1. demonstrate detailed knowledge of the key issues and debates in the study of magical realist literature, especially its political and historical relevance.
2. demonstrate refined skills of enquiry and analysis in relation to a range of magical realist literature.
3. show advanced application of relevant critical and theoretical perspectives in your own analysis of texts, drawing on independent research.
4. write a literary-critical essay using critical and theoretical material to analyse, contextualise and compare texts
OR
produce a sustained piece of magical realist literature, demonstrating an advanced knowledge of the style

Learning Portfolio – to consist of two contributions to group learning on the module using authentic assessment forms such as podcasts, presentations, vlogs, blogs, leading group sessions, poster presentations. Forms must vary in each portfolio. Final piece in the portfolio will be a ‘pitch’: student must pitch their ideas for their final assignment to a tutor. Each piece must incorporate reflection. (LOs: 1,2,3)

Essay or creative writing piece – a literary-critical essay or a piece of creative writing in the magical realist style (including a reflection). (LOs: 1,2,3,4)

This module surveys the development of the magical realist style throughout the late twentieth century and into the twenty-first. In doing so, it traces emergent voices from political positions which are marginalised in Western society – voices which must alter the realist contract in order to express their difference and resist the global dominance of European realism. Through a study of the magical realist style, we will debate issues relating to gender, race, ethnicity, postcolonialism, cultural identity and nationality.

Typical Texts:

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1967)
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie (1981)
Beloved – Toni Morrison (1987)
Venus as a Boy - Luke Sutherland (2004)
Her Body and Other Parties – Carmen Maria Machado (2018)
The Mermaid of Black Conch – Monique Roffey (2020)
When We Were Birds – Ayanna Lloyd Banwo (2021)

Levitation by means of hot chocolate, a man turning to gold in modern-day Soho, a quiet girl who remembers past lives, a mermaid with a grudge, a boy who can hear the thoughts of 1001 other children… Dazzling details of ordinary enchantments fill the pages of magical realist fiction. Feel the boundaries of your sense of reality shift under the mesmerising effect of this style of writing, which merges the fantastical with the everyday. Respond by creating your own critical or creative work.

Teaching will be delivered by weekly workshops which will involve segments of lecture, discussion activities, student participation and analytical practice. There will also be programme- and/or department-wide developmental sessions convened by the team.

Benito, Jesus et al (2009) Uncertain Mirrors: Magical Realisms in US Ethnic Literatures Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Bowers, M.A. (2004) Magic(al) Realism. London: Routledge.
Faris, Wendy B. (2004) Ordinary Enchantments: Magical Realism and the Remystification of Narrative Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. Available as ebook.
Hegerfeldt, Anne C. (2005), Lies that Tell the Truth: Magic Realism Seen Through Contemporary Fiction from Britain, Amsterdam: Rodopi. Available as an ebook.
Jung, C.G. (2009) [1959] The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Second ed. Trans. R.F.C. Hull. London: Routledge.
King, John (1987) Modern Latin American Fiction: A Survey. London: Faber and Faber.
Martin, Gerald (1989) Journeys through the Labyrinth: Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century. London: Verso.
Swanson, P. (2010) The Cambridge Companion to Gabriel García Márquez. Cambridge University Press.
Rice, Philip and Patricia Waugh (1996) Modern Literary Theory: A Reader. London: Arnold.
Takolander, Maria (2007) Catching Butterflies: Bringing Magical Realism to Ground. Peter Lang publishing.
Tally, J. (2007) The Cambridge Companion to Toni Morrison. Cambridge University Press.
Warnes, Christopher (2009) Magical realism and the postcolonial novel: between faith and irreverence. Basingstoke:¿Palgrave Macmillan,¿
Young, David and Keith Hollaman eds. (1984) Magical Realist Fiction: An Anthology. New York: Longman
Zamora, Lois Parkinson and Wendy B. Faris (1995) Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. London: Duke University Press.

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