HL808: Introduction to Magical Realism

 

 

In this module we will be exploring the literary and cinematic style known as magical realism. This term describes a work of fiction or a film which introduces an element of magic into the everyday lives of its characters. In magical realism, miracles take place in broad daylight and ordinary people undergo strange transformations: men are turned into giant insects, the dead are brought back to life, women predict the future or ascend to heaven while folding their laundry. And it is typical of magical realism that such miracles should be seen not as something unusual or bizarre, but as evidence that there is magic to be found in even the most ordinary of lives.

 

Since first achieving widespread recognition in the 1960s, magical realism has become a global phenomenon, making its presence felt in everything from The Simpsons to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The module will reflect this diversity by focusing on literature and films produced in various different times and places. Our discussion will be structured around Franz Kafka’s powerful novella, Metamorphosis, and two short novels: Gabriel García Márquez’s Of Love and Other Demons, and Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. We will also be looking at a number of magical realist films, and one of Shakespeare’s simplest and most engaging plays, The Tempest.

 

Our primary objective will be to explore the relationship between the magical and the real within each text, and to understand the wider significance of the author’s decision to bring them together in such a way.

 

 

Core Texts

 

FICTION

Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate (Black Swan 1993)

Gabriel García Márquez, Of Love and Other Demons (Penguin 1996)

Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis (Penguin 2006)

William Shakespeare, The Tempest (Oxford World’s Classics 1998)

 

(All four texts will be available at Popular Bookstore, NTU. Additional reference material will be provided in class.)

 

FILMS

Amélie (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet; 2001)

Like Water for Chocolate (dir. Alfonso Arau; 1992)

Run Lola Run (dir. Tom Tykwer; 1998)

 

(All three films will be available for viewing at the NTU Media Library.)

 

Assessment

 

Coursework essay                            50%

Examination                                       50%

 

Lecturer

 

Dr. Bede Scott

S3.2–B4–08

67906714

btscott@ntu.edu.sg

 

 

Week

 

Topics

Readings

1

12 Aug

Introduction to Module

 

 

2

19 Aug

Defining Magical Realism

 

 

3

26 Aug

Magical Realism and the Grotesque I

 

Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis

 

4

2 Sept

Magical Realism and the Grotesque II

 

Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis

 

5

9 Sept

Magical Realism and the New World I

 

Gabriel García Márquez, Of Love and Other Demons

6

16 Sept

Magical Realism and the New World II

 

Gabriel García Márquez, Of Love and Other Demons

7

23 Sept

Magical Realism in Film

 

FILM: Amélie

 

8

 

Recess

 

 

9

7 Oct

Magical Realism and Gender I

 

Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate

 

10

14 Oct

Magical Realism and Gender II

 

Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate

 

11

21 Oct

Magical Realism and Empire

 

William Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

12

28 Oct

Magical Realism in Film

 

FILM: Run Lola Run

 

13

4 Nov

Conclusion/Revision