Genre - Magical Realism

Recently, my fourteen year old daughter was, as usual, sitting in the back seat of the car texting to a friend. “Hey, Mom, how do you spell genre?”

My husband and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows. What fourteen year old uses the word “genre” in a text to a friend? I’m not sure I’d even heard the word until I was a librarian. Readers today are much more aware of the genres of books they read. They are much more likely to stick with one genre and not read others. Go into most modern bookstores and you’ll find the books organized, not by author, size, or color, but by genre.

We at the Blood Red Pencil are going to use a few posts over the next weeks to define and discuss genres. The market may be better for some genres than others. There may be different marketing approaches for different genres. You may find that some agents specialize in handling one genre over others. We’ll discuss those all these points in upcoming posts.

I’m going to begin the discussion with a relatively newly recognized genre, Magical Realism. Magical Realism weaves magic or supernatural events into a plot, assuming the events are perfectly natural and realistic. They often draw on the native folklore and myths of the area in which they are set. Magical Realism writers often use ghosts or reincarnations of ancestors into animals or objects in very matter-of-fact ways. The other characters accept these spirits as perfectly natural and predictable. The genre is often used to make political commentary on imperialistic or dictatorial governments.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is considered by many to be the seminal work of the genre. Because the genre came into the public consciousness first through the work of Marquez and his contemporaries, we often think of it as a Latin American genre. Pieces using Magical Realism are usually set in exotic places or cultures, most often Latin America, but can be set anyplace.

Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel, Toni Morrison, and Salman Rushdie also write in the genre. All these authors’ works draw on native folklore, political unrest, and supernatural occurrences but are placed all over the world.

If you choose to write in this genre, you will be joining an auspicious group of authors. Give it a go!
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Jo Klemm has worked as a librarian since 1985, with the exception of the eight years she raised her three girls. She has worked in public, medical school, university, and community college libraries and is currently working at Tarrant County College in Arlington, Texas as a Public Services Librarian. In her spare time, she is a professional storyteller, focusing on western and Texas stories and Arthurian legends. The written and spoken word has always fascinated her and, though she embraces technology, she worry that it is moving us away from appreciation of the power of the written word. In her teaching, storytelling, and writing, she tries to inspire and empower students to learn from great authors, old and new, and to find their own voice on the page.