Garcia Marquez Says That His Use of “Magic Realism” is a Myth and a Misunderstanding

In literary theory, “magic realism” means that the writer of an otherwise realistic story includes fantastic or bizarre elements that he knows couldn’t possibly be true, but which he treats matter-of-factly as though they were, in fact, true.

The writings of Gabriel Garcia Marquez are commonly stated to be among the foremost examples of magic realism. However, Garcia Marquez, himself, denied it. He insisted on…

“…the direct relation between his own novels and his own life: ‘There’s not a line in any of my books which I can’t connect to a real experience. There is always a reference to a concrete reality.’ This is why he has always asserted that far from being a ‘magical realist,’ he is just a ‘poor notary’ who copies down what is placed on his desk” (1, p. 153).

He is saying that all of the magical, impossible things in his books have been based on real, actual experiences of his subjective reality.

Does this mean that he was crazy? No. He knew that these were only subjective experiences.

Does this only mean that he had a good imagination? Not in the usual sense. What we imagine is usually conceived of as things we think of as being only imaginary when we imagine them. In contrast, Garcia Marquez is talking about what, subjectively, to him, felt like a “real experience” at the time.

How real? Perhaps, to borrow a phrase from Toni Morrison, “more real than real.”

1. Gerald Martin. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: A Life. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.