I write a lot of stories that could be fantasy or could be magical realism and sometimes I don't know how to categorize them. If anybody can help me with some kind of explanation of the differences I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
I wasn't sure of the difference either, so I plugged it into the old search engine. Reading the definition of magical realism made me think of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and maybe The Green Mile. Here's a sort of summary definition of magical realism, from this article by Emma Allman: It sounds like the "magic" in magical realism is mysterious and very significant to the theme, while magical things in fantasy more exist to serve setting and plot. Generally speaking, of course.
Typically, the magic is unquestioned. You have the normal world with a fantastic element within it, and nobody seems at all bothered by it being there. Well, they may not like it, but they don't doubt its reality. I was watching this the other day. It's about movies but it really nails the genre. I've read the short story of that movie "Border" somewhere . . . It was actually pretty good. Seems like it could be by Lindqvist, but I'm not sure.
There are three specific elements contained in Magic Realism. 1) It takes place in the normal, real world. It may be a made up country or city, but it's an Earthly country or city. 2) There will be one (1) element taking place in the story that falls outside the bounds of reality. This is the magic referenced in Magic Realism. Don’t look for wizardie warlockie witchie Hogwartsie magic. No. 3) The above element will serve as a kind of metaphor that asks the reader to engage a particualr cultural element in a sympathetic light. In Jose Saramago's book Blindness, the blindness itself is the element. It has no explanation that science can offer, and it's not blindness in the sense of darkness. What the people see is whiteness, like a blank page of paper. The metaphor in question is one that appeals very strongly to Latin American sentiments. The blindness is there to talk about the cultural decline concerning community orientation, helping your neighboring, loving one another. In the film Perfect Sense, the element is a loss of all the senses, one by one, each presaged by a kind of outburst of emotion (rage, panic, fear, etc.) and the people learn to live with each loss, one by one, until only touch is left. Again, though one of the characters is in fact a scientist trying to find out what's up, the event is not a thing that answers to reason or science. They learn through their losses to appreciate what remains.
The others pretty much covered it. Something magical/spiritual/paranormal exists in the world, but it's not noteworthy. It's totally ordinary... like the sun rise. Which kind of doesn't make it magical at all. Hence magic realism.
WOW! Thanks everybody! So much useful information. You've really answered my question with diligent, and thoughtful research. I really have a much better understanding of it all now. So glad I joined this group!