magic realism, primarily Latin American literary movement that arose in the 1960s. The term has been attributed to the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier Carpentier, Alejo (älā`hō kärpĕntyār`), 1904–80, Cuban novelist and musicologist.
..... Click the link for more information. , who first applied it to Latin-American fiction in 1949. Works of magic realism mingle realistic portrayals of ordinary events and characters with elements of fantasy and myth, creating a rich, frequently disquieting world that is at once familiar and dreamlike. The movement's best-known proponent is the Colombian novelist Gabriel García Márquez García Márquez, Gabriel (gäbrēĕl` gärsē`ä mär`kās)
..... Click the link for more information. , who has used the technique many times, most famously in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). Other magic realist writers include Guatemala's Miguel Ángel Asturias Asturias, Miguel Ángel (mēgĕl` äng`hĕl äst
..... Click the link for more information. , Argentina's Julio Cortázar Cortázar, Julio (h
..... Click the link for more information. , and Mexico's Carlos Fuentes Fuentes, Carlos (kär`lōs fwān`tās), 1928–, Mexican writer, editor, and diplomat.
..... Click the link for more information. . Non-Latin American writers whose fiction often employs magic realism include Italo Calvino Calvino, Italo (ĭtəlō călvē`nō), 1923–85, Italian novelist.
..... Click the link for more information. and Salman Rushdie Rushdie, Salman (sälmän` r
..... Click the link for more information. .

magic realism

or magical realism

Latin-American literary phenomenon characterized by the matter-of-fact incorporation of fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction. The term was first applied to literature in the 1940s by the Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980), who recognized the tendency of his region's contemporary storytellers as well as contemporary novelists to illuminate the mundane by means of the fabulous. Prominent practitioners include Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Amado, Jorge Luis Borges, Miguel Angel Asturias, Julio Cortazar, and Isabel Allende (born 1942). The term has been applied to literature and art outside of Latin America as well.