Magic realism is a blending of fantasy and realism in a story as though the fantastic elements are a perfectly normal part of everyday reality. The result is a blurring of reality and fantasy with the fantastic elements included as though rational. In a fashion similar to science fiction, the fantasy elements become metaphors for aspects of reality that the story causes the reader to question. In some cases the fantastic elements suggest a world that is not rational, but absurd.
Select ny three stories from Orange World by Karen Russell. Use information from the secondary sources to help understand and explain magic realism. Write an essay examining the ways in which magical realism is used in the short stories collected in Orange World. How do the magical elements reveal theme and character within the stories? How do the magical elements lay bare the conflicts within the stories? How does the inclusion of magical elements in a rational way help develop the theme of the story and the nature of the characters?
Primary Sources
- "The Prospectors" (3- 36)
- "The Bad Graft" (37 -66)
- "Bog Girl: A Romance" (67 - 94)
- "Madame Bovary's Greyhound" (95 - 112)
- "The Tornado Auction" (113- 146)
- "Black Corfu" (147 - 192)
- "The Gondoliers" (193 -234)
- "Orange World" (235 - 268)
Russell, Karen. Orange World and Other Stories.
Secondary Sources
Bényei, Tamás. Rereading "Magic Realism." Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies 3.1 (Theory Issue, 1997), 149-179. [Link to article 
]
McCarten, Edward. "Magic Realism." Ambit 168 (Spring 2002), 76-81. [Link to article ].
Quayson, Ato. "Space, Time and Magical Realism." In Wames, Christopher and Kim A. Sasser, eds. Wames, Christopher and Kim A. Sasser, eds. Magic Realism and Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 80-98.
Sasser, Kim and Christopher Wames. "Introduction" in Wames, Christopher and Kim A. Sasser, eds. Magic Realism and Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020. 1-10.
Schroeder, Shannin. "Breaking Boundaries: The Tale of North American Magical Realism." in Wames, Christopher and Kim A. Sasser, eds. Magic Realism and Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2020. 164-181.
Watson, Greer. "Assumptions of Reality: Low Fantasy, Magical Realism, and the Fantastic." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 11.2 (42) (2000), 164-172. [Link to article ]
Wechsler, Jeffrey. "Magic Realism: Defining the Indefinite." Art Journal 45.4, The Visionary Impulse: An American Tendency (Winter, 1985), 293-298. [Link to article ]
Requirements
- Length: Your essay must be a minimum of 800 words.
- Documentation Format: You must include an MLA formatted Works Cited page that includes correctly formatted internal citations for all source material used.
- Sources: You are restricted to the stories assigned.
- Number of sources: You must use both selected works. You may NOT use any other sources.
For this essay, students must not use any sources other than the stories themselves. Students may use a dictionary to help with words with which they are not familiar but should not refer to the dictionary definitions in the essay. Students should base the discussion of the theme on their own close reading of the stories.
Students must use MLA style documentation. Internal citations should identify author and page number. Students must also include an MLA Works Cited page.
Finally, students should proofread carefully their final drafts for spelling, grammar, and punctuation as well as clarity, conciseness, and completeness. The final draft should be typed, double spaced, with one inch margins, in Times New Roman 12 pt. The essay should be a minimum of 600 words (two typewritten pages, equivalent to about five handwritten pages) in length.
The essay will be evaluated based on how well students develop their arguments with significant support from the text and articles (thesis, topic sentences, supporting details from the poems); clarity, cohesion, and conciseness; correct use of MLA format; and grammar and spelling.
Students are forbidden from using any source material other than the following selected works. Use of sources about the works will result in a zero grade.
