The thesis Magic Realism in the Novels of Isabel Allende presents the concept of magic realism and its place in the novels The House of the Spirits and Portrait in Sepia. The first part focuses on the concepts of "postmodernism" and specifically "Latin-America postmodernism" along with the Latin-American postmodern novel as its main genre, and besides that it touches upon the question of magic realism. The thesis deals with the history of the concept, the different terms denoting this very concept, and the theory of Amaryll Beatrice Chanady through which she establishes the criteria of magic realism. The first part also includes thematic and content characteristics of magic realism such as the connection of natural and supernatural, bringing back the culture of Native Americans, mythological time, alternative history, and the world of dreams. The thesis opens the question of whether magic realism can be considered as a part of postmodernism. The answers to this question differ - some are affirmative and the others claim only specific works could be defined as postmodernist works. The second part is based on the analysis of the novels The House of the Spirits and Portrait in Sepia. It focuses on the characteristics and elements of magic realism and on the comparison of both works.
|
