THE ALLOHISTORIES OF MAGIC REALISM FRANZ ROH AND THE MAGIC REALIST MODE

History as narrative, turning away from the material universe and folding in upon itself in an act of language, is further understood as a matter of tropes by Hayden White (Metahistory, 1975) and of determinism by Ferguson, but not a determinism of causes and effects in the progress of mankind through time; this determinism is actually the set of rules and constraints governing the making of stories:” the teleology of the traditional narrative form” (Ferguson 1997: 65). Yet can we say that the fiction falling under the headings of historiographic metafiction or magical realism, where there is a historicist view of history as succession of styles rather than as organic development from one age to another, is characterized by a teleological design? The answer is no. The oxymoronic names suggest an uneasy blending of opposites. What was realistic and what was magic in the early twentieth century when Franz Roh, photographer, collagist and art historian coined the phrase? Magic realism-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. Designating a tendency of the modern novel to reach beyond the confines of realism and draw upon the energies of fable, folk tale, and myth while maintaining a strong contemporary social relevance. The fantastic attributes given to characters in such 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 (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms). Magic realism [is characterized by] the mingling and juxtaposition of the realistic and the fantastic, bizarre and skillful time shifts, convoluted and even labyrinthine narratives and plots, miscellaneous use of dreams, myths and fairy stories, expressionistic and even surrealistic description, arcane erudition, the elements of surprise or abrupt shock, the horrific and the inexplicable (A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory). Magic realism-the frame or surface of the work may be conventionally realistic, but contrasting elements-such as supernatural myth, dream fantasy-invade the realism and change the whole basis of the art (Handbook to Literature, Harmon ed.). Lo real maravilloso-for the practice of Latin American writers who mix everyday realities with imaginative extravaganzas drawn from the rich interplay of European and native cultures.[Writers] enlarge a reader’s ordinary sense of the real to include magic, myth, hallucination and miracles (Handbook to Literature, Harper ed.). Magic realism-the capacity to enrich our idea of what is ‘real’ by incorporating all dimensions of the imagination, particularly as expressed in magic, myth and religion (Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia).