconcilable terms. It is in fact the inherent inclusion of contradictory elements that has made and sustained the usefulness and popularity of the concepts to which the terms refer.

 In recent years the term ‘magical realism’ has become the most popularly used one of the three terms, referring to a particular narrative mode. What the narrative mode offers is a way to discuss alternative approaches to reality to that of Western philosophy, expressed in many postcolonial and non-Western works of contemporary fiction by, most famously, writers such as Gabriel García Márquez and Salman Rushdie. It is this aspect that has made it most pertinent to late twentieth-century literature.       

However,the widespread use of the term among critics has brought with it its own problems. The popularity of such writing with the reading public has never been higher, but writers and critics are concerned that the terms are being reduced to vague clichés...The one thing that the majority of critical works about the related terms ‘magic realism’, ‘magical realism’ and ‘marvellous realism’ agree upon is that these terms are notoriously difficult to define.

Bowers' commentary on the subjective nature of the genre is thought provoking and largely appropriate. Magical realism lends itself more to feeling then definition. Magical real texts ask their readers to open their minds to more than merely tangible facts, but also to a distinct and exciting world of possibility.

Magical realism texts often invite the reader to follow their characters into a world fashioned by dreams but weighted in realty. Authors of magical realism tend to use the boundless possibilities of the literary universe, often characterized by innertextuality, to craft vast but circular universes within their texts.

 Bowers, Maggie Ann. Magic(al) Realism. London: Routledge, 2004. 2004. Web. 27 Apr. 2014

  About Midnight's Children:

              Saleem Sinai is born on the brink of India's independence on the stoke of midnight, August 15^th 1947. Because of the circumstances of his birth he is destined to grow alongside his nation. Midnight's Children is narrated by a thirty year old Saleem Sinai who in the wake of many national and personal incidents fears his life is coming to an end as he begins to imagine himself disintegrating into specks of dust. 
  
        The story actually begins as Dr.Aadam Aziz, Saleem's grandfather returns to his home town of Kashmir after taking part in the war. Saleem inherits many things from his grandfather but most significantly perhaps is his uniquely robust nose. 

        Saleem recounts his family history down to the moment of his birth alongside of the birth of his beloved nation. His birth at precisely midnight leads to small amounts of fleeting fame, but also magical abilities which he shares with the 1,001 children born along with him in the midnight hour of India's independence. Saleem begins to hold conferences with these children in his mind. It is here that he meets his life long adversary, Shiva, who has different ideas on how to utilize the powers of the Midnight's Children. Shiva's magical power is concentrated in the form of his fantastically enormous knees. 

       After recounting many years of turmoil, in which he discovers among other things that Shiva is the biological son of his parents and that the two opposing midnight's children were actually switched at birth, Saleem settles in a pickle factory, interestingly owned by the only mother figure he was able to hold on to, Mary, the woman who was responsible for switching the two children at birth. Where he begins to write his Autobiography. 

About the Author:

Salman Rushdie was born in 1947 in Bombay, India; son of affluent Kashmiri Muslims, Salman attended England's Rugby public school and  Cambridge University, where he studied history and graduated in 1968. 

Although he was not born on midnight on the day of India's independence, Salman was born on its horizon to Kashmiri parents just like his main character in Midnight's Children, Saleem. Similarly both Salman and Saleem also both took to writing. Salman admits that many of the characters in Midnight's Children are loosely based off of his real life aquintances. He even had a sister whom he called "the Brass Monkey," though whether or not he too, fell in love with her is left for a susceptible reader to speculate. 

He published Midnight's Children in 1980, and achieved nearly immediate success. 

In 1989 He was issued a "fatwa" ---a death sentence---for  allegedly blasphemous musings in a newly published book called, The Satanic Verses and was forced to go into hiding.

Rushdie has since came out of hiding and continues to write, though the death sentence cannot be lifted. He lives in London and is a Distinguished Professor at Emory University and won the Booker Prize for fiction, with Midnight's Children in 1981. 


"Midnight's Children Official Movie Trailer (Canada)." YouTube. YouTube, 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXgx6C8PHd4>.


"Salman Rushdie." Newsmakers. Detroit: Gale, 1994. Biography in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014. Resources:

Resources

Blaise, Clark. "A Novel of India's Coming of Age." Rev. of Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. The New York Times 19 Apr. 1981, Books sec.: n. pag. The New York Times. Web. 11 Apr. 2014

• Clark’s review is largely positive and explores the Indo-Anglian literary movement of  English speaking, Indian authors. Clark’s review is relevant because it Americanize’s some of the concepts putting them in context for American readers.  

Galván, Fernando. "EL «REALISMO» DEL EXILIO: "MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN"" Atlantis 10.1/2 (1988): 55-68. JSTOR. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.

• Galván’s essay focuses on the very particular traits of the narrator’s voice in Rushdie’sMidnight’s Children. He exposes that by the narrative being very specific in voicing its space and time it deviates from Rushdie’s other works such as Shame and Grimus; this in turn defines a sort of cultural exile for the author, comparing it even to García Márquez, cand calling Bombay Rushdie’s Macondo. Galván also notes that the use of Padma as a stand-in for real life readers creates an auto-conscience to the narrative that draws lines in the text: author vs reader, the historical vs the fantastical.
• “Midnight’s Children reflects a conscious effort to construct and reconstruct a reality that takes and responds to the ‘realities’ fabricated by others; therein lies the reality of exile” (68). Galván states that by drawing these lines the author, Rushdie, creates for himself an exile from a world that is both his and not.

"Indira Gandhi." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.

• This webpage was useful because it supplied a large amount of information on Indira Gandhi. It helped to have some biographical info about her, besides what was given to us by Rushdie.

Jordison, Sam. "Midnight's Children Is the Right Winner." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 10 July 2008. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

• This review is a nice way to open up discussion into how the class perceived the novel. Somewhat predictably, the review discusses how magical and enjoyable Midnight's Children is, if you can manage to get through it. The reviewer praises the book, but admits it is a difficult read, a sentiment shared by many Midnight's Children reviews.

Rushdie, Salman. Midnight's Children. “Introduction to the 25th Anniversary Edition”. New York: Random House, 2006. Print.

• Rushdie describes some of the tribulations he encountered during pre-publication of Midnight's Children and its aftermath from a heated dispute with Indira Gandhi and his fathers anger over the depiction of Ahmed Sinai to the real life characters who are to thank for the novels fictional ones

Sabin, Margery. "The Politics Of Cultural Freedom: India In The Nineteen Fifties." Raritan 14.4 (1995): 45. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Apr. 2014

• This article looks at Indian politics in view of the novel, as well as Rushdie's own treatment. It mentions a so called "Shiva-Principle", which is where the country begins to mirror Shiva as opposed to Saleem mirroring the country. This provides an interesting look, as by the mid point of the novel Shiva has already announced himself and has tried usurping Saleem's control without any basis.

"Salman Rushdie." Newsmakers. Detroit: Gale, 1994. Biography in Context. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

• This article is a biographical profile of Salman Rushdie, author of "Midnight's Children." It focuses primarily on the death threat Rushdie recieved after the publication of his novel "The Satanic Verses" in 1989 but also covers his birth in Bombay, India, his multiple publications and awards received.