definition of magic realism

["Linda Lambert , Walnut Hill Sch 508-643-9593" <LLAMBERT@A1.MEC.MASS.EDU>]

To Everyone interested in the discussion of magic realism: a handy reference
book, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms, defines it as "a kind of
modern fiction in which fabulous and fantastical events are included in a
narrative that otherwise maintains the 'reliable' tone of objective realistic
report.  The term was once applied to a trend of German fiction of the early
1950's, but is now associated with novelists such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
Gunter Grass, Milan Kundera, and Salman Rushdie. The fantastic attributes given
to characters in [some novels]--levitation, flight, telepathy, telekinesis--are
among the means that magic realism adopts in order to encompass the often
phantasmagoric political realities of the 20th century."
Linda Lambert, Walnut Hill School, Natick, MA.   LLAMBERT@a1.mec.mass.edu