Magic Realism... little bits of wonder in everyday life

I just finished reading Love in Times of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It is an amazingly intimate novel, based on emotions and experiences that we can all feel akin to, even though it is set in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

It is not one of Garcia Marquez's magical stories. It is actually very realistic. No wondrous events, no sudden miracles or unexplainable events, like his best work, 100 years of solitude. The recent movie seems to tell a story of an impossible love, and a somewhat corny story at that. I can assure you that this typical turn was a Hollywood fabrication and the real story is much better because it is a story of the real kinds of love: Love that is in the eye of the beholder, and is never really requited; the love that you thought you had but suddenly vanishes; the love of marriage, built on unpleasant experiences and unromantic encounters of everyday, but that weaves itself into your identity and proves to be the love of your life in the end...

I recommend the great Latin American writers to anyone. However, the stories they tell can seem exaggerated or down-right fantasy for many writers. Unlike the matter-of-fact style of U.S. and English writers, the great Latin American novels and stories are built on a different sense of reality... a reality where extraordinary things can happen in everyday life and nothing happens by chance. This is the case of Garcia Marquez's "A very old man with enormous wings", a short story of a man with wings that suddenly appeared in a poor rural town in Colombia, and no one knew what to do about it. A personal favorite of mine is a short story called "The Highway of the South" by Julio Cortazar. In this short story, which takes place on a highway entering Paris, dozens of people get stuck in the traffic jam from hell on their way to the city. They spend days there and discover their basic human needs and emotions.

For many cultures this may be perfectly understandable. For most westerners, this may seem a little foolish. What I can tell you, as a South American but also as someone educated and strongly influenced by Western culture, is that you have to understand the context. Latin Americans are mostly Catholic and are strong believers in miracles and in many places, in the supernatural. In countries around or near the Caribbean, there is a big influence of African mystic beliefs, the root of Voodoo and Cuban Babalaos... In many rural areas people believe that magic can happen at any time. They pray to people who have died in highway accidents who they believe can grant miracles. In Venezuela, one important cult is in the western city of Merida, where a shrine has been built for a thief who was thought to be a local Robin Hood- stealing from the rich to give to the poor...

If you are interested in reading, I recommend starting with the short stories I posted above. For fans of ghost stories and suspense, I recommend El Circulo (The Circle) by Oscar Cerruto and the really great short stories of Horacio Quiroga. And of course, the greatest work of this genre: 100 years of Solitude.

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In a few weeks, I will be writing about Venezuela's love of superstitions (continuing on what I commented above), based on research I did as a journalist in that country.