Book review: The Palgrave Handbook of Magical Realism in the Twenty-First Century

Edited by Richard Perez and Victoria A. Chevalier. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham (Switzerland), 2020. xxi + 650 pp. Magical realism has a chequered history with beginnings in Europe. Magischer Realismus or “magic realism” was coined German art critic, Franz Roh, 1923 to describe certain metaphysical elements that he saw paintings. However, the term did not gain currency—Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) eventually Post-Expressionism became more accepted terms (Crockett 1999, 148–155). found its way into literature when Massimo Bontempelli (1878–1960), an Italian writer first applied 1926 (Walter 1993, 13). But it only gained popularity 1950s 1960s used “boom” literary phenomenon of Latin American fiction. And America this aesthetic category developed as form postcolonial resistance discourse. malleable contentious is difficult define. Some critics have even said defies definition; yet there tacit understanding term. At basic level, magical deals real irreal quotidian everyday life does dichotomise two. Amaryll Beatrice Chanady’s Realism Fantastic: Resolved Versus Unresolved Antinomy (1985) demonstrates blending fiction differentiates from fantastic, arguing fantastic create antinomies irreal. European strand (especially Eastern Europe) complex influence Freud Surrealism, challenges ideas.