Magical Realism, Telepathy, and Submitting Your Questions and Comments  

May 30, 2016

Real-life incident suggests “magical realism” is not an experimental, literary technique, but the way the minds of some people work

Psychiatric News, the newspaper of the American Psychiatric Association, recently published an article about the remarkable thoughts of a real person, which begins as follows:

“A young woman who lived alone in a third floor apartment stepped out of her shower one morning and confronted a stranger with a knife. He tied her hands and began to loot the apartment. She believed he would rape and then kill her.

“While he ransacked another room, she managed to open a window and jump. As she fell, she saw a pink parachute snap open above her, and beneath its large, life-saving canopy, she felt herself float slowly to the ground. There was, of course, no parachute, and her descent lasted only seconds. Although shrubbery broke her fall, she fractured her wrist and pelvis. Passersby called an ambulance, and the police arrested the invader, still in her apartment.

“When seen eight months later, with her physical injuries healed, she related these events with an ironic smile in a calm, straightforward manner. She had the satisfaction of having testified at the man’s trial and seeing him sentenced to prison, and had then resumed her life without further difficulties…”

If the sentence above that I have put in bold face had appeared in a novel, you might think, oh, this author is using the literary technique known as “magical realism.” But a real-life incident shows that this is the way some people think…

May 20, 2014

Gabriel Garcia Marquez says that his use of “Magic Realism” is a myth

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.

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

February 6, 2015

Magical Realism and Telepathy: Persons with Multiple Personality May Believe in Telepathy due to Anonymous Inter-Personality Thought-Transference

…persons with multiple personality, like novelists, may be familiar with telepathic kinds of experience, because one of their personalities may be co-conscious with another of their personalities, and so can read the other personality’s mind.

But what if the co-consciousness between two personalities is one-way (which often happens)? Suppose Personality A can read the mind of Personality B, but B doesn’t even know that A exists (and A wants to keep it that way). In that case, A could communicate with B anonymously, in either of two ways. First, A could speak to B audibly, in which case B would “hear voices.” Second, A could transfer thoughts or information directly into B’s mind, which B may interpret as having magically learned something by telepathy.

Thus, when characters in a magical realism novel experience telepathy, it may reflect the author’s experience of co-consciousness and thought-transference in multiple personality.

May 23, 2014

Comments Submitted to this blog by Telepathy are Not Accepted

I know from the blog software that this blog is visited by people from about forty countries. No doubt, they have many thoughts about the things I say. Including you.

Unfortunately, people have not been clicking on comments at the end of each post, and have not been submitting their comments and questions in the usual way. There appears to be a rumor that I can read minds.

The truth is, I can’t read minds and am not telepathic. But I would like to know what you think. So please click comments at the end of any post, and submit your questions and opinions.