A Comparative Study of Magical Realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude and The Famished Road
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Date
2012-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Studies on various literary topics set against Western Realism and Socialist
Realism are abundant. However, there are no comparative studies done on such
topics on the basis of Magical Realism. Thus this study area desired to fill that gap
by comparing two novels from Colombia and Nigeria. It has tried to explore
Magical Realism in the two novels One Hundred Years of Solitude by the
Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Famished Road by the
Nigerian author Ben Okri. The study revealed that both novels have mostly used
the same characteristics to construct the Magical Realist effect and their
differences in this respect are negligible. Distinct characteristics of Magical
Realism are used for the comparison of the two novels. As research methodology,
the study has tried to first identify as many characteristics of Magical Realism as
possible in Chapter Two following an attempt to define it and incorporating a list
of thoughts and ideas by various scholars about Magical Realism. In the next
chapter, the study has moved on to the identification of the said characteristics of
Magical Realism in the selected novels. Here, the study has presented the
characteristics as they appear in each novel with quotations of relevant examples
from them. The final chapter has analyzed the results of the identification of the
characteristics done in the previous chapter by attempting to compare them. The
finding of the study has established that both novels have used similar techniques
such as employing fascination of technology to create an aspect of Magical
Realism. Other examples of such similarities are present in the study as well.
However, despite this fact, the meaning of One Hundred Years of Solitude is very
different from that of The Famished Road. In addition, this does not mean that
everything in the novels is the same. Each novel has its own distinct style.
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Study of Magical Realism