Letters

Is Causation Magical?

While I share David Pryce-Jones’s aversion to Gabriel García Márquez’s unforgivable political affiliations and the undue accolades he received in eulogy, I’m not certain that Mr. Pryce-Jones’s article “Poet of Self-Pity” (May 19 issue) accurately represents magic realism. First, though magic realism had its origins in Latin America, I would argue that the former director of the national library in Argentina, Jorge Luis Borges, had more to do with the genesis of this genre than did García Márquez. More important, the definition of magic realism I provide for my students is “a genre of literature that combines the mundane with the fantastic in order to demonstrate how imagination affects perception.” Rather than promoting the idea that consequences require no response and effects exist independent of causes, García Márquez’s surreal scenarios illustrate how our preconceived notions, cultural biases, and innate limitations prevent or at least significantly challenge our ability to objectively view the world. The result or effect is a world where what is so (reality) and what we think is so (fantasy, i.e., magic) are inextricably bound insofar as we experience it. Consequently, we should acknowledge this limitation and make a conscious and conscientious effort to accurately understand circumstances and respond appropriately.